Saturday, December 28, 2013

The Bedele Brewery PR disaster

Success by Scandal, Blood Beer
Not all PR campaigns hit their intended targets. In fact some PR ads and campaigns can go way far too negative and become a PR disaster, like the recent case of Badele beer, a subsidiary of Heineken.
In this month of Dec/2013, Bedele Brewery, a local subsidiary of the Dutch beer maker Heineken NV, announced its exclusive sponsorship agreement with singer Tewodros Kassahun. Kasahun is a polarizing star in Ethiopia. He is infamously known for writing lyrics to glorify and immortalize Abyssinian past dictators whom a great majority of the country’s population describe as Hitler’s of Africa.
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Boycott Bedele campaign
Disaster ensued soon for Bedele Brewery. A viral social media campaign, which goes with hashtag #BoycottBedele, went ablaze. At the beginning it was a call on Bedele Brewery management to cut ties with the infamous artist. Organizers then launched a call to boycott Heineken’s products when the Brewery refused to comment.
Badele Brewery ( Heineken)  is not alone in such PR disasters. There have been countless corporate PR disasters in the globalized world we live in, especially in the new era of digital technology. This is so true particularly when the PR carries unintended message that is racist, sexiest, or outright insensitive commercial.
In the PR disasters of recent years that I listed below, Companies have apologized for their wrongs and severed ties with their carriers.
-   In 2001, Philip Morris Tobacco giant got burnt in the blaze of public outrage when it claimed its study showed death related to smoking is financial good for the Czech government. The company faced a huge backlash from this insensitive and inhuman comment.
-   McDonald’s, Nutella and Coca cola all dropped Kobe Bryant ( Lakers star) after he was accused of sexual assault in 2003. The financial cost to the star was in tens of millions of dollars.
-   H and M cancelled ads and Channel, and also severed their ties with model Kate Moss after a London tabloid run photos of her snorting cocaine.
-    O. J Simpson, a football career professional lost a 2.5 million/ year contract with Hertz commercial, when he was charged accused of the murder of his ex-wife.  He was not convicted of course.
Heineken so far refused to comment. Quite often most companies with similar PR disaster refuse to accept wrongs until wide spread public outcry forced them to respond. Heineken’s decision to continue with their promotion no matter how disastrous it is has definitely proven to be a grave miscalculation with gravely underestimated consequences.  Perhaps the company believed their insensitive promotion causes little damage in a country where social media penetration is minimal. They might also miscalculated such unethical and immoral promotion may not find its way to the Western world where consumers are conscious ethics of the producers of products they buy. How so wrong!
Following the company’s silence, Oromos all over the world have taken to the social media.  Tweeter, facebook, and blogs have gone ablaze with calls to boycott Heineken products nationwide. Oromo nationals living in diaspora are  sending messages  and calling their relatives, friends and community leaders to inform them to stay away from what is now labelled “blood beer”.
Though it is difficult to know the final damage to Heinaeken’s market share in Oromia, the campaign so far has attracted over 23,000 members in just two days. Judging by similar previous campaign to boycott Pepsi (after it failed to use Afan Oromo to brand its products in Oromia region), the result could be deadly for Heineken and a night mare for Tedy Afro. It is expected that Tedy Afro’s  “Holy WAR TOUR” will face a formidable resistance throughout Oromia and other nations and Nationalities.
Reactions in Ethiopia
For Teddy and his minority Amahara elites it is Success by Scandal.
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Teddy Afro in Imperial customs
For Teddy Afro, the artist whom Bedele Brewery sponsored, any publicity is a good publicity. Teddy is very familiar with successes driven from scandals. It might seem contradictory that any form of success follows from scandals, but scandals attract attentions, and this attention is the beginning of notoriety and other successes. Teddy’s large publicity and success is the result of his notoriety. He publicly admires kings and emperors who murdered millions. He insulted the Tigrai people and  the liberation struggle of Tigrai people in which thousands paid their dear life ( Yastesariyal). In careless driving, he killed a homeless person and he bought his freedom by bribing authorities. The cynical Tedy has reportedly said the massacre of people of the Southern Ethiopia during Menilik’s campaign was a “ HOLY WAR”. In all the above incidents, negative press and criticism followed. But Teddy kept aloof. He earned a Masaya like adoration among the Amahara elites.
The core Amahara elites who support Tedy Afro’s promotion as a unifying event are celebrating their victory over the colonized South. There is a speculation that despite their loyalty to  Habesha beer, more Amaha elites  will be attracted to Bedele beer, in support of their artist  who re-incarnate their genocide kings and reminds them of  the golden era where they lived on the sweats of poor peasantry.
 For Oromo and other South Nations it is Blood Beer
Among the Oromos, the outrage is so high that more than 23,000 people in just two days have taken out  to the social media to boycott Heineken’s highly selling brand, the Bedele Beer.  The boycott crowed has created a horrifying mental image that associate Bedele Beer with the blood of martyrs ( the millions of innocent victims massacred at Calanqoo and anolee- in Oromia).  The image has begun to burn into the minds of millions of Oromo nationals who once have been loyal to the Bedele.
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One of the many boycott Bedele Beer posters
Bedele Brewery  and its mother company Hennaken, the protesters say, have made a choice to take side with our oppressors. We can also make a choice today. We can make a bold but simple choice not to buy their product. We must be able to refuse to finance “THE HOLY WAR”  Minilkis children are about to take to our homeland.  We can make a big difference not just in stopping Teddy and this dehumanizing promotion, but in shaping the future of our nation, simply by using our demographic majority.  Donot underestimate the cost to Bedele beer of not buying one bottle of beer. Inform each other, that if each one of us quit buying just a bottle of beer per person, we can make multimillion dollar dent in the pocket of Heineken who opted to walk with the likes of Hitler. Once again, don’t under estimate your collective power.  We can give Bedele Brewery a lesson that they can’t afford playing around with our wounds. We can force Bedele Brewery to honor the victims not the criminals. Stop the “ HOLY WAR” crusaders from re-victimizing survivors of Meniliks genocide. We can put an end to their insensitive campaign together. BOYCOTT BEDELE BEER. Protest at every village, mountain, and cities that the “ HOLY WAR” crusader Teddy Afro shows up!
Stop them from dancing on the bones and bloods of our martyrs! Down with those who condone crime and criminals.
The protesters still hope, the company apologize and severe ties with the divisive artist. Heineken have a chance to re-examine its relationship with this racist artist-Distance itself from Tedy by immediately severing ties and keep the long established friendship with Oromo nation. Until they do so , the protesters said their boycott campaign shall continue.  The next steps will be:
-     Organize a formidable protest to counter the march of “ Holy War crusaders” on the bones of our martyrs.
-   Expose Heineken’s insensitive, unethical, immoral, and inhuman promotion to Heineken’s global patrons, particularly those in Holland whose tax money sponsor Oromo nationals who are victim of repression by Ethiopian regime.
-   Contact global media outlets with global outreach to expose this insensitive promotion and shame Heineken.
At the moment, global medias have already begun covering the boycott campaign. The following is a link to one coverage from the handful of the Dutch newspapers/sites covering the #BoycottBedele.
More information:


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