In the week that Starbucks accuse Black Gold of being “inaccurate”, a global campaign is launched against the company.
October 26th, 2006 by Marc & Nick Francis
After taking Black Gold on a world tour since January, it was extra poignant to screen the film in our home city at The BFI 50th London Film Festival. Just a few weeks earlier Black Gold was released in cinemas in the US.
Whilst Black Gold doesn’t focus on one company, the premiere in London provoked Starbucks to email all its employees in the UK, accusing the film of being “inaccurate” and “incomplete”.
It’s worth noting that we spent nearly six months trying to interview Starbucks for the film. They declined the invitation as did the largest coffee multinationals who dominate the industry: Kraft, Nestle, Proctor & Gamble, and Sara Lee.
During the festival this week The Times of London, noted that “Starbucks is now spearheading a public relations counter-attack.”
Their reaction is reminiscent of what happened at our world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, where Starbucks mounted a “charm offensive” in an attempt to win over the press.
Starbucks declined invitations from the media to join us on air and talk about the film and the issues it raises. However representatives from Kraft and Sara Lee’s subsidiary Douwe Egberts, did participate in some live shows earlier in the week. In all cases these companies talked up the tiny percentage of “fair trade” or so-called “sustainable” coffee they supply.
It’s these tactics that prompted Consumers International to urge companies to “mainstream sustainable initiatives throughout all its coffee brands, not just PR-friendly niche products.”
The Ethiopian Ambassador to the UK, after seeing Black Gold said, “multinationals who are reaping the benefits of the most valuable commodities in the world, have a responsibility to act.”
Though by the end of the week, that message wasn’t being heard by Starbucks. They are opposing Ethiopia’s plan to trademark its own coffee names which could bring coffee farmers an estimated £47 million per year. And so a global campaign against the company has just been launched – a story covered in the Guardian.
The newspaper quotes Tadesse Meskela, the main character in Black Gold, who is currently in the US presenting the film: “Farmers are losing out while others in the chain are making huge amounts of money.”
All in all it’s been a manic week…..
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Black Gold screens tonight at the Ritzy Cinema in Brixton.
Next Monday, 30th October, the Black Gold filmmakers will be on a panel entitled “Food for Thought” with Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation.
Black Gold opens in Germany on Nov 2nd and is expected to be released in the UK in Spring 2007.
