It is a trivial story in itself but it has a broader lesson
for us all...
When Heads of State and Government meet it is traditional
for them to exchange token gifts. This really is an outdated convention and no
one really pays much attention to it ...except when things go wrong.
When British Prime Minister Gordon Brown recently became the
first foreign Head of Government to meet the new US President, Barak Obama, the
British Foreign Office put a great deal of effort into selecting an appropriate
gift.
Eventually, the British gave Mr Obama a penholder hand-crafted
from the timbers of HMS Gannet, a
naval vessel employed against the slave trade and the sister ship of HMS Resolute. The Resolute was itself the subject of a dispute between Britain and
America that was resolved amicably, and Queen Victoria presented a desk made
from its timbers to President Hayes – the desk that remains in the Oval Office
to this day.
The British gift to President Obama was therefore deeply
symbolic on several levels.
In return, President Obama gave Mr Brown... a packet of 25
DVDs of well-known Hollywood films.
As if to prove how little thought went into the latter, the
DVDs were Region 1, which can be played on American machines but not usually on
British, which are Region 2. The British felt insulted.
This is hardly Round Two of the Boston Tea Party but it
shows how a token gesture of friendship can be counter-productive if it is not
thought through.
The same is true where private businesses give away free
samples or gifts, or make what they think are generous gestures to foster
goodwill. Doing so is a waste of money unless you first find out whether they
will be accepted and appreciated.
Businesses should research before they give things as
thoroughly as they research before they try to sell things. When in doubt, better
to give nothing than to cause offence by giving the wrong thing or in the wrong
manner.