001040 Sharpton Launches NY Burger King Boycott

New York - Black civil rights leader Al Sharpton said he was launching a regional boycott of Burger King, the world's No. 2 fast-food company, because of what he said was its failure to champion minorities in its advertising, ownership and other business dealings.

Sharpton, head of the New York-based National Action Network, said he and his supporters would begin picketing on Saturday at New York-area Burger King outlets, none of which, he said, was owned by blacks, and that an expansion of the boycott could take place in about two weeks if no progress was made in talks with company officials.

“They can meet with whoever they want, they can make whatever arrangements they want,” Sharpton said. “The boycott is on.”

Standing outside a midtown Manhattan Burger King, Sharpton outlined “areas of concern” that he said had led to the boycott, which is being backed by the Nation of Islam.

“Their advertising budget, in our judgment, does not reflect their consumer base” with respect to minorities, he said, calling for more advertising directed at blacks and Latinos.

Saying the company had discussed going public, Sharpton said, “There are no arrangements for minority investment banks, or minority” Wall Street traders “to be involved in the IPO (initial public offering).”

Sharpton said the boycott was also caused by “the fact that in most major cities, including New York, there are no minority franchise owners.”

Calls to Burger King, which has 7,830 U.S. restaurants, were not returned on Wednesday.

The activist said that a meeting with Colin Storm, chief executive of the unit of British conglomerate Diageo Plc. (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: DGE.L) 2-1/2 weeks ago in Miami ended with his organization asking for information from the company.

“Rather than wait on the exchange of ideas, he went around us and began trying to talk to other black groups and leaders, and play one against the other,” Sharpton said of Storm.

“It is clear to us that they want to operate on the basis of the ... theory of divide and conquer rather than operate with integrity and operate in fairness,” he said.

Burger King has said that its business with black suppliers has more than doubled in recent years and that it will consider hiring black investment bankers for its equity offering.

Minority business association officials said some 75 blacks owned 200 of the more than 1100 Burger Kings owned by the members of its organization.

Asked what the company could do to end the boycott or prevent its expansion, Sharpton, who once ran for mayor of New York and may do so again, said, “They will have to sit down and deal with those areas and make concrete commitments.”

Noting that most companies operate with what he said was a 5% to 7% profit margin, Sharpton said that if 10% of Burger King's customers heeded the boycott, its short-term profit would be wiped out.

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