Facebook Protest Forces Price Cut on Cottage Cheese

A high-profile Facebook protest has scored a victory for consumers in Israel: Their threats of a boycott have forced dairy manufacturers to lower the price of cottage cheese by some 25%. The two-week campaign drew more than 105,000 people to join a Facebook group vowing to boycott the Israeli staple until prices dropped. Spooked by the outrage, the three large Israeli dairy companies agreed yesterday to lower the price of a half-pound container to $1.75 after it had risen to close to $2.30.

Today's newspapers carried glowing headlines that declared: "We Won," and "Cottage Cheese Victory." The "cottage protest," as it has come to be known in Israel, has sparked hope it will spread to other fields: the price of gasoline, which is now more than $8 a gallon, and other food products have recently skyrocketed as well. (More Israel stories.)