Bitter Cup of Protest

By John Greenwald

"Boycott Folgers coffee. What it brews is misery and death." Narrated by actor Ed Asner, that TV attack ad has sparked a battle between a San Francisco-based peace group called Neighbor to Neighbor and corporate giant Procter & Gamble, whose Folgers brand is the top-selling U.S. coffee. The 30- sec. spot, which aired earlier this month on CBS affiliate WHDH in Boston, accuses Procter & Gamble of prolonging the ten-year civil war in El Salvador by buying Salvadoran coffee beans, the country's leading export, and thereby supporting the right-wing government of President Alfredo Cristiani.

For Procter & Gamble, the charges have been too bitter to swallow. In an angry response, the Cincinnati-based consumer products firm yanked its advertising, worth as much as $1 million a year, from the Boston station. "We felt very strongly that our integrity was being attacked, and we could not let that go unchallenged," said Don Tassone, a P&G spokesman. He noted that Folgers contains less than 2% Salvadoran beans. "In addition, and this is important to us, we are supported by our Government's policy," Tassone said. In a recent letter to the company, Under Secretary of State Robert Kimmitt urged P&G to continue buying Salvadoran coffee to promote economic stability in the impoverished country.

Such support is anathema to Neighbor to Neighbor, which opposes U.S. policy in El Salvador. The protest group, with a national membership of 52,000, argues that El Salvador's $400 million worth of annual coffee exports mainly benefits a handful of wealthy families and helps finance death squads and military atrocities against civilians. "There's blood on that coffee," says Fred Ross, the group's director. "Action by corporations like Procter & Gamble could send economic shock waves into El Salvador and force a negotiated settlement to the war."

For now, at least, that message will continue to be heard. In Worcester, Mass., independent station WHLL plans to run the Neighbor to Neighbor spot this week. Says Michael Volpe, the station's general manager: "This has a lot more to do with First Amendment rights than with coffee and advertising. If you take away the right to run an ad, you're losing something."

In Washington, Congress could debate a boycott of its own this week, when the House is expected to vote on a measure to speed up the Salvadoran peace process. The bill would cut in half this year's $85 million of scheduled military aid to El Salvador if the Cristiani government appears to be stalling in talks to end the war with the country's leftist guerrillas.

Ironically any campaign to change American coffee habits would probably be overshadowed by last year's drop in coffee prices. Salvadoran coffee beans that sold for $135 per 100 lbs. last summer fetch just $70, a plunge that has slashed the country's export earnings by at least $175 million, or about 30%. Says Ernesto Altschul, a senior adviser to Cristiani: "I can't imagine they can hurt our coffee industry any worse."

With reporting by Ricardo Chavira/Washington and Dennis Wyss/San Francisco