JEDDAH, 31 January 2006 — Quick, which of these three products is Danish: NIDO milk, Kinder chocolate, or Anchor dairy?
The answer is none of the above.
Many international brands have become targets of the recent boycott of Danish products, thanks to the confusion of consumers caused in part by the misinformation distributed by the proponents of the ban.
“The email I received said that NIDO is one of the Danish products, so I stopped buying it,” said Saudi teacher Khaled Al-Harthi, who didn’t know that NIDO is a product of the Swiss Nestle Company.
A flier obtained by Arab News calls for boycotting Danish and Norwegian products following the controversy that erupted after newspapers in both countries published depictions of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), including one depicting him as a terrorist.
The flier listed many items that are not products of Denmark, including Kinder (owned by Italy’s Ferrero-Rocher) and New Zealand’s Anchor.
Most people are blindly following the indication of brands that are mentioned in every letter that calls for the Danish products boycott, said Amer Saeed, salesman at a local supermarket.
“We had to specify what is Danish and what is not by hanging signs in the shop,” said Saeed.
Zakaria Ismail, manager of Al-Malki supermarket, said they would start hanging signs indicating Danish products. They had to do so in order to reduce their loss of sales of products that are mistaken as Danish.
“Many people get angry when they don’t see signs favoring the boycott and indicating Danish products in stores,” he said.
He said that all customers now generated the habit of reading the source of each product to make sure of its origin.
“Even old people who cannot read, are asking, ‘Where is this made?’” he said.
Ismail said his store used to sell a minimum of 10 cartons of the famous Danish orange juice, Sun Top.
“For the last few weeks we didn’t sell even one pack,” he said. “Now we call distributors to come and take their products instead of asking them for more supply.”
Saudia Dairy and Foodstuff Company (SADAFCO) was also affected by the boycott. The company has taken out advertisements in local newspapers (including Arab News) declaring that they terminated the relationship with their Danish co-founders in 1987.
“We will have to empty our shelves from SADAFCO products,” said Salah Ahmad, local supermarket supervisor.
Ahmad said that no one has bought any of SADAFCO’s products in the past week.
“There is nothing we can do, we had to contact the supplier to come and pick the products,” he said.
