Tesco ‘forced labour’ story shows challenges to brands from supply chains

PRWeek

Supermarket has suspended agreement with Chinese business behind charity Christmas cards until investigation concludes.

PR luminary Mark Borkowski acknowledged the promptness of Tesco’s response, noting that a few years ago its crisis management function would not have been so agile.

“But the question is: what the hell is their supply chain doing?” he told Campaign. “It creates a bigger question about the very country where many companies are sourcing a large quantity of what they are selling in the UK. There’s not enough scrutiny on the very area of work that demands the greatest scrutiny, because it delivers economically.

“At the end of the day, people are struggling and austerity is a killer, while Tesco is facing massive competition on price from the likes of Lidl and Aldi.”

The irony that Tesco’s cards are sold to raise money for charity but are produced in a country renowned for questionable human rights was not lost on Borkowski: “If you talk about purpose, you can no longer use it as virtue-signalling gibberish.”

Read full article here: https://www.prweek.com/article/1669546/tesco-forced-labour-story-shows-challenges-brands-supply-chains