(Founder and Chief of LVMH, Bernard Arnault)
Apparently, Bernard Arnault isn't worried about the recent boycott of LVMH that's spread across cyber space through Chinese blogs, chat rooms and discussion forums. The Cyber Boycott includes not only Louis Vuitton handbags and accessories, but all 60 companies owned and operated by LVMH including Christian Dior, Tag Heuer, Fendi, Marc Jacobs, etc. So far, over 20 million people have signed online petitions to join the boycott. (Read more here: NYT)
China is Louis Vuitton's third largest market (behind Japan and the USA)... but Arnault said in Le Figaro, "The consequences for our company are very limited". (Read more here: Forbes)
(Picture Credit: Patrick Kovarik for the New York Times)
The boycott stems from not only the little debacle as the Olympic torch worked its way through Paris, April 8 but general Western support of Tibet. Protesters for Human Rights and Tibetan freedom actually managed to extinguish the flame a few times in the scuffle.
Arnault actually said in response to the torch incident, "If we want to have dialogues with China, the Olympic torch should not have been a target of attacks when it passed Western cities... boycotting the Olympics is not a solution."
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[...] it looks like heck of a lot of people in China are still ticked off about the fiasco that ensued with the Olympic torch as it was carried through Paris. They’re [...]
for godness sakes how can china expect to be taken seriously as a nation when it resorts to such immature and foolish actions. i mean really what do they want, do they want their place back on the world stage by graciously accepting critisicm even if they dont do anything about it, or do they want to be ridiculed by the international community for childish and vindictive reactions in answer to a protest demonstrating free speech.