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More than a third of all consumers boycott at least one brand

Unfair labour practices and unhealthy products mean shoppers leave the goods on the shelves

Seattle, August 29, 2005 - More than a third of consumers worldwide boycott at least one brand. This is the result of the latest global GMI Poll, an online opinion poll that surveyed 15,500 consumers in 17 countries.

Amongst the keenest boycotters were the Chinese, with more than half of the respondents saying they refused to buy products from certain manufacturers. Denmark (49%) and France (46%) came a close second and third.

Mexican and Japanese consumers on the other hand seemed to be most tolerant with only 15% of Mexican respondents and one fifth of Japanese respondents avoiding particular brands.

Overall, 36% of all consumers worldwide - and a higher percentage of men than women - said they were boycotting products. The most boycotted brands, according to the survey, were Nike, Coca Cola, McDonald's and Nestle. The Germans had the highest number of brands on their black lists including local ones such as Adidas, Opel and Mercedes, while Chinese consumers said they avoided mainly local brands and Sony.

"These findings will be very concerning to these adept marketing companies, as it demonstrates the risk to the value of their brands. Clearly they are not connecting with their local marketplaces as well as they could," said Allyson Stewart-Allen, Director of marketing consulting firm International Marketing Partners .

"This is why we are currently developing a Brand Barometer together with GMI to allow companies to monitor on a regular basis how they are perceived around the world. They can then act on the insights about their brand perceptions and implement more focused local marketing programs."

Among the most frequently given reasons for boycotting were unfair labour practices and unhealthy products. Bad publicity and country origination played a less important role. However, 18% of those asked also said they wouldn't buy products produced by countries that don't respect the Kyoto agreement aimed at slowing down global warming, while 28% weren't aware of the agreement at all.

A fourth of all consumers worldwide claimed they were 'environmentally responsible' or 'socially responsible' rather than average shoppers.

About GMI Poll

GMI Poll quickly and accurately gathers international opinions about topical issues and critical global events, with real-time results available in as little as 24 hours. GMI Poll is the only survey that polls global opinions in real time, online, and with statistically accurate results.

About GMI

GMI (Global Market Insite, Inc.) is the only company that provides comprehensive integrated solutions for global market intelligence for both market research firms and corporate market research departments at Global 2000 companies. Solutions include Net-MR®, a suite of software tools to manage and automate research throughout the project lifecycle, desktop analysis tools, 24x7x365 service bureau capabilities, and one of the world’s largest, highly profiled, double opt-in managed panels, spanning across 200 countries. In addition, GMI offers high-value, real-time enterprise feedback solutions for customer, partner and employee programs. Founded in 1999 with world headquartersin Seattle, Wash., GMI has operations on five continents.