Starbucks has emerged as the latest brand to fall foul of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protesters after a family member of a local caterer that runs the local franchise spoke out against demonstrators.
Multiple branches were covered with graffiti over the weekend as the territory convulsed with some of the most intense clashes between hardcore protesters and riot police in weeks.
One cafe in Wanchai District was daubed with “boycott” slogans, as well as insults to the police and Maxim’s Caterers, the major Hong Kong restaurant chain that runs Starbucks outlets in the territory.
Photo: AFP
The vandalism illustrates the huge pressures on international brands as Beijing pressures businesses to publicly condemn the protests. Those that do risk a protester backlash — but staying silent risks financial punishment in China, a far more lucrative market.
The boycott campaign against Maxim’s snowballed after Annie Wu (伍淑清), the daughter of Maxim’s wealthy founder, delivered a speech earlier this month in which she condemned the protests and said that Beijing’s hardline stance against the pro-democracy advocates should be supported.
She was speaking at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva alongside Pansy Ho (何超瓊), a billionaire casino magnate who made similar calls.
Their comments were seized on by protesters and portrayed as an example of how Hong Kong’s wealthy elite are out of touch with public sentiment and in the pockets of Beijing.
Prominent democracy campaigner Joshua Wong (黃之鋒) was among those calling for a boycott of Starbucks since Wu’s speech and more than 50,000 people have signed a petition asking the Seattle-headquartered company to sever ties with Maxim’s.
“We herein urge the Board of Directors to consider whether Maxim’s truly represents the social values of Starbucks and terminate the franchise to Maxim’s immediately,” Wong wrote on Twitter on Friday.
Maxim’s did not respond to requests for comment yesterday, but it has previously issued statements distancing itself from Wu’s comments and saying that she is not employed by the company.
Other major brands have been rounded on by protesters, either for pro-Beijing comments made by owners or because the owners themselves are linked to the Chinese Communist Party.
Yoshinoya, a popular beef bowl chain, and Genki Sushi — also owned by Maxim’s — have been repeatedly tagged with graffiti, along with Bank of China branches.
Brands deemed to be sympathetic to protesters have also had a torrid time and faced boycotts in China. Chinese authorities tore into Cathay Pacific after staff joined protests, forcing the company to go through stricter regulatory checks.
The moves led to major staff changes on Cathay’s board, including the resignation of its CEO, as well as multiple staff being fired for expressing pro-democracy sentiments, something some employees have described as a “purge.”
A new online voting system aimed at boosting turnout among the Philippines’ millions of overseas workers ahead of Monday’s mid-term elections has been marked by confusion and fears of disenfranchisement. Thousands of overseas Filipino workers have already cast their ballots in the race dominated by a bitter feud between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his impeached vice president, Sara Duterte. While official turnout figures are not yet publicly available, data from the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) showed that at least 134,000 of the 1.22 million registered overseas voters have signed up for the new online system, which opened on April 13. However,
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
CONFLICTING REPORTS: Beijing said it was ‘not familiar with the matter’ when asked if Chinese jets were used in the conflict, after Pakistan’s foreign minister said they were The Pakistan Army yesterday said it shot down 25 Indian drones, a day after the worst violence between the nuclear-armed rivals in two decades. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed to retaliate after India launched deadly missile strikes on Wednesday morning, escalating days of gunfire along their border. At least 45 deaths were reported from both sides following Wednesday’s violence, including children. Pakistan’s military said in a statement yesterday that it had “so far shot down 25 Israeli-made Harop drones” at multiple location across the country. “Last night, India showed another act of aggression by sending drones to multiple locations,” Pakistan military spokesman Ahmed
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
RSS