[Letter] What a pity for Škoda
Czech auto manufacturer loses a fan
Skoda Auto, Board of Directors
Mr. Detlev Schmidt, Sales & Marketing
Dear Mr. Schmidt:
I am a longtime admirer of the Skoda Auto’s great and
proud craftsmanship, and I have been your loyal
supporter right until the moment I ventured onto your
company’s website in Ukraine. Then I was shocked and
appalled to find out that such a reputable company as
yours condones and supports a chauvinistic and
imperialistic policy of Russification in Ukraine.
Your company’s web-site representation in Ukraine
(www.eurocar.com.ua) is done EXCLUSIVELY in
Russian, whereas the majority of population in Ukraine
are Ukrainians, and the official and most spoken
language throughout the country is Ukrainian. Many
Ukrainians will find it offensive, and instead of
buying your products will launch a campaign of
boycotting Skoda Auto in Ukraine. I am sure you do not
want this to happen.
And I am sure that nobody in the Czech capital city
would be so politically insensitive as to suggest
using German or Russian language INSTEAD of your
native Czech! Why do you so arrogantly assume that
people in Ukraine’s capital city would feel much
fonder of the Russian language INSTEAD of their native
Ukrainian?
I can attribute such poor marketing policy move by
Skoda Auto in Ukraine only to bad advise you might
have received from some inept and incompetent local
consultants, who might have had their own pro-Russian
agenda. Such anti-Ukrainian policy of Skoda Auto may
inadvertently hurt your future business prospects in
Ukraine and lead to financial losses INSTEAD of
profits.
Your company pledges the following primary virtues
quoted from your English-language web-site
www.skoda-auto.com/company/perspective/ :
"Creativity, fairness, quality, reliability, openness,
and serious attitude to relations with customers and
the public - these are the primary virtues of the
Škoda brand at the present and will continue to be in
the future."
I do not appreciate Skoda’s application of double
standards towards Ukraine, where it simply ignores its
own primary virtues and joins in the camp of
chauvinistic outside forces, orchestrated from the
Kremlin. Unfortunately, such is the undeniable fact of
the insensitive language policy of Skoda Auto in
Ukraine.
Please reconsider your web-site policy for Ukraine as
soon as possible, before it becomes a hot political
issue and a PR nightmare for Skoda Auto in the near
future.
Thank you very much for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Oles Berezhny,
(a former Skoda admirer)
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