Domino’s Israel franchise has removed all social media posts expressing support for the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) after TCDSU severed its relationship with the company’s UK and Ireland franchise over the posts earlier this month.
In correspondence seen by Trinity News, Domino’s Pizza Group PLC outlined a number of steps it had undertaken to address concerns raised by Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU).
These included hiring a Hebrew-speaking social media monitor to review all social media content from Domino’s Pizza Israel, which identified a number of posts which they felt “may cause upset in Ireland and the UK”.
The group then liaised with the US-based Domino’s Pizza International Franchising, Inc., the master franchisor for the brand globally, to request that the posts be removed.
The flagged content included a Facebook post from Domino’s Pizza Israel on October 10 showing Domino’s staff donating food to Israeli soldiers with the caption “Domino’s ❤️ IDF”.
Trinity News understands that all of the flagged content has now been removed from the social media sites.
In a statement, Trinity Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (Trinity BDS) said that the response from Domino’s “shows the power of the BDS movement and its goals”.
“The BDS movement aims to exert pressure on the State of Israel in order for it to cease its genocidal, racist and illegal regime on the Palestinian people.”
“This is an important step in showing corporations that they cannot be complicit in genocide without facing direct consequences to their profits. We must continue exerting pressure on complicit companies and institutions, in order to show that profiting from genocide and apartheid is unacceptable”, the statement continued.
The move signals that corporations are responding to pressure exerted by global consumer boycotts due to their Israeli franchises expressing support for the IDF and donating food to military personnel in Gaza.
Earlier this month McDonald’s reported that it had been hit with “meaningful business impact” following boycotts, particularly in the middle east. Starbucks also reported an effect on sales after it sued its workers’ union for expressing solidarity with the people of Gaza.
Trinity BDS reiterated their condemnation of College for its “complicity with the genocide in Gaza”, highlighting college’s connections with various Israeli institutions and corporations.
“College must follow in TCDSU’s footsteps, and the footsteps of various other universities across the world in ending its ties with all complicit entities. Until college ends its own complicity, we students must continue to make our voices heard in opposition”, it added.
A spokesperson for TCDSU also commented on how this development demonstrated the power of boycotting, telling Trinity News: “No matter how small an organisation is, such as our student union in comparison to a global business, we all have a part to play.”
“This also shows that being a franchise is no excuse for multinational corporations to brush aside BDS demands.”
TCDSU did not confirm whether these moves would alter the union’s relationship with Domino’s going forward.
In a statement to Trinity News, Domino’s Pizza Group PLC reiterated that it hoped the union would reconsider its decision to end the sponsorship agreement.
“Domino’s Pizza Group PLC is a wholly separate legal entity to other Domino’s franchisors around the world, and therefore the only people impacted by the end of this partnership will be our Irish franchise partner, our diverse store colleagues and drivers in Dublin, and the students of Trinity College.”
“We hope the TCDSU will reconsider its decision.”
