The Norwegian chocolate producer Freia has long been beloved by the Norwegian people, but a recent realization that Freia’s owners Mondelez are on Ukraine’s blacklist has sparked a far-reaching boycott for the popular products.
Mondelez is on Ukraine’s official blacklist of companies that are supporting war efforts in Russia, due to the fact that Mondelez still produces and sells chocolate and other goods within Russia.
This means that tax income from Mondelez’s sales in Russia are being used to wage an aggressive war in Ukraine, and at the same time means that Mondelez is profiting from the war seeing as most of their competitors have withdrawn from Russia altogether.
Many big Norwegian companies are boycotting the beloved Freia chocolate
Since the Freia brand is owned by Mondelez, many people argue that you are essentially supporting a pro-war company when buying Freia products. This has lead to multiple major Norwegian companies to stop all sales of all Freia and Mondelez products at their stores and destinations.
While this might not seem like a big deal to many foreigners, it’s important to keep in mind that Freia has a very high standing within the Norwegian people, and their chocolate is considered a big part of Norway’s culture.
This is especially true for snacks like Kvikk Lunsj, which is considered to be an unofficial hiking snack that all hikers bring whenever hiking in Norway.
Kvikk Lunsj even had a cooperation with Norwegian Trekking Association (Den Norske Turistforening), which are seen as the biggest contributor to the Norwegian hiking culture. However, Norwegian Trekking Association has recently boycotted the chocolate, marking the end of a 50 year long cooperation.
Companies that are boycotting Freia and Mondelez
- SAS (Airline company).
- Norwegian Trekking Association (Den Norske Turistforeningen).
- Hurtigruten (Cruise company).
- SJ (Train company).
- Classic Norway Hotels.
- Norwegian (Airline company).
- Elkjøp (Norway’s biggest electronic retailer).
- Norges Fotballforbund (Norwegian Football Association).
- ICA (Retailer).
- Strawberry (Hotel chain).
- Widerøe (Airline company).
This list is getting bigger by the hour, and we’re doing our best to continuously updating it.
The Norwegian government is currently discussion if they are going to join in on the ban by boycotting Freia and Mondelez products at their locations.
Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre has said that they will not take any governmental actions against Freia, but that people should choose if they want to partake in the boycott or not themselves.
At the same time, he has made it clear that they are doing all they can to make sure that no companies circumvent the trade ban with Russian companies.
What exactly is Ukraine’s Blacklist?
Ukraine’s Blacklist is a list of companies that the Ukrainian government considers to be supporting Russia economically. It primarily features companies that still operate on Russian soil, and contribute to the war effort by paying taxes for products sold.
Mondelez is on the blacklist, due to the fact that they still sell their products in Russia, and even have production factories there. Freia itself is not on the list by name, but by the fact that Mondelez is the owner of Freia.
The full blacklist can be viewed by clicking here (external link).
There are lots of other companies on the blacklist that are still selling their products in both Norway and other countries around the world, but the big boycott in Norway seem to be solely focused on Freia at the moment.