List of popular brands and products now boycotting Russia
From Russia with(out) Love
A hiring sign can be seen in front of the Papa Johns pizza shop (Gannett photo)
Since Russia’s decision to invade neighboring Ukraine, the world has responded. The United States and NATO headline that with a list of sanctions in place against Russia.
Private companies are jumping into action as well. Some of your favorite food and product brands are among those that have decided to pull their operations from Russia until the conflict is resolved.
Here’s a list of such companies that have left Russia:
McDonald's, Starbucks, KFC, Pizza Hut, Papa John's
McDonald’s in Phoenix.(Gannett photo)
Do you want fries with that? Good luck. Big Macs and everything else under those golden arches in McDonald’s locations in Russia are no more. The fast food giant will close all restaurants in the country it announced on Tuesday.
After McDonald’s, the coffee giant in Starbucks cooled their operations in Russia the same day. Yum Brands, who own KFC and Pizza Hut previously paused “investment” in Russia–but have since left entirely.
Pap John’s stopped “all support to the Russian market,” according to Bloomberg. In total, Russia had 188 franchised restaurants close their doors there.
Coca-Cola, Pepsi (somewhat)
[Staff Photo/Gary Cosby Jr.]
Shortly after McDonald’s made their announcement to pull out of Russia, Coke followed. Part of their statement via CNN: “Our hearts are with the people who are enduring unconscionable effects from these tragic events in Ukraine.”
Pepsi has suspended soft drink and beverage sales… but not everything. In their words, Pepsi said they have a “humanitarian responsibility” to continue selling “daily essentials such as milk and baby formula.”
Kraft Heinz
(Photo Illustration by Oli Scarff/Getty Images)
Ketchup, Mac & Cheese and more is gone from shelves in Russia. Kraft Heinz Co. suspended all exports of their products to Russia.
Paypal
(Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Hopefully you’re carrying cash in Russia. Paypal won’t work. The company even sent a letter to the Ukraine department of Digital Transformation to let them know Paypal is out of Russia.
Visa, Mastercard, American Express
(USA TODAY Network)
Visa and Mastercard first called off their work in Russia. American Express followed the next day.
According to Bloomberg, “Any transactions initiated with their cards issued in Russia will no longer work outside the country and cards issued outside of Russia won’t work at Russian merchants or ATMs.”
BP, Shell
(USA TODAY Network)
BP Plc will see a big hit, but they made a statement.
As Russia’s largest foreign investor, BP decided it would exit its 20 percent stake in state-controlled company Roseneft. It could result cutting the company’s global, oil, and gas production by a third, per Bloomberg.
Shell Plc followed, making a statement on “senseless act of military aggression” by Russia–so they’re gone, too.
General Motors, Ford
(USA TODAY Network)
A ton of the world’s automakers have halted shipments to Russia. American brands in General Motors and Ford are among them.
Nike, Under Armour, Puma, Adidas
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Athletic brands in Under Armour and Nike were done with Russia on March 3. Both stopped shipments to Russia and closed stores, including 116 shops for Nike. On March 5, Puma’s over 100 stores in Russia closed.
H&M, Chanel, Burberry, Zara
(Photo by Anthony Behar/Sipa USA)(Sipa via AP Images)
Hopefully styles don’t change too much because not many clothing options are going to be available for much longer in Russia–at least foreign ones.
H&M first jumped out of the country on March 2. Then luxury brands in Chanel and Burberry did the same over the next two days after that. All have closed their doors and stop shipments.
Inditex, the company that owns Zara, will close their whooping 500-plus stores.
Ikea, TJMaxx
(Gannett photo)
The world’s largest furniture brand, Ikea, closed their doors throughout Russia and Belarus, while also cutting their sourcing as well.
Add TJX Companies, a.k.a. TJMaxx, Marshalls and HomeGoods to the list. They’re selling off their stake in the Russian retail chain Familia.
Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, Samsung
(USA TODAY Network)
Samsung is the leading smartphone seller in Russia with more than 30 percent of the market, per Bloomberg. Or else, they were. Not anymore.
Apple was one of the first companies to pause product sales in Russia on March 1. Amazon said they have no offices in Russia and have long had a policy of not working with the Russian government–but they did go out of their way to continue that.
Microsoft stopped all new sales and in a statement condemned the “unjustified, unprovoked and unlawful invasion” on March 4.
Heineken, Jack Daniel's
(Photo by Larry French/Getty Images for Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Collection)
Just on Wednesday, Heineken told Russia they better stock up, because their beverages won’t be in the country anymore after two decades there. Brown-Forman Corp., owners of Jack Daniel’s whiskey and Woodford Reserve bourbon also said goodbye.
Netflix, TikTok, Disney
(Photo by ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images)
Netflix announced on Sunday that you can no longer stream their services in Russia. No new customers are allowed to sign up as well.
The social media application TikTok went the furthest of all social media companies. They will also no longer allow new posts at all from Russia. Others such as Facebook, have simply started to bring out news filters on their applications.
Disney will be suspending the release of all its films in Russia… moving forward. Kind of hard for them to go and collect all those VHS and DVDs from households so they’re doing what they can…
FIFA
(Tim Groothuis/Witters Sport via USA TODAY Sports)
Russia is planning to appeal their ban from FIFA, but they’ve been banned from World Cup qualifying. Upcoming opponents had already started calling off games ahead of that.
Pretty jarring to see one of the most corrupt organizations in the world even condemning Russia…
