Gan Yavne, June 5 – A politically active resident of this bedroom community in Israel’s southern coastal plain, observing American social unrest surrounding stores or products that publicly embrace a pro-LBGT stance, lamented today his country’s lack of chains or companies that make sense as targets of a mass consumer pressure movement.
Acquaintances of Asaf Moreno, 36, recounted his expressed disappointment this week following reports of conservative backlash in the US against such commercial giants as Anheuser-Busch and Target over the adoption of progressive marketing strategies that clashed with the political sensibilities of large swaths of those brands’ core demographic. Moreno, they reported, voiced his frustration that Israel boasts no prominent retailer or product line that has waded into such political territory, depriving local social conservatives of the opportunity to demonstrably withhold business from those establishments or products.
“What rotten luck,” they heard Moreno mutter. “We don’t even have a Starbuck’s or a Subway anymore.” Israel’s coffee culture proved incompatible with the Starbuck’s model, experts say, and the company’s attempted foray into the Israeli market fizzled on arrival. Dunkin Donuts fared little better in its efforts two decades ago, and Subway enjoyed a brief tenure in a couple of the country’s major cities before assembling its last sandwich here.
Analysts noted that marketers in Israel have long known not to tread into certain politically-fraught waters, given the polarization that has plagued the electorate for at least twenty years. International giants such as McDonald’s, IBM, H&M, Pizza Hut, Bath & Body Works, Children’s Place, Toys ‘R’ Us, and others have all enjoyed some success in Israel – while avoiding overtly political or controversial stances.
Even retailers such as Papa John’s and Domino’s Pizza, explicitly catering to the more liberal non-kosher market, and open on the Sabbath, have maintained a presence in mostly-conservative Jerusalem. Observers can recall no lasting or prominent participation by such brands in recent anti-government protests. Moreno, grimacing, cursed the marketing departments of those and other large retail names for their conservative – in the sense of keeping to the proven and familiar – advertising policy decisions, as a result of which he and like-minded conservative – in the sense of opposing radical political and social change – activists in Israel have no one to boycott.
“It would be so much more satisfying to not buy from someone for what feels like righteous reasons,” he grumbled. “It’s kind of unfair that the BDS people get that outlet, even if they don’t really adhere to an actual boycott.”
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