News

War of ribbons across Hong Kong businesses to signal side in ongoing conflict

Hong Kong, Dec 6 (EFE).- As a highly materialistic society with a taste for mindless consumerism, Hong Kong has recently found itself swept by a unique wave of conscious consumption, whereby citizens who support the pro-democracy movement make an effort to patronize businesses siding with the anti-government protesters and ditch those who are against it.As the months-long movement continues to rage on, activists and their supporters are looking at building up a “yellow economic circle” – yellow as in “yellow ribbon,” the symbol for being pro-democracy and pro-protesters, as opposed to “blue ribbon," which represents the pro-government and pro-police lot.The idea is that businesses supportive of pro-democracy protests, which began in early June because of a controversial government bill on extradition from Hong Kong to mainland China, deserve like-minded consumers’ support; when more customers patronize them, they will become stronger and the yellow economic circle will get bigger in Hong Kong, whose economy has for the past two decades been driven largely by businesses that are pro-China.This week, the advertising sector staged a five-day strike and launched plans to help small-sized pro-protest businesses to promote themselves. And as Hongkongers have a penchant for dining out, the restaurant sector has become the main realm where this politically-driven consumption behavior manifests itself. Several mobile apps have been created to guide diners where to eat. (Camera: SHIRLEY LAU).FOOTAGE SHOWING AN INTERVIEW WITH JONATHAN CHAN, OWNER OF AROUND WELLINGTON RESTAURANT, IN WELLINGTON, CENTRAL DISTRICT, HONG KONG.SOUNDBITES: JONATHAN CHAN, OWNER OF AROUND WELLINGTON RESTAURANT (IN CANTONESE).TRANSLATIONS: 1.) As a restaurant owner, I surely think this [the yellow economic circle] is efficient. We opened about six months ago. Normally a normal business wouldn’t have been able to grow so fast. But we can now break even and pay all expenses, which is much faster than we expected. I think the yellow economy circle movement is helping us.2.)Because we support the movement, people who didn’t know us want to check out what we serve and try out. That has sped up our growth. Having benefited [from the movement], we try to use our resources to help others so that this yellow economic circle can keep growing. People spend money here and we make more money, so we use our resources to help those in need. This way the circle can sustain.