For a variety of reasons, American companies that sell globally say that they have so far experienced little if any disruption from discontent over the war in Iraq. For the most part, consumers around the world seem as likely to be influenced by economic conditions as by politics. And, in a display of the growing sophistication in marketing big American brands in global markets, many people see products originating from the United States as firmly rooted in their own home nations.
Even Muslims in the Middle East and Southeast Asia do not seem to translate their anger into a boycott of American products. For example, as Hidayat bin Ismail, 19, emerged Friday from midday prayers at the Sultan Mosque in Singapore, he acknowledged that he was still patronizing places like McDonald's and KFC even after seeing the pictures of American soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners.
posted by Blicero : 5/10/2004 12:33:00 AM
