Verena Nowotny

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Shortly after the riots in Tibet in March 2008, some protests by Tibetans in exile occured during the Olympic torch relay in European cities. On April 7, Jin Jing was attacked by a demonstrator who tried to grab the Olympic torch from her. The picture of this woman sitting in a wheelchair who tried to protect the torch with her fragile body captured the hearts of the Chinese. Jin Jing was immediately declared a hero. At the same time, the Chinese public was rather furios at Europe, especially at France.

This anger needed a vent. The Chinese started to find a suitable tool with the Internet and a suitable target in French companies. Being one of the biggest and most visible French companies in China, the retail chain Carrefour unexpectedly - and innocently - becomes the main target. Chinese consumers started campaigns in the Internet to stage a boycott of Carrefour and organize protests in front of Carrefour outlets throughout China. In a survey of the webportal Netease.com 95% of 43,000 stated that they would support a boycott of Carrefour (source: China Daily). More than 20 million people signed online petitions that call for a boycott, planned for the month of May.

Although Carrefour has nothing to do with Tibet and also had no particularly visible role during the Olympic Games, the company found itself confronted with a serious threat. Carrefour reacted swiftly and very effectively. On April 19, Carrefour published a statement on its website that “the company has never done and will never do anything that hurts the feelings of the Chinese people”. CEO Eric Legros stressed in an interview with the Chinese newspaper China Daily that Carrefour wholeheartedly supported the Olympic Games and that he felt ashamed by the events in Paris. Ten days later, Legros announced a further expansion of Carrefour in China.

At the same time, Carrefour spreaded one message: „Carrefour has 112 outlets in China with 45,000 employees - 99% of them are CHINESE. Carrefour has a turnover of 30 billion yuan (about 3 billion Euro) in China - 99% of the products are MADE IN CHINA”. Gradually, this message could be found in online discussion forums; and the Chinese started to think whether they hit the wrong guy.

However, the most charming move of Carrefour was a sale a few days after the news about a boycott became known: half price for all products. Thus, Carrefour caused a real dilemma in the Chinese soul as it is really hard for a Chinese to ignore a good bargain - France or no.
The result of this clever and prompt crisis communication: the demonstrations disappear soon; the boycott does not happen, and Carrefour is still one of the most respected companies in China. Well done.