False promises
Shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Unilever made big promises, according to Kropman, that have failed to materialize. “Profits have even doubled in the last year,” he says. ‘Unilever has ice cream and cosmetics factories in Russia and about three thousand people on the payroll. You can’t just move an operation like that. They didn’t promise that either. But Unilever CEO Alan Jope promised something different in a March 8, 2022 press release. Namely:
“We are halting all media and advertising spending. We will no longer invest capital in the country, nor will we take advantage of our presence in Russia”. However, Unilever will continue to supply “essential food and hygiene products”. The essential, the managing director has not specified. Furthermore, Unilever would no longer import and export to and from Russia, Jope wrote.
Two statements
However, a year after the raid, Jope’s promise was changed. “There were two statements,” Kropman explains. In the 2023 statement, the word “essential” disappeared from the coverage. We are no longer talking about essential food products, but about everyday food products. This is obviously much broader. It could also be a Cornetto».
‘Then it could also be a Cornetto’
400 missiles
The fact that Unilever Russia’s net profit has doubled is frightening in Ukraine, according to Kropman. ‘I’ve been in contact with the Kiev School of Economics, which has calculated how much tax Unilever has to pay to Russia. That’s a tidy sum of money, Russia can produce about 400 missiles from this.”
“Russia can produce about 400 missiles of this”
Unilever says the increase in profit can be explained by the ruble exchange rate and inflation, but according to Kropman this is implausible. “It must have contributed, but they also did their best to sell well there.”
It is not known whether Unilever will step back in the long run. Unilever has announced that it will not respond to the broadcast, but will provide a written response later.