# The Economist Peddling Kopi Luwak



## Milanski (Oct 10, 2013)

Was on Hampstead Heath yesterday and passed a mobile coffee stand with The Economist plastered all over it.

They were trying to bolster subscriptions by giving away free coffee in return for your particulars.

Interested, I asked what was in their grinder. The guy beamed and said "Kopi Luwak - do you know what it is?"

I had to walk away before I lamped him.

I should really have taken a photo of the coffee packet and did a bit of research but undoubtedly it's from 'farmed' civets if they can afford to give it away for free.

I feel compelled to write a letter to The Economist but would rather name and shame them somehow on a social network or something with a bigger impact.

Any suggestions?


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## coffeechap (Apr 5, 2012)

You need the photo, then tweet it


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## Thecatlinux (Mar 10, 2014)

If you want to dig further

http://www.brandrepublic.com/article/1344738/economist-gives-away-free-cat-poo-coffee

oh and it gets worse , being hailed as a great marketing success .

http://www.senselondon.com/economist-cat-poo-subs-campaign-wins-top-award/


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## Milanski (Oct 10, 2013)

coffeechap said:


> You need the photo, then tweet it


That'll be 74 people who'll see it then! Definitely a start...


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## Jon (Dec 3, 2010)

We can retweet if you link us to it?


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## Rhys (Dec 21, 2014)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-24034029

anyone thought of contacting the Economist?

I for one don't fancy drinking anything remotely like this.. Especially after reading this..

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/25253065/

doesn't sound good does it..


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## Thecatlinux (Mar 10, 2014)

As this is marketing by sense for the economist would we not be helping them by posting about it , even though our post are likely to be negative .

Maybe an idea if the forum is going to take a stand about the Kopi luwak and its unsavoury side to the industry .


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## Milanski (Oct 10, 2013)

Thanks for the tips.

I'm def going to write an email including the links posted above and will let you know if I get a reply.

Not sure if I'm going to have the time to get back to their coffee cart in order to take a pic but could just post a tweet.

Please PM me your twitter IDs (if that what they're called) and I'll tweet at you.

This sort of thing really gets my goat.

They prob think they're being really smart - knowing they'll get a reaction from gullible [email protected] like me which will just give them more column inches for free and hence more subscriptions. Never mind it's at the price of the welfare of animals - as long as it reflects in the bottom line - job done, f*** the animals.


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## Glenn (Jun 14, 2008)

The cart has been moving around London. Last week it was at Warren St, the week before at Liverpool St, so it's likely to be at a station near you in the coming days


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## Milanski (Oct 10, 2013)

I'm on poo watch.


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## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

@wjheenan and @allstartedhere


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## coffeechap (Apr 5, 2012)

@coffeechap1


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## Colio07 (Mar 9, 2015)

They've been by St. Paul's a few times as well. Shockingly bad marketing.


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## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

Milanski said:


> That'll be 74 people who'll see it then! Definitely a start...


I've retweeted from both accounts, so we might have reached 100 people...


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## coffeechap (Apr 5, 2012)

Me too so a further 300


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## Milanski (Oct 10, 2013)

Just noticed my sausage fingers misspelled 'Kopi' in the title









If poss can a mod please correct it and delete this post??

Much obliged!

Done







(Rhys)


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## jlarkin (Apr 26, 2015)

I retweeted it, expect I've got about 3 followers there. Maybe we could all eat some coffee beans and offer the economist a brew. Thanks for raising this, I hadn't considered they'd be farming them for it these days.


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## Milanski (Oct 10, 2013)

jlarkin said:


> ...Maybe we could all eat some coffee beans and offer the economist a brew...


With you on that one!!


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## Dallah (Jan 31, 2015)

@ridland


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## Taff (May 5, 2015)

RT'd to my 1000 ish followers..


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## coffeechap (Apr 5, 2012)

You will be surprised how quickly this will circulate


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## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

Taff said:


> RT'd to my 1000 ish followers..


1000? Check you out


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## Milanski (Oct 10, 2013)

coffeechap said:


> You will be surprised how quickly this will circulate


If anyone actually gave a s***


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## coffeechap (Apr 5, 2012)

jeebsy said:


> 1000? Check you out


You should if you are into car detailing


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## Taff (May 5, 2015)

coffeechap said:


> You should if you are into car detailing


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## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

coffeechap said:


> You should if you are into car detailing


I have it, it's impressive - i'm still scrambling around trying to break 100 though!


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## JohnPrime (Nov 2, 2014)

Milanski said:


> If anyone actually gave a s***


Nice one, Mr M!


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## Milanski (Oct 10, 2013)

Thanks everyone for picking up on this. Had a great response so far...lets hope it keeps going...

Wolfie Smith would be proud.


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## hotmetal (Oct 31, 2013)

Milanski said:


> Wolfie Smith would be proud.


That's a blast from the past! Hey, maybe the cat poo cart will be outside Tooting Bec station next?

Economist should be ashamed of themselves for this. Then again they probably bought fur coats for their wives. Some people only care about money and status. Sad.


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## Milanski (Oct 10, 2013)

@senselondon (the PR company) taking the piss by asking if I enjoyed the coffee


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## knightsfield (Sep 22, 2014)

Milanski said:


> @senselondon (the PR company) taking the piss by asking if I enjoyed the coffee


They even have a picture on their Web page


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## Milanski (Oct 10, 2013)

knightsfield said:


> They even have a picture on their Web page
> 
> View attachment 15003


...not of me drinking the coffee!!


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## knightsfield (Sep 22, 2014)

Just a cute civet tucking into some coffee.

Uploaded pic didn't show for some reason


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## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/613063671682592768


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## Milanski (Oct 10, 2013)

Of course they would say it's 100% ethically produced but I can't see it as the wild and therefore ethical stuff is supposed to be so rare to find. I also doubt there are 'free range' civet farms, but I need to do more research.

I've contacted an animal welfare organisation in Sumatra about the likelihood of being able to track down a supplier from the branding of the final product.

Someone pass me a shovel, I'm gonna start digging a big hole for myself...


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## risky (May 11, 2015)

I've retweeted to my measly 73 followers.

@risk_j


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## Dallah (Jan 31, 2015)

I've retweet to my followers and have managed to engage Brian (Brian's Coffee Spot) in an exchange of tweets on claims by Sense and The Economist that they are only using "ethical" Kopi Luwak. Brian has favourited my tweets pointing out there are no certified supply chains for "ethical" kopi luwak and also that Sense and The Economist are being lazy in accepting the word of their supplier that it is ethically sourced.

If we get everyone here to tweet and Facebook this, we stand a chance of getting The Economist to pull the plug. From reports they have perceived the stunt to be so successful that they will be rolling it out to cities on the continent.

I'm at @ridland

Tweet me and I'll follow and retweet


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## Dallah (Jan 31, 2015)

Its a couple of years old and you may have already read this but this is the link to the Guardian story re: attempts to end the trade in kopi luwak

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2013/sep/13/civet-coffee-cut-the-crap


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## Dallah (Jan 31, 2015)

Even if there is some "ethical" kopi luwak, the sale of such creates the market where the unethical product is sold. This is similar situation in regards to elephant ivory. While in theory it could be produced ethically from animal which have died of natural causes or from populations which are sustainable, the fact that a legal market exists, means there is a place where the illegal; product can be sold if the requisite documentation can be forged. Similar situation with blood diamonds and the Kimberly process. The corruption within the Kimberly process means that it has been abandoned by many of the groups which worked to set up the process in the first place.

There is no reason why a market for this product needs to exist. Even if the superior taste could be verified (and this is very much up for debate) do we "need" kopi luwak when there are so many ethically produced coffees to work with?


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## Milanski (Oct 10, 2013)

If anyone happens to come across The Economist coffee cart, please try and get the coffee brand name or better, a pic of the coffee bag logo with The Economist logo in the background.

Got a response from Sumatra so this be be a goer, but not without the coffee brand.

Thanks in advance.


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## jlarkin (Apr 26, 2015)

I don't know many people in London but I've asked those I do know to keep an eye out.



Milanski said:


> If anyone happens to come across The Economist coffee cart, please try and get the coffee brand name or better, a pic of the coffee bag logo with The Economist logo in the background.
> 
> Got a response from Sumatra so this be be a goer, but not without the coffee brand.
> 
> Thanks in advance.


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## lukej (Nov 29, 2014)

Late to the party but if any more tweets go out I have two accounts @themilkybarkid and @blackdripcoffee

Luke


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## isaidrelax (Jul 20, 2015)

Hi all - found this thread via Google after seeing a colleague bring in a flyer about this advertising campaign just last week. Apparently it's still going on. Have there been any developments? Has anyone heard anything further from The Economist / SenseLondon? I've written emails to both Sense and their New York counterpart. Do you think it would make sense at this point to launch a petition asking The Economist to disclose their souring/supply chain details, or has the moment passed?


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## Colio07 (Mar 9, 2015)

Saw an Economist promo cart near St. Paul's last week, but it was giving away ice cream. Will keep looking for the coffee cart.


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## Milanski (Oct 10, 2013)

I'm keen to keep this going and hold Sense accountable but we really need the brand name of coffee they're using in order to reasearch it. I wouldn't trust any info they tell us as they've already stated that their supplier have assured them the coffee is ethically sourced.


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## Milanski (Oct 10, 2013)

Was out and about London this weekend and only saw one ice cream cart in Borough.

If anyone sees the coffee cart, please try and get a pic of the coffee brand in question.


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