More than a third of all consumers boycott at least one brand
Written by GMI, Inc.
Thursday, 15 September 2005
More than a third of consumers worldwide boycott at least one brand. This is the result of the latest global GMIPoll, an online opinion poll that surveyed 15,500 consumers in 17 countries.
Unfair labour practices and unhealthy products mean shoppers leave the goods on the shelves
Amongst the keenest boycotters were the Chinese, with more than half of the respondents saying they refused to buy products from certain manufacturers. Denmark (49%) and France (46%) came a close second and third.
Mexican and Japanese consumers on the other hand seemed to be most tolerant with only 15% of Mexican respondents and one fifth of Japanese respondents avoiding particular brands.
Overall, 36% of all consumers worldwide – and a higher percentage of men than women – said they were boycotting products. The most boycotted brands, according to the survey, were Nike, Coca Cola, McDonald’s and Nestle. The Germans had the highest number of brands on their black lists including local ones such as Adidas, Opel and Mercedes, while Chinese consumers said they avoided mainly local brands and Sony.
"These findings will be very concerning to these adept marketing companies, as it demonstrates the risk to the value of their brands. Clearly they are not connecting with their local marketplaces as well as they could," said Allyson Stewart-Allen, Director of marketing consulting firm International Marketing Partners .
"This is why we are currently developing a Brand Barometer together with GMI to allow companies to monitor on a regular basis how they are perceived around the world. They can then act on the insights about their brand perceptions and implement more focused local marketing programs."
Among the most frequently given reasons for boycotting were unfair labour practices and unhealthy products. Bad publicity and country origination played a less important role.
However, 18% of those asked also said they wouldn’t buy products produced by countries that don’t respect the Kyoto agreement aimed at slowing down global warming, while 28% weren't aware of the agreement at all.
A fourth of all consumers worldwide claimed they were 'environmentally responsible' or 'socially responsible' rather than average shoppers.
For an in depth view of the findings please click here.
About GMIPoll
GMIPoll quickly and accurately gathers international opinions about topical issues and critical global events, with real-time results available in as little as 24 hours. GMIPoll is the only survey that polls global opinions in real time, on-line, and with statistically accurate results.
About GMI
GMI provides integrated solutions for market research. The company’s advanced software, Net-MR, is a fully integrated net-centric suite of software tools used to manage and automate research throughout the project lifecycle, across the globe. Additionally, GMI’s highly profiled, double opt-in panels offer a single-vendor solution for global sample. One of the worlds largest actively managed panels, it contains 200 country panels, more countries than any other supplier. With operations on five continents, GMI is the partner of choice for conducting global market research at the speed of the Internet.
