Posted on 07/30/2019 7:03:22 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
"Our view was always, 'Let's just run a business.'" Today, former Walmart CEO Bill Simon would be in the minority. As more companies pick sides in the cultural debate, he -- like a lot of executives -- is having a hard time understanding which business these CEOs are in: advancing left-wing advocacy or their company's brand?
Things have changed a lot over Bill Simon's career. In the retail business, he remembers, it used to be simple. "We'll sell to anybody. We'll try to stay out of the public eye on issues that can be confrontational." Fast-forward to today, when everything -- including the marketplace -- is polarized. It's astonishing, he told me on "Washington Watch," to see the progression of corporations. Businesses, he says shaking his head, "are taking positions on things that I honestly wouldn't think [any business would take a position on, because] invariably [it alienates] a large customer base in one direction or the other." And yet, he points out, "boards of directors are sort of supporting it."
Most shoppers can't even walk down the aisle of the grocery store anymore without being hit over the head with a radical social agenda. Transgender Oreos with a pronoun guide? Rainbow kombucha? LGBT pride Listerine? And dozens more. But it isn't just the sexual agenda taking CEOs hostage anymore. Chains like MAC Cosmetics, H&M, Lush, Postmates, The Body Shop, Ben & Jerry's, Birchbox, Kenneth Cole, &Pizza took out a full-page ad in the New York Times to shame pro-lifers for passing abortion regulations that even "pro-choice" Americans support. Then there's SunTrust, who decided to wade into the immigration debate by cutting ties private firms running U.S. detention facilities. Why? Because they'd rather have open borders than thriving banks.
(Excerpt) Read more at frcaction.org ...
PING!
I feel so #$#$ing guilty with what I spend at amazon.
They had a prime pantry sale where I got 15 items for 15 bucks, they were 2 bucks each and were a buck off each.
You could only save 15 on each purchase but I just made 3 different purchases.
I STILL will not buy at Target, won’t buy gillette and budweiser and apple.
But it gets hard after a while.
HECK lots of liberals eat at Chick Fill A
I remember the lettuce and grape boycotts. (yes, I’m THAT old). I felt guilty, but my family had to eat. So, I bought them anyway and just didn’t talk about it.
I’m pretty sure most everyone still purchased the produce.
Lettuce and grape protests.
Are you putting me on or did that really exist? :)
I shop at Amazon all the time. They recommend me to buy conservative books, among other recommendations. Books by Michael Savage, Trump, Bill O’Reilly. Also a book about Michelle Obama which I guess was thrown in there for “balance.”
What are you gonna do?
You have to balance capitalism with ideals and protest where you can and go with a good company when it’s called for.
Amazon blows away the competition in what they offer and what they do.
It is what it is.
Like going to Hobby Lobby when I can.
Yeah like that.
Come on, it’s REALLY HARD to find the PERFECT CONSERVATIVE store or restaurant.
Walmart sells BLM shirts online.
So where does it end?
There’s no absolutes. We do our best and leave it at that.
I still haven’t bought anything Heinz since John F’n Kerry. Now it’s difficult since Kraft bought Heinz...
...anything Heinz...
___________________________
For decades, DH refused to consider switching to any other ketchup. Then, I bought a bottle of Burman’s from Aldi (1/2 the price). Cannot tell the difference.
Since he considers ketchup one of the 4 major food groups and since I use it as a basis for homemade French dressing & BBQ sauce, we go thru a lot of the stuff. It was my last Heinz product. We are now Heinz free.
Similar to condiments from Kraft, except Miracle Whip. I don’t think about it, but I tend to buy off brands and almost zero prepared foods, so it’s not even a consideration. I’m actively looking for another salad dressing, since we don’t really like mayonnaise and mostly only use Miracle Whip in the summer.
Compare the ingredients:
The site 2ndvote.com lets you search for companies that are neutral or conservative and even search based on the issues they support.
...ingredients....
_____________
Yes, I know. I routinely make a lot of things otherwise available prepared.
I know I can make my own version and I may, but we eat it so infrequently (mostly during tomato season) and the homemade variety doesn’t keep that long, I just keep a jar in the fridge.
There is a lot of contention around processed/preserved foods. However, before the new puritans began warning about ‘processed’ food, I recall reading speculations that eating preservatives (potassium sorbate et al) actually contributed to longevity. I do limit intake of soy, but I see no real reason to eliminate small amounts completely.
Study after study has confirmed that diet has a minuscule effect on most disease processes, as do many supplements. Food intake is controllable, so it’s easy to exploit. That said, it is wise to not become fat and it is more frugal to cook from scratch with fresh ingredients.
We like the flavor of MW.
I also know that many off-brands are exactly the same product, produced on the same production lines as the branded versions. All that changes is the label. Same thing happens in ready-to-wear: popular brands own the ‘knock offs’ and simply cut a few corners most people don’t even notice. I have knock-offs that have looked great now for years (if not decades), while the quality of the brands (looking at you, Levi) has gone steadily down. I can sew, but clothing is so abundant and relatively affordable (especially 2nd hand), there is little incentive today.
I’m very intrigued by the fact that we are so influenced by a name on a label. I think it was William Gibson who wrote an entire series around the ideas that branding could induce illness, while the most prestigious items were totally unbranded, but superior. He actually had (or has?) a side business reproducing a line of branded military jackets for astronomical prices and had insights into both production & marketing.
But that’s another post.
When it comes to cell phones you either use Apple or you give your information to Google. Given the options, I use Apple because I know that Google actively uses people’s information to track and manipulate them, and they are sophisticated at manipulation beyond belief.
I may not like Apple’s CEO or politics, but on privacy and data they are about as good as any tech company out there.
I haven’t gone into baby-killing, bathroom-mixing Target for years, and I dumped Gillette after their man-shaming commercial. The Bic razors I get now actually seem to shave more closely and last longer, too. I use Wal-mart’s Equate menthol shaving cream, AND IT SMELLS BETTER THAN GILLETTE.
Get woke, go broke.
Well, then, I must be extraordinarily dense, because their stuff is not working on me. I still plan to vote for Trump, unless someone better challenges him in the primary. (NOTE: the ones wanting to challenge him now appear to be milquetoast, judicial-precedent-respecting, elitist, RINO weenies.)
LOL
That’s a GREAT slogan!!
Yeah they’re DEAD to me.
I still don’t forgive budweiser for their pro gay marriage commercials maybe 3 years back.
I hold a long grudge :)
At least they came back with pro military ads after realizing the mess they made.
I had a vending machine route in Brooklyn, Staten Island and Manhattan.
I NEVER talked politics with the owners of the establishment.
Because it had NOTHING TO DO WITH BUSINESS.
If they told me their politics, I just nodded and then went about my business.
Never makes sense to alienate customers.
There are other directions to manipulate you. Notice I said they are sophisticated. Simple straightforward manipulation isn’t always the most effective but priming your reactions by understanding and using your natural tendencies can marginalize you without needing to change your mind.
Please list the ones you know about, so that I can be more aware. Thanks.
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