After Free-Speech Complaints Flare Up, Dole Foods Drops Its Defamation Suit Against Filmmaker's Movie About Banana-Worker Health Issues
As Swedes started taunting Dole Foods with complaints that it is trying to limit free speech, the food manufacturer backed off from a defamation lawsuit it had filed against a Swedish filmmaker, whose documentary film "Bananas!" shows the plight of Nicaraguan workers who say they were made sterile by a pesticide used at Dole banana plantations in the 1970s. The lawsuit incited protests in the country, led by critics who claimed Dole was prohibiting freedom of speech.
Dole decided to withdraw the lawsuit "in light of the free speech concerns being expressed in Sweden, although it continues to believe in the merits of its case," the company said in a statement, the LA Times reports. "While the filmmakers continue to show a film that is fundamentally flawed and contains many false statements we look forward to an open discussion with the filmmakers regarding the content of the film," Dole's executive vice president and general counsel, C. Michael Carter said, according to the Times report.
The filmmaker, Fredrik Gertten, told reporters in Stockholm he was very happy about Dole's decision and hoped the film can now continue to be screened in the U.S. and Canada. "We have cut a very balanced film, we haven't done a propaganda story," he said, the Times reports. "Really we did everything right."
Comments:
Friday, October 16, 2009 10:22:47 AM by Anonymous
The fact of the matter is that the years of false PR are over. There are too many avenues for the truth. So, when a company like Dole Foods tries to mask its slavery of workers, the masking lasts for such a short period of time before the truth comes out. And when the truth comes out it is even more damaging.
PR folks beware — messaging that promotes unethical and unsustainable behaviors in a cloud of marketing spin or through a lawyer's statement like Dole's approach (you only put out general counsel's quotes when you want to threaten, we get it) will be exposed. The Internet and people's awareness of these issues is just too high.
BurrellesLuce's Johna Burke interviews Steve Mayerowitz, ABC Travel Producer, who discusses how social media has changed how broadcasters process inquiries and requests from PR people.
