On October 5, the CEO of Swedish hamburger chain Max said that they had stopped selling Dole fruit salads. A blogger had informed them about the lawsuit against BANANAS!*.
“We don’t like Dole’s actions. Suing a filmmaker instead of having a dialogue is despicable,” said Max CEO Richard Bergfors to the Realtid.se news website.
The story spread to news media all over Sweden, and journalists started contacting major food grocers ICA, Coop and Axood for comments. In an interview with Swedish news agency TT, a representative from ICA said that they had contacted Dole and demanded to have a talk about the film and the situation.
Swedish MPs Mats Johansson and Luciano Astudillo, who invited director Fredrik Gertten to screen BANANAS!* in the parliament, have invited representatives from ICA, Coop and Axfood to an informal lunch in relation to a meeting with the Swedish minister of culture. The meeting with be held in the parliament on October 15. Read more about the meeting »
Media links:
Ica, Coop och Axfood i möte om Doles stämning av filmen BANANAS!*
Anders Forsström, DN.se, Oct 13
Max bluffar om Dole-bojkott
Bernt Hermele, Realtid.se, Oct 12
Swedish grocers demand talks with Dole over Bananas!* lawsuit
TT/David Landes, The Local, Oct 7
”Det här är en ganska medveten pr-strategi"
Jens Mikkelsen & Sarah Nylund, Sydsvenskan.se, Oct 6
Swedish burger chain ditches Dole over Bananas!* lawsuit
TT/David Landes, The Local, Oct 6
”Dole uppför sig för djävligt”
Bernt Hermele, Realtid.se, Oct 5