6 million join Namyang boycott
Namyang CEO Kim Woong, third from left, and senior executives of the company bow in apology at a press conference at Brown Stone, downtown Seoul, Thursday, over a recent scandal concerning a company sales agent attempting to force a storeowner to buy excess products. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
By Cho Mu-hyun
The consumer boycott campaign against Namyang Dairy is gaining rapid momentum despite an apology for the misconduct of its sales personnel who allegedly pushed excess products on distributors among other unfair business practices.
Self-employed store owners vowed Thursday to boycott products from Namyang, one of the nation’s leading dairy producers.
The boycott was set in motion after an audio recording of an employee cursing and threatening a wholesaler was posted on YouTube last Friday.
Around 150 small business associations have jointly demanded compensation, and threatened to start a nationwide boycott from May 20 participated in by some 6 million store owners.
They demanded compensation for “material and psychological damages” caused to the victim of the threats.
Earlier on Wednesday, leading convenience store chains C&U, GS25 and 7-Eleven said they will also boycott the company’s products. They said they sympathized with independent store owners, and over 15,000 franchise stores promised to participate.
Wholesalers as well as sales agents have complained that the company “pushes” forced sale orders. The strong-arm tactics have prompted investigations by the Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office and the Fair Trade Commission. Prosecutors are looking into whether the company forced distributors to pay kickbacks during holidays.
Namyang CEO Kim Woong admitted that the firm was indeed forcing agents to “push” out products and said he “took full responsibility for the recent situation.”
He vowed to change the sales environment to lessen the pressure on sales agents to meet high targets.
Kim also promised to establish a fund worth 50 billion won to help wholesalers. Along with senior executives of the company, he publicly apologized by bowing.
He had earlier issued an apology via the company’s website, Saturday, a day after the audio was leaked, and announced that the employee implicated in the scandal had been fired.
Protestors threw Namyang’s milk, juice and coffee products in front of its office in Namdaemun, downtown Seoul, Monday, despite the apology on the homepage.
Local firms that sell beverages with expiration dates have for a long time pushed left over stocks at the end of the month to prevent losses. This practice was thought to have been abandoned, until the recent scandal according to industry sources.