Is there any evidence the French boycott by some people actually had any effect on any French companies or the French economy as a whole?
Here in Wichita, Kansas there were a great number of "Total"gas stations/convenience stores. Several months ago, they changed all the gas logos to “Diamond Shamrock”. They’re both owned by the same (French) company, Fina SA, I believe, but the average driver is much more likely to associate Total Petroleum with France. Just conjecture of course. And no hostility intended-I like the French.
As luck would have it, I just saw this a reference to this story at Media whores online. “Despite threatening to boycott French products when Paris opposed the U.S.-led war in Iraq, Americans overtook Germans as the biggest spenders on France’s Bordeaux wines in the 2002-03 sales year.” Of course, that’s only one rather small piece of evidence.
I have seen no evidence that any French products were boycotted at all. I think some people poured a little wine into the gutter, but the wine had already been bought. French fries were not French to begin with and no one stopped eating them. It would really surprise me if the import of French perfumes and cheeses fell. I wonder if tourism dropped at all.
I would think that boycotts would have had to be fairly organized to work.
I have read here at SDMB and elsewhere that the French are able to separate the way they feel about the American government from the way they feel about Americans. We would be wise to do the same, I think.
I went to Paris this summer. Always wanted to go. The French press were bemoaning the lack of tourists, so presumably the boycott had some effect. My hotel discounted rooms by 40%. On the other hand, it was just before the heat wave.
Indeed we would. Seems to me that the French are pretty awesome. I think their percieved snottiness comes from their having been run down by the Germans twice in 20 years. Americans should not forget that had it not been for the French, we wouldn’t have a country.
I doubt it – we’ve been short of tourists in the UK too. Folks all over have been leery of air travel for a couple of years now. I did hear that the number of American tourists to the UK has gone up in the last 2–3 months, though, so perhaps things are starting to return to normal.
But this wasn’t necessarily either because of any boycott or especially a French problem. The British tourist industry has been equally vocal in blaming weak business this year on Americans staying away because of the war (and SARS). Whatever the reason, the year’s numbers to date for visitors to the UK from North and South America are down (though, to my eye, consistently with a longer term trend).
The traditional explanation is that American tourists are scared to travel, even to Europe, when a major overseas war is in the news. There was a similar drop in 1991 at the time of the first Gulf War.
When was the second time? Or did you mean twice in 70 years.
In any way, I fail to see the connection. I blame it more on misinterpreted cultural signals. It has to do with language, in the very, very broad sense of the word. Add to the mix a dash of diverging values.
This may be a bit of a tangent, but whather the boycott was effective may depend on what you mean by a “French company.”
My wife is in advertising. Last year, she lost her account with a French restaurant that had been with her company for a decade. People in town decided that the best way to “boycott the French” was to refuse to patronize a local business. They had already laid off a good part of their staff before they gave up advertising.
Sorry. Apparently, I stood on my head to type that ‘e’.
Well, one possible effect might be the retirement of Concorde. As I understand it, Air France had to retire their fleet due to lower demand. I heard on the news (BBC, IIRC) that this was due to Americans not flying Air France as often as before.
That then would have increased the maintenance bill for the BA fleet, thus taking them into loss. So the BA fleet was retired as well.
Don’t have a cite though, so it may well be that Air France retired their fleet for other reasons.
I meant the decimation of their male population in WWI, by the Germans, and the occupation in WWII, also by the Germans. I think a run of bad luck like that does something to a National Psyche. If the U.S. got run over like that, we’d be a little prickly too.
Diverging values? What are you talking about? Let’s break it down.
[ul]
[li]Liberty: The French love it, so do Americans.[/li][li]Equality: The French love it, so do we, sort of.[/li][li]Fraternity: The French love their Brotherhood (that revolutionary streak runs deep), but Americans? Um, I rushed, dude…did you?[/li][/ul]
Yeah. I see what you mean.
Total is owned by Total.
Diamond Shamrock is owned by Valero.
The closure of the stations you mention is here.
I would guess that the Total gas stations were sold to Valero a while back, but they’ve only recently rebranded them. The timing is probably just coincidence.
Total is owned by Total.
Diamond Shamrock is owned by Valero.
The closure of the stations you mention is here.
I would guess that the Total gas stations were sold to Valero a while back, but they’ve only recently rebranded them. The timing is probably just coincidence.
This was probably due to the general decline in air travel that followed 9/11. The industry still hasn’t recovered. Several American airlines have gone out of business or merged in the last couple of years.
The fatal Concorde crash in July 2000 probably didn’t help either.
The US Dollar was trading at about 1 Euro until the beginning of 2003, it dropped to about Euro 0.83 around Feb/March, and has never really recovered.
This has probably weighed pretty heavily on Americans buying European products, and coming here as tourists (in dollars everything now costs about 15 ~ 20 % more). Based on what I’m seeing though, US tourism in Paris seems to be picking back up.
Concerning a US consumer boycott of French products, I’m not sure that the volume of trade is sufficient to make the French economy vulnerable. The thread on steel tariffs may have some numbers by now .
Actually, BBC news said the following:
If anything the crash resulted in a decline of ridership for a fleet that was aging – the planes had to be retired anyway. And the fleet was run by British Airways as well as the French.
The decline in tourism has been hurtng countries worldwide. Not just France.
Yes, but now we can say the same about them. If the USA hadn’t rescued France in the World War (both of them), their country wouldn’t be around now. So that should count as payback for Gen Lafyette, etc.