One of the world’s leading makers of pressure washers and steam cleaners has formally asked French politicians not to use its name to score political points, reports The Guardian.
Kärcher, a German family-owned company, issued a statement on Tuesday objecting to rightwing presidential candidate Valérie Pécresse taking its brand in vain. It is the latest of several similar complaints it has issued in recent years.
Last week, Pécresse, the candidate for the mainstream opposition conservative party Les Républicains (LR), said it was time to “get the Kärcher out of the cellar again” to sweep drug dealers and criminals out from the country’s city suburbs. She repeated the comment to French radio, television and newspapers.
Pécresse was echoing her predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy who caused a stir in 2005 when, as the Interior Minister, he said he planned to use the company’s pressure cleaner to wash the louts out of the Paris banlieues.
Sarkozy had visited La Courneuve after the death of an 11-year-old boy who was killed in front of an apartment block when he was caught in the crossfire of a battle between two gangs. Le Monde reported he said he would “nettoyer au Kärcher” (clean with a Kärcher) the district of 4,000 in a private meeting with the victim’s family. This was not captured on film, but 10 days later he justified what he had said. “The term ‘to clean with a Kärcher’ is the right term because we have to clean up,” he told local youngsters.
Contrary to the received wisdom that there is no such thing as bad publicity, Kärcher’s French division said Pécresse’s comments were “misplaced”, “inappropriate” and damaging to the brand.