The Story of Donations Gate
(Southern Weekend) May 29, 2008
Corparations showing off how much they contributed towards earthquake relief
Summary: Two weeks after the great Sichuan earthquake, the sorrow and pity of the common Chinese citizens for their compatriot victims have become one of the strongest pressure forces in the world. Many corporations which were slow to donate, or donated too little were pilloried heavily by the Chinese netizens. The modernization of China has been taking place for over a century, but the majority of Chinese citizens still hold very vague notions about property right. They do not understand western business ethics or the behavior of the multinational and Chinese eilites. They do not respect the business rules of the games in this era of gloobalization. This is not a manifestation of narrow nationalism. Rather, this is a clash of Chinese and western values. Meanwhile, the multinational corporations have been in the New China for thirty years. Although they are deeply embedded into the Chinese economy and they have rich experiences and knowledge about the Chinese market and the consumption patterns of the Chinese people, they are much less knowledgeable about traditional Chinese culture.
At 2pm on May 27, it was full house at the second-floor conference room (with a capacity for 100 persons) of the Ministry of Commerce.
Nokia, P&G, Nestlé, Siemens, IBM, Hyundai, Yum, AstraZeneca ... the directors of government affairs, public affairs and public relations and even vice-presidents of these well-known multinational corporations were in attendance.
The government official in charge made a brief opening remark, and then some corporate representatives got on stage to make emotional speeches. They angrily complained to the Ministry of Commerce leaders about the misgivings and hardships of their corporations. All of these speeches complained heavily against the popularly circulated list of "international corporate iron roosters." (Note: In Chinese, the term iron rooster refers to a misanthrope/miser. A real-life rooster may give away a feather or two, but an iron rooster will never do so because it is incapable.)
After the great Sichuan earthquake, the images of many foreign capital brands also experienced "great earthquakes." Certain foreign corporations that did not donate quickly enough were strongly criticized by Internet opinion, and their products were subject to boycotts. One week after the earthquake, an SMS of "international iron roosters" was broadly circulated and elevated the assault on the multinational corporations onto new heights.
One of the "misanthropes" was KFC, and its many stores in the Sichuan area were besieged and prevented from conducting business. Nestlé was not even on the list but on the second day after the earthquake, the 10,000 boxes of food sent to Sichuan was cursed out as "bird shit that we don't want!"
At the conference, the foreign company representatives repeatedly asked the Ministry of Commerce to clear their names. On May 22 five days ago, Minster of Commerce Chen Deming had already cleared the foreign corporations. He pointed out that most of the multinational corporations on the list of "international misanthropes" had donated more than 10 million RMB and therefore they cannot be said to be "iron roosters."
Yet, public opinion could not be stopped. The Internet Robin Hoods (who rob the rich to benefit the poor) were not satisfied with the early performances of these multinational iron roosters. On May 14 when the list of iron roosters first appeared, many of the companies gave less than 5 million RMB in their initial donations. In the eyes of netizens, these iron roosters should donate at least 10 million RMB to the disaster victims.
After the Wenchuan disaster took place, the Confucian concept of emphasizing righteousness over profit was highlighted. The Chinese corporations donated huge sums of money in line with the traditional concepts. By comparison, the multinational companies abided by western business ethics and could not understand what and why their Chinese counterparts were doing. Thus, they did not recognize the strength of those moral forces.
They were not alone because Wang Shi and the Wanke company did not recognized this point either. Meanwhile, many other Chinese brands were able to gain unprecedented support during this affair. The beverage manufacturer Wanglaoji became nationally famous overnight by donating 100 million RMB.
At this time, the multinational companies can only keep issuing notices to the public and complaining to government officials.
"The ranking of the very profitable but also very stingy in donations multinational misanthropes are: Coca Cola, KFC, McDonald's, Nokia, LV, Daikin, P&G, Motorola. If you have a conscience, please boycott these companies and spread this message around!" This was one of the versions of the list of international iron roosters that was being sent around. On May 19, many Chinese persons received this SMS. This list has been revised many times, so that it is impossible to track down the originator. Our reporter determined that the apparently first appearance was on May 14 at a technology forum PHPWindBoard, wherein KFC, McDonald's, Samsung, Semir, Motorola and Nokia were listed. The post asked everybody to update the list as events unfolded.
The information on this post was inaccurate. This was two days after the Wenchuan earthquake. On the evening of the earthquake, the MDGB group (which is the parent company of KFC) had already decided to donate 3 million RMB. On May 14, McDonald's announced that it would donate 1 million RMB. On May 15, Samsung gave 30 million to the Red Cross. According to their public relations manager Mr. Zhou, the Samsung management made the decision on May 13, and the news was posted on the home pages of Sina.com and Sohu.com the next day and stayed there fore for whole day.
Yet, on that day, the most popular list of iron roosters had Samsung listed on top, followed by Nokia, Daikin, LV, Coca Cola, McDonald's, KFC. The poster even wrote, "I am reporting these companies not to waste your time , but to remember: The Chinese people will not let those company without conscience earn any money!"
But that post did not spread immediately. On May 19, the list of misanthropes suddenly took off like a nuclear detonation at all the major forums, chatrooms, MSN and QQ. Supposedly, people even got rewarded for re-posting: "Those netizens who forward it over 30 times will be treated as a loving and caring user off QQ and their names will be displayed in red color." There were some voices that defend these so-called international iron roosters, but they immediately drew 'bricks' from all directions. The list of "iron roosters" was also disseminated via SMS in massive volumes. Everybody from the Ministry of Commerce Chen Deming to middle-school students eating at McDonald's all received the same message on their mobile telephones. The Southern Weekend writer He Sanwei inquired a sender (who is a judge in the Chengdu Middle Court) about the veracity of the message on behalf of his confounded daughter and got the reply: "I don't know. I am just forwarding it."
Before even the facts are know, the public was already angry. Behind those first seven "iron roosters," P&G, Dell, IBM and other multinational companies would soon join the ranks.
In order to express their anger, the netizens directed their love towards Chinese brands. They created this doggerel: In the future, drink Wanglaoji (100 million RMB), save your money at the Industrial and Commerce Bank (87.26 million RMB), use China Mobile phone service (58.20 million RMB), use Suning consumer electronics (50 million RMB), buy Ping'an insurance (35 million RMB), drink Luzhou Laojiao white wine (30 million RMB), buy Xiuzheng medicine (25 million RMB), use QQ IMS on the Internet (20 million RMB), wear Li Ning sportswear (12.49 million RMB), buy Lenovo computers (10 million RMB), use Hai'er washing machines (10 million RMB), use Midea air conditioners (10 million RMB), drive Geely cars (10 million RMB) ... if everybody buys Lenovo, they will go past Dell in five years; if everybody buys Geely, they will go past Volkswagen and Honda in 5 years.
The multinational companies became the objects of criticisms of the netizens. But the anger of the netizens was not just verbal.
The netizens do not appreciate the difficulty of being a multinational company in China. "I cannot fly immediately over to Finland to explain to headquarters why we need to spend so much money," said Nokia vice-president Xiao Jiyun.
Southern Weekend interviewed several dozen multinational companies. Without exception, they said that they needed to communicate with headquarters about making donations. The initial sum has to be based upon the seriousness of the disaster at the time, and they may apply for more depending on the conditions. AstraZeneca's China region senior vice-preseitn Wu Yuanling told us that she used 1 million RMB in emergency funds on May 13 and then began to apply to headquarters for another 6 million RMB.
Another "iron rooster" Nokia upped its donation on May 17 from 3 million RMB to 10 million RMB; P&G added 10 million RMB; Coca Cola went from 5 million RMB to 17 million RMB; the MDGB Group to which Kentucky Fried Chicken belonged went from 3 million RMB to 15.8 million RMB on May 19 and then added another 5.2 million RMB from its employees.
Among those not on the list, BP China went from 1.4 million RMB to 10.5 million RMB on May 20, Dell went from 2.1 million RMB to 8 million RMB on May 22, and so on.
Yet, the positive effects of the actions of the multinational companies were outweighed by far by the original negative information.
The netizens were "delighted" about the additional donations. On May 16, the netizen Lao Zui had criticized P&G in a blog post titled "Advertising giant, donation dwarf." On May 20, he wrote "An iron rooster gets its feather plucked, P&G contributes another 10 million." Lao Zui is one of the leaders of these netizens. Many netizens even regarded the 17 million RMB contributed by Google as being the result of Lao Zui's efforts.
Then some other netizens pointed out that the "iron roosters" had not been totally stingy and as more multinational corporations added further donations, public opinion on the Internet was no longer totally one-sided after May 19.
But then something happened that the multinational companies really did not expect. This campaign against the "roosters" spread from verbal condemnations on the Internet to the consumers.
At around 10am on May 20, a hundred people gathered at a McDonald's restaurant on the Five Star Pedestrian Street in Nanchong city, Sichuan province to protest the lack of donations by McDonald's. A big printed banner saying "Super international iron rooster" was pasted onto the front door.
Subsequently, in Panzhihua (Sichuan), Xian (Shaanxi), Yucheng (Shanxi) and other cities, KFC also encountered various kinds of blockades. "Many restaurants had to stop business temporarily," said Wang Jun, the MDBG Gropu China Business Section vice-president. From the photos posted on the Internet, someone had printed the list of "iron roosters" and posted in on the front window of McDonald's with the annotation: "We will boycott each other in accordance with our conscience! We pay silent tribute to the compatriot victims in the disaster zone."
According to an eyewitness at the time, the patrons inside the McDonald's were too scared to come out. The two groups were separated by the glass door. Along with the police who rushed to the scene, the scene felt like a powder keg/gas drum about to explode. The eyewitness noted that all those present at the scene were Chinese nationals.
P&G's business was also affected. Certain supermarkets and emporiums did not dare to order from P&G because they did not know if the consumers who used to buy Colgate toothpaste would switch to the Zhonghua brand instead.
There was a difference in opinion as to how much responsibility the multinational companies should bear. On May 20, within IBM, an email titled "Too awesome!!!! Must read!!!!!" was circulated among the workers. According to one Chinese employee, "I am extremely disappointed with the response of the company towards the disaster ..."
A software engineer at IBM told the Southern Weekend reporter that the company employees quickly split into two camps of views with respect to the corporate donation towards earthquake relief. This protest letter was the strongest illustration of that division so far.
On May 25, Coca Cola Southern China Regional Headquarters received a notice from a Fujian distributor to request the termination of their contract.
Actually, if the multinational headquarters decline to donate money in consideration of the interests of their shareholders around the world, it would be still consistent with western business concepts. American economist Friedman said that the principal social responsibilities of a corporation are to be responsible to its shareholders, to obey the laws and to gain profits.
But when a disaster arrives, the ordinary Chinese person cannot understand or accept these values.
On May 22, Minister of Commerce Chen Deming told reporters at the State Council Information Office press conference: "The companies listed on the Internet have all made large donations, usually more than 10 million RMB." "Donations are based upon voluntary efforts. We must respect the rights of all persons and companies."
This unprecedented corporate image crisis also fell upon a Chinese company that held western corporate management ideas.
The character is Wang Shi. He spent twenty years to build the top Chinese real estate brand, the Wangke Comapny. He has received multiple corporate citizen awards. The management style of his company became the model of emulation for innumerable corporations. His words and deeds were a matter of public attention, so that he can be considered as one of the small number of entrepreneurs who are respected in China.
Over the past two weeks, the image of Wang Shi and the image of Wangke have collapsed like houses during the Wehnchuan earthquake. This was related to numbers -- "2,000,000" and "10."
These two keywords came from Wang Shi's blog post on May 15. Because netizens thought that the 2,000,000 RMB contributed by Wangke towards earthquake relief was incommensurate with the company's financial position, Wang Shi replied in his blog: "It was appropriate for Wangke to contribute 2 million RMB. This was not only the largest single contribution authorized by the board of directors, but even they had authorized more than this amount, I still think that 2 million was the right amount."
At the 2006 annual shareholders' meeting, the annual corporate citizen construction fund was limited to not more than 10 million RMB.
Before the earthquake, almost 8 million RMB had been spent with only 2 million RMB remaining.
The following words then became the focus of netizen attacks: "China is a country which encounters frequent disasters. It is normal to hold charity fund-raising benefit events for disaster relief. Corporate donations should be sustainable without becoming a burden. Among the Wangke Group donation activities, there is a requirement: At each donation campaign, the ordinary worker is limited to a maximum of 10 RMB. The point is not to turn charity into a burden."
As a result, Wang Shi earned the name of "Wang Ten" and "Wang Ten RMB." Some netizens even wrote, "A person cannot be too Wang Shi."
This proposal not to let disaster relief donations become a burden made netizens feel that this was rather cold-hearted at a time of national crisis. A netizen left a comment at Wang Shi's blog; "If you feel that helping the disaster victims is a burden to you, please take back your 2 million RMB."
Someone found out about Wang Shi's annual salary -- 4 million RMB. Someone calculated that Wang Shi spent 2 million RMB on mountain climbing. "I don't care about how many peaks you have scaled, because your soul will never rise higher than a grave!"
On May 21, Wang Shi apologized to the netizens through the media: "During this period, I am uneasy about the propriety of what I said! There are three reasons. First, it caused a diversion among the people and it hurt the netizens. Secondly, it created pressure for Wangke employees. Thirdly, it had a certain impact on the image of the Wangke company. I apologize here to the broad masses of netizens!"
But the netizens did not forgive Wang Shi and the Wangke Company, because on May 21, the Wangke Company Board of Directors approved the plan to spend 100 million RMB to participate in the temporary relocation, recovery and reconstruction work after the Sichuan earthquake, with Zundao town, Mianzhu city as the focus. This project was purely for public interest without involving any commercial development.
This ambiguously worded statement roused the rage of the netizens, who believe that Wang Shi chose Zundao town because of its unique potential as a tourist spot. Thus, reconstruction was a guise for commercial reasons.
"This was just a public relations ruse to shut the people up. It was a sales tactic to divert people's attention. This is vastly different from those people who genuinely donated 100 million RMB in money or material resources."
...
On May 24, Wanke had to issue a statement about its earthquake donation: The company's role in arranging for temporary accommodation in the earthquake zone, the recovery and the reconstruction is uncompensated.
Even in its statement, Wangke reiterated its management philosophy: All the assets of Wangke belong to its shareholders, and therefore corporate donations must be authorized at the shareholders' meeting.
But in the view of the majority of netizens, "It is a matter of life and death in which tens of thousands of lives perished in an instant. Who is going to do the accounting? Who cares about your profits? Who cares about the board of directors, or the rights to decide? Who doesn't know about what is happening at the company?"
A number of small shareholders have dissented from the majority opinion and they expressed their opinions at the official Wangke website. A netizen with ID Donglai wrote that Wangke's donation of 100 million RMB has seriously violated the rights of the shareholders, and he is contacting lawyers to file suit. On June 5, Wangke is calling for an emergency shareholder meeting over the 100 million RMB donation. "Wangke is facing an unprecedented crisis." Wangke Group Vice-President Xiao Li wrote that in an SMS to the Southern Weekend reporter on her way back from Sichuan to Guangzhou.
But there are plenty of people who are willing to defend Wang Shi and the Wangke group. On May 27, the Southern Metropolis Daily published a commentary. In that essay, it was stated that it was a good thing for the senior management of a company to make charitable donations. But it is also a good thing for the senior management to stay within the rules of the game. In fact, that would be an even greater good. For the sake of some good, one damages another good and that can be even worse! Even more significantly, Wangke Company was not elated with this line of defense. A Wangke said confidentially: We hope that there would be fewer and fewer negative reports, but we are also concerned that overly exertive essays in defense may create more controversies. The best choice for Wangke is to wait for the event to blow over.
Amidst this clash of eastern and western values, many Chinese brands gained unprecedented popularity. The herb tea beverage vendor Wanglaoji became famous overnight after donating 100 million RMB.
At the May 18 CCTV disaster relief gala festival, Wanglaoji's parent company Jiaduobao Group donated 100 million RMB. Immediately, a post appeared at the Tianya Forum to '"clean out Wanglaoj': "Wanglaoji, you are so tough You donated 100 million RMB, which is 500 times the amount that Wang Shi donated! In order to punish this boastful company, we will buy up all the Wanglaoji products at the supermarkets! We will buy every can that they put on the shelf!"
The influence of Internet opinion also extended to real life. Wanglaoji began to show up in all sorts of sales channels that it was previously absent from, so that people can buy their products anytime that they want to ""clean out the company.
The netizens began to write advertising slogans for Wanglaoji. The most broadly circulated phrase was: "If you want to donate, you donate 100 million RMB; if you want to drink, you drink Wanglaoji." There was even a revised version of the rescued boy who wanted cold Coca Cola into: "I want to drink Wanglaoji ... ice cold."
At the same time, there began discussions of the deleterious effects of carbonated drinks such as colas while highlighting the fact that Wanglaoji herb tea drinks are beneficial to health. If someone dared to state that the donation was a marketing ploy by Wanglaoji, they are immediately accused of being "paid hacks" and then netizens would issue more posts like crazy in order to guarantee that those posts would sink into oblivion.
"Even if this was a successful marketing ploy, I will continue to support them. At the very least, they donated 100 million RMB to the victims in the disaster zone. The more these kinds of corporations, the better," said a white-collar worker who switched from Coca Cola to Wanglaoji.
Even if they were hijacked or exploited, the people were willing to go along. Some companies were hurt as a result.
On May 19, a post titled
On the same day, that post was widely cross-posted at the major websites. The netizens made sarcastic remarks about Wang Shi and Ma Yun and they attempted to destroy the public standing of these two entrepreneurs who used to have excellent public images.
According to Zhang Po of the Social Responsibility Department of Alibaba, the Alibaba Group had already donated 2 million RMB by that time. On the evening of the earthquake, Ma Yun had donated 1 million RMB, and the Alibaba disaster relief group was hurriedly planning on the second phase of its disaster relief effort. Back in 2006, Ma Yun had said at a press interview that "At a charity event held under the limelight, one RMB is enough.
Ön May 20, after seeing the clarification statement from Alibaba late night on May 19 and the additional donation of 25 million RMB, the netizen nicknamed "Housing prices are so expensive" posted at Tianya forum to ask the public to apologize to Ma Yun and Alibaba. Almost all of the posts were in agreement. Thereafter, all discussions about the 1 RMB donation of Ma Yun stopped.
In the discussion about the earthquake-related matters, Tianya had the most heated debates. It was the source of many of the topics. But nobody knows where the post about Ma Yun's one RMB donation came from.
The hijacked public opinion came roaring in and then it went out roaring too.
追捧打杀 震后“捐款门”始末
作者: 南方周末记者 王小乔 潘晓凌 发自北京 广州
2008-05-29 08:05:01
震後兩周，中國普通民眾對死難同胞的悲憫之情演變為企業界頭頂的巨大壓力，許多捐贈較少、行動較慢的企業遭到線民激烈的攻擊。
中國現代化百年進程行至今日，大部分民眾的產權觀念依舊淡漠，無法理解恪守西方商業倫理的跨國和本土精英們的行為，也不願尊重全球化時代的商業遊戲規則。這不是狹隘的民族主義表現，而是中國和西方價值觀衝突的體現。
跨國公司進入新中國30年來，儘管已經深深融入中國經濟，對中國市場的認識、中國人消費習慣的把握有了豐富的經驗，但對中國傳統文化的理解還遠遠不夠。
5月27日下午兩點，商務部研究院二樓那間可容納百人的會議室裡，座無虛席。
諾基亞、寶潔、雀巢、西門子、IBM、現代汽車、百勝、阿斯利康……這些知名跨國企業的政府與公共事務總監、公關總監甚至副總裁同時出現在會場。
在主管官員一個簡短的開場白之後，一些外企代表開始激動地上臺發言，他們憤怒地向商務部的領導訴說自己企業的苦衷和委屈，所有發言都對最近廣泛流傳的“國際鐵公雞排行榜”表示嚴重不滿。
在汶川大地震發生後，許多外資企業的品牌形象也發生了“大地震”。一些沒有及時捐款的外企遭到網路輿論的強烈抨擊，它們的產品也遭到了消費者的抵制。地震一周後，一個“國際鐵公雞排行榜”的短信廣為流傳，將對跨國企業的攻擊推上頂峰。
“鐵公雞”之一的速食企業肯德基在四川地區的許多分店被圍攻開不了業，沒被評為“鐵公雞”的雀巢也受到牽連，它在地震第二天運往四川的1萬箱食品被線民罵成“我們不稀罕的鳥糞”。
在會場上，外資企業們再次要求商務部為它們“正名”。5天前的5月22日，商務部部長陳德銘已經替外資企業澄清，指出多數上榜的跨國公司捐款都超過了1000萬元，“鐵公雞”的說法不符合事實。
然而，民意仍然洶湧不止，劫富濟貧的“網路好漢們”對“鐵公雞們”的初期表現不太滿意。因為在5月14日“鐵公雞榜”剛出現之後，許多“鐵公雞”第一筆捐款額都還未超過500萬元，在線民們看來，“鐵公雞”捐足1000萬元才算對得起災區人民。
在汶川這場震慟中國的巨大災難發生之後，儒家文化中重義輕利的價值觀念得以彰顯，中國本土企業紛紛以巨額捐助踐行“兼濟天下”的傳統觀念。相比之下，恪守西方商業倫理的跨國企業們卻難以理解這種行為，更忽略了這股力量的強大。
同樣忽略了這一點的，還有至今未被部分民眾原諒的王石和萬科。當然，更多的國產品牌在這場碰撞中獲得了公眾的空前追捧，捐款1億元的涼茶飲料王老吉一夜之間人盡皆知。
現在，跨國公司們能做的，只能是不停地向公眾告知、向“父母官”訴苦。
鬥“雞”大會
“在中國發大財而又不捐款的國際鐵公雞排行榜：可口可樂、肯德基、麥當勞、諾基亞、LV、大金、寶潔、摩托羅拉。如果你有良心，共同抵制，相互轉發！”這是廣為流傳的鐵公雞排行榜的其中一個版本。5月19日，許多中國人都收到了這條短信。“鐵公雞排行榜”的版本幾經更替，最初的帖子現已無從查找。南方週末記者通過搜尋引擎發現，最早的榜單出現於 5月 14日一個名叫PHPWindBoard的技術論壇中，肯德基、麥當勞、三星電子、森馬集團、摩托羅拉與諾基亞赫然在列。帖子末尾，帖主還號召大家不斷更新。
這個帖子的資訊並不準確。彼時距汶川地震發生已過兩天。5月12日地震當晚，百勝餐飲集團（肯德基母公司）已決定捐款300萬元。5月14日，麥當勞宣佈捐款100萬元。5月15日，三星電子向紅十字會捐款3000萬元，據公關經理周先生介紹，三星管理層在5月13日就做出決策，捐款後，消息在新浪、搜狐的主頁上掛了一天，“很醒目”。
但就在當日，流傳最廣的“鐵公雞榜”版本出籠，排在第一位的就是三星，後面分別是諾基亞、大金、LV、可口可樂、麥當勞、肯德基。帖主還呼籲，“通報這些公司，不是讓大家去消費，而是要銘記心中：這是沒有良心的企業！是中國人就不要給他們賺！！”
不過，這一帖子沒有迅即流傳。5月19日，“鐵公雞榜”突然像發生核裂變般爆傳於各大論壇、聊天室、MSN及QQ，據稱轉帖還有獎，“轉發30個以上網友，你將會被騰訊公司列為愛心，你的名字將會變為紅色”。跟帖中不乏為“鐵公雞”辯護的聲音，但板磚往往會立馬從四面飛奔而來。“鐵公雞榜”還通過手機短信海量傳播，從商務部部長陳德銘到正在麥當勞就餐的中學生，手機裡收到了同一條資訊。《南方人物週刊》主筆何三畏幫困惑的女兒詢問資訊發送者、成都中院的一位元法官情況是否屬實，對方複，“不知道，轉發的”。
事實尚不清楚，憤怒已然集結。7家“鐵公雞”身後，還陸續出現了寶潔、戴爾、IBM等跨國公司的身影。
為了表示自己的憤慨，線民把熱情轉向了國產品牌，編出了順口溜：以後喝王老吉（1億元），存錢到工商（8726萬元），還是用移動（5820萬元），買電器到蘇甯（5000萬元），買保險買平安（3500萬元），喝白酒喝瀘州老窖（3000萬元），買藥修正牌 (捐助2500萬元)，上網用QQ(捐助2000萬元)，運動穿李寧(捐助1249萬元)，電腦買聯想(捐助1000萬元)，洗衣機買海爾(捐助1000萬元)，空調買美的(捐助1000萬元)，開車開吉利(捐助1000萬元)……如果大家都買聯想，聯想將在5年內超越戴爾；如果大家都買吉利，吉利將在5年內超越大眾豐田。
跨國公司頓時陷入千夫所指的境地，但線民的憤怒並沒有停留在口頭上。
輿論指責升級
線民們很難理解跨國企業中國區的難處。“我不可能第一時間飛到芬蘭去向總部解釋為什麼需要這麼多錢。”諾基亞副總裁蕭潔雲說。
南方週末記者採訪的數十家跨國公司，無一例外表示，捐款需要與總部的溝通，而且第一筆只能根據當時的災情確定，後續的才能就嚴重程度繼續申請。阿斯利康的中國區高級副總裁吳浣苓告訴記者，她就是在13日先動用了100萬元的應急資金，同時開始向總部申請後續的600萬元。
另一隻“鐵公雞”諾基亞5月17日從300萬元追加到1000萬元；寶潔在5月19日追加了1000萬元用於“希望工程賑災教育基金”；可口可樂從500萬元追加到1700萬元；肯德基所屬的百勝餐飲集團19日也從300萬元追加至1580萬元，28日又增加了520萬元員工捐款。
不在榜單上的BP中國5月20日從140萬元追加到1050萬元，戴爾5月22日從210萬元追加到800萬元，等等。
然而，跨國企業們的行為產生的正面效果遠沒有最初的負面資訊殺傷力大。
線民對追加表示“欣慰”，5月16日在博客上批評寶潔“廣告巨人、賑捐矮子”的線民老醉，5月20日又發了一篇“拔毛鐵公雞，寶潔多捐1000萬”的帖子。老醉是這群網路好漢的領袖人物，許多線民甚至將5月16日穀歌捐款1700萬元視作他的功勞。
隨著一些線民指出“鐵公雞”們並非一毛不拔，再加上跨國公司的陸續追加捐款，網路輿論在5月19日之後不再一邊倒。
但是，真正令跨國公司們始料未及的事情稍後發生了，這場鬥“雞”大會迅速地從網路和短信上的口誅筆伐轉向了消費者的身體力行上。
5月20日上午10點左右，四川南充市五星商業步行街上的一家麥當勞餐廳聚集了上百人，抗議麥當勞不捐款。餐廳的門口，被貼上了超大列印版的“國際超級鐵公雞”。
在四川攀枝花、陝西西安、山西運城等城市，肯德基也遭遇了不同規模的圍堵。“很多餐廳不得不暫時停業。”百勝餐飲集團中國事業部副總裁王群說。從上傳到網路的現場照片看，有人將榜單做成標語，貼在麥當勞的櫥窗上，並注明，“憑你的良心，互相抵制！向災區的遇難同胞默哀。”
據一位目擊者稱，當時正在南充市一家麥當勞餐廳就餐的顧客都嚇得不敢出來，雙方隔著玻璃門與隨即趕到的員警，氣氛緊張得像挨著火藥的汽油罐。他注意到，當時在現場的全都是中國人。
寶潔的經營也受到影響，一些超市和商場不敢從寶潔進貨，因為不知道原來買佳潔士牙膏的消費者會不會改成中華。
跨國企業應該承擔多少責任，這在跨國企業內部也產生了分歧。5月20日，在IBM內部，一封主題為“太牛了！！！！！一定要看！！！！”的郵件在員工中廣泛轉發。一名中國員工在信中說：“我對公司在災難面前的反應感到非常失望……”
IBM的一位元軟體工程師告訴南方週末記者，地震發生後，員工對公司的賑災作為迅速分成了兩派觀點，這封抗議信是迄今最激烈的表現。
5月25日，可口可樂華南區也接到了福建一位經銷商要求終止合作的通知。
其實，即便跨國企業總部考慮全球股東的利益而不願意捐款，這也符合西方商業倫理的觀念。美國經濟學家弗裡德曼說過，企業的主要社會責任，那就是為股東負責，遵守法律，賺取利潤。
只是，在大災難來臨之後，普通的中國人難以理解或者難以認同這些價值觀。
5月22日，商務部部長陳德銘在國新辦新聞發佈會答記者問時表示：“網上傳的公司都有很大的捐贈，一般都在千萬元以上”。“捐助是以自願為前提的，我們必須尊重每一個自然人和法人的權利。”
王石成了“王十”
這場前所未有的企業形象危機，同樣降臨在了一個秉承西方公司治理理念的中國企業家身上。
這個人就是王石，他用二十年鍛造出了中國房地產業第一品牌萬科，並屢獲企業公民獎；他的公司治理方式成為無數企業的楷模；他的言論和行動總為公眾所矚目，堪稱中國極少數受人尊敬的企業家之一。
然而這半個月來，他的形象和萬科的形象如同汶川地震中的房屋一樣倒塌過半，這與兩個數字有關——“200萬”和“10”。
這兩個關鍵字來自王石5月15日的博客，因為在地震當天萬科捐出的200萬元被線民認為太少，與萬科企業實力不相匹配。王石在博客中回應：“萬科捐出的200萬元是合適的。這不僅是董事會授權的最大單項捐款數額，即使授權大過這個金額，我仍認為200萬元是個適當的數額”。
2006年股東大會對萬科每年的企業公民建設費用的授權額度為1000萬元。
在地震之前，2008年的這筆錢已經使用了近800萬元。只剩下200萬元。
接下來的話成為網友炮轟的焦點：“中國是個災害頻發的國家，賑災慈善活動是個常態，企業的捐贈活動應該可持續，而不成為負擔。萬科對集團內部慈善的募捐活動中，有條提示：每次募捐，普通員工的捐款以10元為限。其意就是不要讓慈善成為負擔。”
王石就此得到了兩個新名字“王十”、“王十塊”。甚至有網友調侃地說：“做人不能太王石”。
但不讓賑災成為企業負擔的說法令線民覺得空前國難之下，此種言論過於冷血。一些線民在王石的博客上留言說：“如果你覺得救助災民成為你的負擔了，請拿回你的200萬元。”
有人找出了王石的年薪——400萬元，還有人計算了王石歷次登山的費用均在200萬元以上。“不管你征服過多少座高峰，你的靈魂卻始終高不過那一座墳頭！”
5月21日，王石通過媒體向線民道歉：“這段時間，我也為我這句話感到相當不安！主要基於三方面原因，一是引起了全國線民的分心，傷害了線民的感情；二是造成了萬科員工的心理壓力；三是對萬科的公司形象造成了一定的影響。在這裡對廣大網友表示歉意！”
線民們沒有因此原諒王石和萬科，因為5月21日萬科同時發佈公告稱，董事會批准公司在未來3-5年內支出1億元參與四川地震災區的臨時安置、災後恢復與重建工作，並以綿竹市遵道鎮為重點；該項工作為純公益性質，不涉及任何商業性的開發。
這份語焉不詳的公告再次激起了線民的憤怒。線民認為王石選擇遵道鎮是因為那裡得天獨厚的旅遊資源，重建只是為商業目的而遮人耳目。
“這只是堵塞眾人口水的一種公關技巧、一種轉移人們視線的行銷手段而已，和那些真正向災區捐獻億元資金或者物資的行為不可同日而語。”
一位網友提醒王石應該重視道義，在他撰寫的《史記•王石列傳》一文中寫道：“商賈之道，固有無利不起，亦有道義存焉。時富豪如和黃李氏，台塑王氏，江蘇陳氏者，無不傾資以救國難，販夫走卒、乞兒戲子，踴躍救難者，一一難書。國難當頭，石前發冷言於公眾，後謀私利於暗室，不亦鄙乎？道義不存而富，是為為富不仁也。”
5月24日，萬科不得不再次發佈關於地震後捐款情況的說明：公司參與四川地震災區的臨時安置、災後恢復與重建工作，為完全無償的純公益性質。
即便在這份說明中，萬科仍然表達了一貫堅持的公司治理理念：萬科所有財產屬於股東，因此公司的公益捐款必須在股東大會授權下進行。
但在大多數線民看來，“人命關天的事情，瞬間幾萬個生命就沒了，還在那裡算你的賬，斤斤計較、蠅營狗苟，還什麼董事會、什麼許可權？公司那點事情，誰不知道。”
與大多數線民的觀點不同，一些小股東已經在萬科的官方論壇萬科週刊上表示了異議。一個ID為東藜的就認為萬科追捐一個億侵害了股東的權利，正在聯繫律師起訴。6月5日，萬科將為追捐億元召開臨時股東大會。“萬科正經歷著前所未有的危機。”從四川回廣州的路上，萬科集團副總裁肖莉在給南方週末記者的短信中這樣寫道。
不過，為王石和萬科辯護的也大有人在。5月27日，南方都市報社論版刊登了一篇“個論”。文章說，對於上市公司的管理層來說，做公益、捐善款當然是善，但尊重公司的管理章程，在既定的遊戲規則範圍內行使權力，同樣是“善”，甚至是一種更大的善。為了一種善，而傷害另一種善，善花最終結出的就將是惡果！有意思的是，萬科公司對這樣的辯護並未歡呼雀躍，一位萬科工作人員私下表示：我們希望負面報導越少越好，但也擔心過於突出的辯護文章，這會再次引起爭議。靜待事情過去，可能是萬科最好的選擇。
被裹挾的民意
更多的國產品牌在這場東西觀念的碰撞中獲得了公眾空前的追捧，捐款1億元的涼茶飲料王老吉一夜成名。
5月18日的央視賑災晚會，王老吉的母公司香港加多寶集團捐款1億元，天涯上馬上出現了所謂“封殺王老吉”的帖子。“王老吉，你夠狠！捐一個億，膽敢是王石的500倍！為了整治這個囂張的企業，買光超市的王老吉！上一罐買一罐！”
網路輿論的影響力同樣延伸到了現實生活當中。王老吉也適時地出現在了很多原來並沒有覆蓋到的銷售管道上，得以讓人們一想到“封殺”它馬上就能買到它。
線民們開始自發地為王老吉策劃廣告詞，流傳最廣的一句就是，“要捐就捐一個億，要喝就喝王老吉”，還有地震中被救小男孩想喝冰凍可樂的改編版“叔叔，我要喝王老吉……冰凍的。”
同時，網上開始討論可樂等碳酸飲料的危害，以凸顯出王老吉作為一種涼茶飲料有益於身體健康的特點。而一旦有人認為王老吉只是一種成功的行銷手段而已，馬上就會被人罵作“槍手”，並被網友們的合力瘋狂發帖沉到壇底，直至無人問津。
“就算它是成功的行銷，我也要力挺，至少它給災區人民捐了1億元。這樣的企業，越多越好。”一位把日常飲料從可樂改成王老吉的白領這樣告訴南方週末記者。
即便是真的被裹挾、被利用，民意也心甘情願。也有一些企業因此被傷害。
5月19日，一篇《王石、馬雲們該為災區捐多少錢》的文章出現在某網站上。文中指責馬雲只捐了一元錢。
當天，這篇文章就迅速被各大網站轉載，線民開始把馬雲和王石放在一起調侃，試圖使這兩位既往公眾形象極佳的企業家一同顏面掃地。
但據阿裡巴巴社會責任部的張璞介紹，當時阿裡巴巴集團已經捐獻了200萬元，馬雲個人在地震當晚就捐了100萬元，阿裡巴巴救災小組則正緊鑼密鼓地商定第二階段的賑災計畫。“螢光燈下的慈善，一元錢即可”是馬雲在2006年的一次採訪中的舊話。
5月20日，看到阿裡巴巴在19日深夜發佈的澄清公告和再捐2500萬元之後，線民“房價好貴啊”在天涯上呼籲大家給馬雲和阿裡巴巴員工道個歉，幾乎所有的回帖都斬釘截鐵地表示了贊同。此後，關於馬雲一元錢的討論銷聲匿跡了。
在與地震相關的討論中，天涯社區是所有網上論壇中最火爆的，亦是許多話題的發起和傳播源頭。但是馬雲只捐一元的帖子從而來，是無心之舉還是有意為之，至今無從知曉。
被裹挾的民意洶湧而來，再次呼嘯而去。
留言列表
