Nestle in Azerbaijan CD blunder
By Elettra Neysmith
West Asia editor, BBC News
Story from BBC NEWS:
europe/7382415.stm
Published: 2008/05/03 19:31:44 GMT
The Swiss-based multinational food company, Nestle, has apologised to
Azerbaijan after a free gift attached to a breakfast cereal backfired.
The CD-ROM featured information about countries around the world but
the data on Azerbaijan caused outrage there.
It said that Azerbaijan had started a war against neighbouring Armenia
and that the hotly disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh belonged to
Armenia.
Nestle has withdrawn the cereal and promised to seize the offending
CDs.
Tense and volatile
Conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia in the early 1990s over
Nagorno-Karabakh killed an estimated 30,000 people.
Hundreds of thousands of refugees were created on both sides.
And despite a peace deal in 1994, the situation remains tense and
volatile.
Nestle inadvertently stumbled into a minefield.
The Azeri government vowed to take action, and there has been
widespread talk of a public boycott.
Nestle has now issued a formal apology but some Azeris are still not
happy.
They accuse Nestle of playing Armenia’s hand, and are demanding more
than just an apology to chew on.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress