Soy milk manufacturer caught in a furore on the mainland over a work colleague’s sympathy for the killer’s family; company gets entangled in Hong Kong’s fevered politics
(AF) Hong Kong beverage maker Vitasoy scrambled on Monday – when its shares plunged 12% – to recover from a crisis caused by a former employee who stabbed and nearly killed a Hong Kong policeman late last week.
Vitasoy shares suffered their biggest single-day drop since the company’s listing in 1994 after a worker sent around a memo offering condolences to the family of a 50-year-old colleague who stabbed the policeman, 28, and then killed himself on Thursday, the anniversary the former British colony’s return to Chinese rule and 100th anniversary of Communist Party’s founding.
The man’s memo was posted online and led to a flood of social media users in China calling for a boycott of the company, which gets around two-thirds of its revenue from the mainland.
The drama illustrated the precarious situation that many businesses face when they get caught up in Hong Kong’s bitterly divided politics as authorities carry out a sweeping crackdown on dissent in the financial hub.
Vitasoy said in a statement on social media platform Weibo on Saturday that a staff member circulated an internal memo that was widely shared online, describing it as “extremely inappropriate” and without authorisation. It said the company reserved the right to take legal action.
“Vitasoy Group sincerely apologises for any troubles or grievances this has caused. We support Hong Kong’s long-term prosperity, stability and development,” it said.
But while the company sought to quickly distance itself from its former employee’s actions, consumers in China rounded on the brand. China’s authoritarian government has cultivated a hyper-nationalist internet where consumer boycotts have been extremely effective at hammering any brand perceived to be disloyal to Beijing.
By Monday afternoon, the topic “Get out of the mainland, Vitasoy” had allegedly been seen by 120 million readers on Weibo, the local Twitter-like platform.
Mainland actors Gong Jun and Ren Jialun, who have worked with Vitasoy, said they planned to end ties with the company, according to the Global Times tabloid.
Police and security officials have described the stabbing as a terrorist attack by a ‘lone wolf’, saying a computer they seized from his home showed he had been “radicalised.” Police did not provide further details about his alleged radicalisation.
Many residents in Hong Kong view the police as instrumental in the political crackdown in the city, which has been deeply polarised over the past 18 months.
But city authorities warned on Sunday that advocating for people to mourn for the attacker was no different from “supporting terrorism” and criticised parents who took children to mourn him.
Meanwhile, the condition of the police officer, who suffered a punctured lung, has improved and he is expected to survive.
This report was updated with further information from AFP.
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