Open in full screen mode Several merchants are participating in the campaign to boycott Cadbury products. Radio-Canada Please note that this article published in 2018 may contain information that is no longer current. On July 8, 1978, the confectioner Cadbury announced the closure of its factory in Montreal. After 60 years in the Quebec metropolis, the company intends to transfer its activities to Whitby, Ontario. As a protest, the Confederation of National Unions (CSN) organized a boycott campaign which would leave its mark. The news was conveyed in an eight-line press release, published on Saturday. The same day, the 500 employees laid off from the Cadbury factory in Montreal learned of it at home by special mail. Monday July 10, the journalist Danièle Bombardier goes to meet workers for Téléjournal. They have 17, 24, 31 years of experience at Cadbury and fear not finding a job.
The CSN, which protects Cadbury workers, is calling for a public inquiry to determine the true reasons for this departure.
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Why, for example, is the closure planned for such a symbolic date as November 15, 1978, two years to the day after the Parti Québécois came to power?
A boycott campaign begins. It will be launched on September 26, 1978.
On the news Tonightof October 5, 1978, journalist Gérard-Marie Boivin reports on the success of the “We bar Cadbury” boycott campaign.
At the National Assembly , just like in the premises of the union centers, Cadbury brand chocolate bars have been removed from the vending machines.
Several businesses are also participating in the movement by removing Cadbury products from their shelves and displaying their color.
The CSN also calls for a boycott of Schweppes soft drinks and Welch's juices, attached to the multinational.
Faced with the possible loss of a market which represents a third of its production, we hope that Cadbury will forgo this move.
The two levels of government are also proposing measures to modernize the factory and allow it to remain in Montreal.
Despite the scale of the campaign, their efforts fail.
New packaging of the Cadbury Snack Bar, in 1979. The brand name appears smaller.
November 16, 1978 marked the closure of the Cadbury factory in Montreal. On this day, employees go to work only to fill out their unemployment insurance forms.
They then gather at the local restaurant, where journalist Charles Tisseyre collects their testimonies for the Téléjournal.
The decision to the business is now irreversible. Production will be transferred to Whitby, Ontario, a more profitable factory than that of Montreal.
The show Consumers plusof October 19, 1979 focuses on the boycott. The case of Cadbury is cited as an example.
Whatever the objectives , a well-orchestrated boycott campaign is a tool or, better yet, a weapon that consumers should know how to use.
A quote from host Louise Arcand
In this report by Pierre Devroede and Yves Blouin, Gérald Larose, president of the Montreal Central Council of the CSN, traces the origins of the word boycott.
He also discusses the Cadbury boycott campaign, the impact of which could be measured.
We don't boycott for the sake of boycotting. We boycott to achieve specific objectives.
A quote from trade unionist Gérald Larose
At the height of the boycott, Cadbury had to reduce its production by 50%. The company has also changed the packaging of some of its chocolate bars. The name of the brand now appears smaller.
The Cadbury case will have been epoch-making.
As for the Whitby factory, it will close its doors in 1987.
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