(JNi.media) Tura, a family owned, boutique winery located in the village of Rehelim, in Samaria, produces 56 thousand bottles a year, 40% of which are shipped for export. According to winery owner Vered Ben Sa’adoun, the boycott movement against Jewish products from Judea and Samaria has achieved the opposite effect of the one intended: “For five months we were stuck without wine on the shelves thanks to [customers] who didn’t like the violence of the boycott movement,” she told Israel’s Channel 2 News Wednesday.
The EU Commission’s new regulations requiring member states to label products from the settlement stops short of actually making them illegal, and it has been argued that the regulations are not mandatory, meaning that individual states can decide to ignore them. But in all the discussion about the labeling requirement, it has been taken for granted that European consumers would shun products they know were made by Jews on the “wrong” side of the 1949 armistice line. Few have suggested that the European consumer’s sense of fair play, their admiration for the underdog and, yes, their general distaste for things pro-Islamic, might spell a boon for settlement-produced exports.
“The EU wants to boycott us, but I want to tell them that this boycott will not lead us [to any concessions],” said David Daniel, who owns beehives in the Jewish enclave in Hebron. “This attempt to harm us will not succeed. Our clients are very satisfied and happy with our products, and we are happy to market them to the world.”
PR firm Marketing Team Houston, actually recommends negative marketing to some of its clients, as a strategy to gain market share. “Be controversial,” they advise. “Nothing gets people buzzing like a little controversy. However, you’ll need to be prepared to manage the conversation – and the emotions that are sure to arise. … Choose a topic related to your brand that people are passionate about. When handled correctly, this negative marketing tactic can generate buzz and traffic.”
On February 7, 1962, President John F. Kennedy imposed a trade embargo on Cuba to sanction Fidel Castro’s communist government. As a result, until the ban has been lifted recently, in the US, authentic Cuban-made cigars were seen as “forbidden fruit” for Americans to wish to purchase at any cost. The boycott didn’t turn off anyone, it only made the product more desirable. Of course, it had to be a great product to start with—which is also the case with many settlement-grown and produced goods.
“We believe that we must fight back and call on all of Israel’s supporters around the world, Jews and non-Jews, to buy Israeli products,” said Jacob Berg, of the Psagot winery in Benjamin region. “The best way to fight this European boycott is let the numbers prove it, that a year from now we will sell 2 to 3 times more. If we cry and say it’s unfair, it’s racist, that won’t defeat them, because their goal is hurt the nation of Israel.”
Here are a few ideas we delineated from marketing websites and blogs that preach negative campaigns, most notably, hubspot.com:
1. Exclusionary Personas, the Other. The EU is siding with the Islamists you and I fear so much — show them the right way by purchasing settlements goods.
2. Leverage and Exclusivity. We may not be carried in all the stores, you may have to walk the extra mile and spend the extra five minutes to find our products — but it’s worth it, because they’re delicious. Remember the Cuban cigars? Make the settlement goods a Cuban cigar.
3. Come up with Negative Headlines. There’s a reason why you’re seeing more bad news than good — it’s the undeniable correlation between page views and negativity.
“The people who made this gadget are fearless Jews who guard all night and work all day. ”
“The man who baked this cake just shot a terrorist last night.”
“Taste our bananas and you, too, will want to settle here.”
4. Create a Bond Over a Shared Negative Experience. You think you got Muslims? You should see our Muslims. Here, have an apple cider.
5. Cast Villains. There’s no shortage of that — Arabs, faceless EU bureaucrats, far-left politicians. The Marxists in Brussels don’t want you to taste our grapes — they just ordered a container of them for themselves.
6. Self deprecation. If you don’t buy this Camembert, we’ll burn down this poor Palestinian’s olive grove. It acknowledges the anti-settlements myths and cuts across them with a joke.
Yesha Council, the umbrella body for the half-million plus Jews in Judea and Samaria, might consider this direction. They could call it chutzpah marketing.