Bitter Cup of Protest

A peace group roasts Folgers coffee for using Salvadoran beans

"Boycott Folgers coffee. What it brews is misery and death." Narrated by actor Ed Asner, that TV attack ad has sparked a battle between a San Francisco-based peace group called Neighbor to Neighbor and corporate giant Procter & Gamble, whose Folgers brand is the top-selling U.S. coffee. The 30- sec. spot, which aired earlier this month on CBS affiliate WHDH in Boston, accuses Procter & Gamble of prolonging the ten-year civil war in El Salvador by buying Salvadoran coffee beans, the country's leading export, and thereby supporting the right-wing government of President Alfredo Cristiani.

For Procter & Gamble, the charges have...

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