Personally, I shall not be watching the World Cup but, for those who do enjoy sport, perhaps a friendly email to the organisers and any sponsor would not go amiss.
Simply for the sake of the World Cup (a sporting event that makes millions for the companies listed below and many others), South Africa is 'cleaning up' their cities. They are doing this with the use of a group called 'The Red Ants' who are nothing but state supported militia. They go into a slum/township/area armed with clubs and iron bars and threaten/attack people who have no choice but to move on or be beaten. Their temporary accommodation is then bulldozed or sectioned off to prevent re-occupation. All in the name of sport and the World Cup.
Regardless of the legality of any slum or occupation, the use of armed thugs to evict people in this way is a disgrace to man, a disgrace to South Africa, a disgrace to those who advertise ('sponsor') their products through the World Cup, and a disgrace to the organisers.
Here is the Sunday Times article.
FIFA have the following sponsors and partners listed on their site here.
Here is a list of sponsors of the World Cup and contact email addresses where available - I indicate if there is an online option also.
Adidas - Web contact here.
BP Africa - Web contact here.
Coca-Cola - Investor relations here.
Emirates - Media.relations@emirates.com
FNB - Web contact here.
Sony - Web contact here.
Budweiser (Anheuser-Busch) - Web contact here.
Castrol - Web contact here. NB: 500 word limit to contact.
Continental - Web contact here.
Hyundai (USA - the FIFA World Cup link to them does not work) - Web contact here. NB: Max 400 words in contact form
Mahindra Satyam - Investor relations email is investorservices@mahindrasatyam.net
McDonalds Corporate Responsibility - Web contact here. NB: It was not working when I tried...
MTN Group - Investor relations contact is Yuraisha Moodley - Email is mood_yur@mtn.co.za OR investor_relations@mtn.co.za, Company secretary is Bongi Mtshali - Email is mtshal_b.co.za
NeoAfrica - Email contact is info@neoafrica.com
Prasa (Passenger Rail Service) - No clear means of contacting via web site or email...
Seara (part of Marfrig Group) - Investor relations director is Ricardo Florence dos Santos ricardo.florence@marfrig.com.br Remi Kaiber is Investor Relations Manger remi.kaiber@marfrig.com.br (note to mention Seara as the company)
Telkom ZA - Web contact here.
Visa - Web contact here.
Yingli Solar - Investor relations email is Katie Cralle - kcralle@brunswickgroup.com
What is really interesting is how difficult some companies make it to actually contact them easily and also how badly designed some of the input forms are (e.g., required fields that do not apply and cannot easily be entered...
All the email address above for easy copy and paste to an email CC or BCC:
Media.relations@emirates.com, investorservices@mahindrasatyam.net, mood_yur@mtn.co.za, mtshal_b.co.za, info@neoafrica.com, ricardo.florence@marfrig.com.br, remi.kaiber@marfrig.com.br, kcralle@brunswickgroup.com
Suggested text:
I note that your company is sponsoring the World Cup in South Africa. I find that the handling of preparations for this to be a bad reflection on your company. In particular I refer to the state supported attacks and beatings using the Red Ants as part of slum clearance just so that a 'nice clean image' can be presented to the world to be totally reprehensible and not in keeping with the aims of an international sporting event. By sponsoring the World Cup it is clear to me that you are condoning this abuse of individuals with the potential further threat of unrest that this brings. I cannot and will not support a company who condones such a thing and have advised all of my personal contacts that they should do the same. This is a disgrace.
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