Companies and sponsors do not want to be commercially and
promotionally associated with bullfighting in Portugal: in less
than two months, seven companies have stepped away from the
bullfighting events they were somehow involved with | Several of
these companies have condemned animal cruelty on their statements
regarding their decision of ending their involvement with
bullfighting
Since
the end of April until yesterday – in less than two months –,
following protest and boycott initiatives organised by the
Portuguese animal protection organisation ANIMAL, participated and
supported by its partner organisations in Holland, the UK, France,
Spain and from other countries, as much as by hundreds of
individuals from Portugal and from many other countries, seven
national and international companies which had some kind of
commercial involvement with, or provided some sort of support to,
bullfighting initiatives in Portugal have stepped away from these
events with which they were at some point
associated.
Some
of these companies have gone farther and have condemned cruelty
against animals when stating their decision of ending their
relationship with the bullfighting initiative that they were
associated to.
1.
On April 23rd, less than 24 hours before the protests started, the
international ice cream chain Ben & Jerry’s – which was being
announced as the sponsor of the Lisbon Students Association
Bullfight – has stated, through their office in the UK, that this
sponsorship had been terminated. According to the company, its
Portuguese branch was sponsoring the Lisbon Students Association
festivities and was unaware of the fact that a bullfight was
included in the programme. Upon being informed about this situation
and being urged to clarify its position, Ben & Jerry’s ordered
the promoters of the bullfight to remove any reference to the name
and brand of the company from its signs and general publicity, as
the company did not want to be associated with the bullfight in any
way.
2.
On the same day, the promoters of the bullfight organised by
college students presented Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD), the
biggest bank in Portugal (state-owned), as the next sponsor of that
brutal event. Again, following protests generate by ANIMAL, on the
afternoon of the 23rd April, a public relations officer of the bank
contacted ANIMAL to explain that the bank was, in fact, sponsoring
the students´ general festivities (which included mostly music
concerts and other cruelty-free events) but had specified that it
wanted to have no association with the bullfight. This sadistic
spectacle did take place on the 30th April, sadly, but without any
sponsor left.
3.
On 8th May, UNICER (partially holded by the CARLSBERG group)
responded to the many requests it had received about a bullfight
that was being announced for 10th May and of which UNICER was a
sponsor, via its popular beer brand, “Super Bock”. On the statement
issued by the company regarding this matter, a senior communication
officer of UNICER said, “the association of our brand with this
bullfight was an operational mistake” and “UNICER will now withdraw
all the advertising materials associating our brand to this event”.
The statement by UNICER went happily beyond a simple dissociation
of the company regarding this particular bullfight when it stated
that “UNICER and its brands respects animal rights and their
interests” and “the association of our brands with events of this
sort is not part of our communication strategy. We also confirm
that it is not part of our plan to change this position in the
future”. Again, the shameful bullfight took place, but without
sponsors, so it was not a profitable event.
4.
After having been targeted by national and international protests
for being presented as “Supporter” of a pro-bullfighting weekly TV
programme in Portugal, international group KODAK not only removed
its association from the programme but it also made a much stronger
statement. On 26th May, KODAK UK Chairman, Julian Baust, wrote, in
a letter to the League Against Cruel Sports, “KODAK in no way
condones cruelty to animals. Upon being made aware of this
situation, KODAK requested that the association of the KODAK brand
with the programme cease”, informing the League that KODAK had
already instructed its Portuguese distributor to cease the
association of the brand with the above mentioned TV programme
before receiving the League’s letter.
5.
28th May – two days after KODAK stated its distance from
bullfighting and animal cruelty, international hotel chain Marriott
International responded to the many messages that the group was
receiving about a “bullfighting tourism package” that one of its
hotels in Portugal was offering to its clients, thus promoting the
“bullfighting tourism” on the Portuguese town where this hotel was
located, Caldas da Rainha. Responding to the protests, the Marriott
International Sales & Marketing Vice-President for Continental
Europe informed the concerned consumers who had sent messages to
the group that the “bullfighting package” was no longer available
and had been terminated.
6.
On 12th May, a Portuguese nationwide tabloid, “24 Horas”, was no
longer announced as one of the supporters of a bullfight that was
to take place at Lisbon’s Bullring on May 15th. Despite the fact
that this tabloid had sponsored the bullfights that had previously
took place at that bullring and despite the fact that it has again
become involved as a supporter of other bullfights (and is actually
organising its own bullfight, to take place in early July), “24
Horas” has indeed bounced and stepped back once, ending its
association with that particular bullfight, contrarily to what was
announced before.
7.
Yesterday, 17th June, it was Melka’s turn. This Swedish clothing
brand was announced as supporter of the pro-bullfighting TV
programme that KODAK had dissociated from. Following the protests
sent to Melka, the company´s Iberian Regional Manager sent a
message to ANIMAL saying that “Melka did not have or has any
intention of associating its name to any cruel event and especially
not if it involves cruelty to animals” and stating that “the people
who head our brand are humane and sensitive”. This company manager
also said that he was “on the other side”, where “there are also
people who share the same animal protection concerns that move you,
which is my case”, and he specified that the company wanted to
“take this opportunity […] to present our apologies about this
matter and about its eventually offensive aspect” and that they had
already “given specific instructions to the presenter of the
programme to withdraw any identification of the brand from this
programme”. The programme was left without
sponsors.
Other
companies are currently being targeted with equal protests and
calls to end their association with bullfighting in
Portugal.
Rita
Silva, Vice-President of ANIMAL, said, “the message that we are
sending to these and to all the companies, actually, is that to
support the torture of animals in bullfights is not only ethically
unacceptable, it is also a disastrous option, in terms of
advertising, promotional and commercial effects. All around the
world and certainly in Portugal, consumers are becoming more aware,
informed, concerned and active. They will boycott a product, brand
or company when they engage in conducts which disrespect human
rights, animal rights or the conservation of nature – but they will
also be especially interested in giving preference to products,
services, brands and companies that are ethically, humanely,
socially and ecologically responsible, as a way of rewarding their
good practices. This means that companies which have walked away
from bullfighting or which are not at all involved with this
barbaric and bloody activity are favourite companies to caring
consumers , while companies which get involved with bullfighting
and maintain that involvement will be boycotted as a way of protest
against their wrongful ethical stance on this matter. Consumers
hold an enormous power to change what is wrong and that is proving
to be true in Portugal. ANIMAL can only feel happy and proud of
helping to make this change happen”.
“Without
all these sponsorships that the bullfighting industry has lost in
Portugal and without other new sponsorships that this immoral
industry will no longer be able to attract, based on the clear
message that the last two months have sent, the existence of
bullfighting in Portugal is even more strongly threatened. The end
of the sadistic and dark brutalisation of animals in bullfights is
coming to its end in Portugal”, said ANIMAL’s
Vice-President.
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