Firms Profit From World Cup Vuvuzela Craze
Despite growing irritation caused to fans and players alike, supermarket chain Sainsbury’s say they have sold 40,000 of the plastic trumpets at £2 each.
Sainsburys expects another 35,000 to fly off the shelves by the end of the tournament.
When England played against the USA on Saturday it sold a vuvuzela every two seconds.
“Yes I guess Sainsbury’s are partly responsible, we’re the retailer in the UK that is selling them,” Chief Executive Justin King told Sky News.
Vuvuzela outlets across South Africa have also been inundated.
“It seems like the bad publicity has been good for us,” said Brandon Bernado of vuvuzela.co.za whose factory produces 10,000 of the horns every day.
“We’re completely sold out. Every time we manufacture more, the next morning by nine we’re sold out,” he said.
The man who created the vuvuzela seven years ago, Neil van Schalkwyk, believes the industry is now worth 50m rand (£4.4m) globally.
You can even download a free vuvuzela iphone app that makes 90 decibels (dB) of noise – nearly as loud as a chainsaw.
The real horn can belt out more than 130 dB.
Patrice Evra of France is one of many footballers who claim they are ruining the tournament.
“We can’t sleep at night because of the vuvuzelas,” he complained.
“People start playing them from 6am. We can’t hear one another out on the pitch because of them.”
A campaign is now growing to ban the trumpet, with 84,000 people voting to ditch it on www.banvuvuzela.com.
However, one industry is hoping the vuvuzela is here to stay. Makers of earplugs have reported a surge in sales from people desperate to protect their ears and get a good night’s sleep.
Source : SKY News
There are a couple of petitions online to ban the vuvuzela from the World Cup. Here’s another one:
http://www.petitiononline.com/2010WC/petition.html