Dokto Donuts?
We reported on this story the other day over at Japan News Junkie, but here is a follow up by the good folks over at ROK Drop who actually went out to check on the report on their own.
It seems that Dunkin Donuts in Korea is running a publicity campaign in which they are offereing Dokdo t-shirts to customers.
The publicity campaign was right in front of the store and could not be missed. If the store is trying to reach a western audience with these Dokdo shirts they are going to fail miserably in my opinion because these shirts are just plain dumb.
I think Koreans agree with this assessment because I sat in the shop for about 30 minutes and did not see one person pick up one of these shirts. I have yet to see anyone in Korea even wearing one of the shirts. Has anyone else seen anyone wearing these shirts?
To me it seems like a pretty dumb move for an international chain like Dunkin Donut to take a position on such a sensitive issue.
My question is whether this is one particular franchise or a chain wide thing. If it’s just one (or a small number) then it might just be the position of one owner and not a company concept.
Also, where are Dunkin Donuts in Japan? I have yet to see one around Tokyo or other places I’ve visited and the Wikipedia site for Dunkin Donuts does not list Japan as a country they are in.
August 16th, 2008 at 4:06 pmSorry. I always confuse Dunkin Donut and Mr. Donut. Thanks for the comment. I have edited the story accordingly.
August 16th, 2008 at 4:38 pmDunkin Donuts once had a presence in Japan (I used to sometimes have breakfast at one on Center-gai in Shibuya in the late 80s-early 90s), but they eventually disappeared from the scene.
Actually, Mister Donut stores have pretty much disappeared in North American after the company was bought out by…Dunkin Donuts! I’m not sure what the situation is here in Asia. Mister Donut in Japan is operated by Duskin, while in Taiwan (where I’m currently based) Duskin co-owns the chain with a local company that also has the rights for 7-Eleven and Starbucks stores in Taiwan. Dunkin Donuts has recently made a push into the Taiwanese market - in fact, Dunkin Donut and Mister Donut outlets face off against each other in front of the Danshuei subway station on the outskirts of Taipei!
As far as I know, Dunkin Donuts in Taiwan hasn’t started selling shirts saying that the Diaoyutais (aka Senkaku Islands) belong to the Republic of China!
August 18th, 2008 at 1:11 amThat’s just brainless business. There’s a guy in Japan who sells imported meats on-line. I was ready to buy until I saw (proudly proclaimed and paraphrased) “5% of each purchase goes to the Kerry for President campaign!”
I still haven’t bought from him, and I wonder how many other customers he chased away.
August 18th, 2008 at 1:27 pmI once had a guy who had just started up a blog ask me what he could do to attract more readers. I went over and looked at the blog and found out that it was a kind of “jerk of the day” kind of thing. However, all of “jerks” on the page were from one political party in the U.S., and the page was basically echoing about them what you could read just about anywhere else on the web.
So, I told the guy my opinion that if you want to run a straight blog and want it to be popular, it was not a very good idea to alienate half of your potential readership. I told him that politicians were very much fair game considering the theme of his blog, but I suggested that he make some effort to at least appear evenhanded.
They guy wrote me back to let me know HIS opinion, which was that a blog should reflect the beliefs of the person running it. Which, of course, made me wonder why he asked for my opinion in the first place. . .
August 18th, 2008 at 2:49 pm