Anti-French feelings grow in marketplace
Tue Mar 18, 7:02 AM ET
Paul Davidson USA TODAY
As war looms, anti-French sentiment is building, according to a CNN/USA TODAY/Gallup poll. And with it has come calls for boycotts of all things French.
While a boycott movement has yet to take hold, there are signs it may be gaining traction,
retailers say. Experts say it could pick up if war in Iraq goes less than smoothly. France has refused to back the United States in its face-off with Iraq's Saddam Hussein.
''If we have French people very closely aligned
with Saddam and there are a lot of casualties, I think the (consumer backlash) could last years,'' says Philip Lempert, editor of SupermarketGuru.com.
Sixty-four percent of Americans have an unfavorable view of France, according to the poll. Two of five consider France either unfriendly or an enemy. And 54% say France is ''stabbing the U.S. in the back.''
''Whether you're for Bush or against Bush, one thing that people can hold onto is that the French are against us,'' says marketing consultant Pam Murtaugh.
So far, anti-French snarling has made no dent in the $28 billion in French exports to the USA. Sales of French wines are down 4.9% over the last 13 weeks, but that reflects a yearlong downward trend, says market research firm AC Nielsen.
Officials of French-owned Airbus and Nissan, nearly half owned by France's Renault, report no sales drop-off. And Nikki Frahm, manager of 13 Ocean Air Travel offices in the Minneapolis area, says travelers have not been canceling trips to Paris.
Yet wine retailer Morrell & Co. in Manhattan says sales of French wines have dippedrecently. ''In the last three or four days, it'sdefinitely gotten worse. You hear people say, 'Let's definitely not get French wines,' '' manager Richard Brigante says.
And touring companies report ''some resistance to booking France,'' says Linda Kundell, spokeswoman for the U.S. Tour Operators Association.
Some retailers are joining in the displeasure. Garden Fresh Market, a three-store chain in the Chicago area, pulled two-dozen French products, from Evian water to Dijon mustard. And Ken Wagner, owner of Roxy's restaurant in West Palm Beach, Fla., dumped French liqueurs and vodkas in the street as TV cameras rolled. ''I'm miffed,'' manager Ken Wagner Jr. says.
