Tesco calls South Korean government “red” – no really they did!

In an extraordinary yet revealing display of arrogance Tesco, the giant UK-based retailer, has recently shown what it thinks of local communities and the small retailers which so many of them depend on.

South Korea’s government, conservative and anti-worker, has been accused by Tesco of being “more communist” than North Korea. Why? Because it dared to impose some modest regulation on major retailers to protect small businesses and the communities which they serve. Notably it made retailers subject to a degree of community agreement if they wanted to install an outlet in a local community. Lee Seung-han, Tesco’s Chairman in South Korea pointed this extraordinary “red-baiting” finger in a country which has generated 300 million British pounds of profit for the retail giant in the last financial year.

Leaving aside what would be a crazy piece of political comedy if it were not so serious (our South Korean members might call their government many things but “red” would not be one of them) this reveals the true nature of the fast-growing global retailers’ intentions. They are out to crush choice, crush small retailers and dominate communities like behemoths trampling all before them.

Next time you question Tesco’s claim to be community friendly or next time you join an effort to protect your local community and local retailers against Tesco, Wal-Mart or the other giants look out…..you could be subject to a Joe McCarthy-like “red hunt” led not by a xenophobic paranoid populist politician but by your friendly local supermarket.

In ruthlessly pursuing corporate profit and retail dominance I guess, as Tesco's jingle tells us, “Every little helps”.