H&R Block Bows to Grabbers (Two Bucket Vomit Alert)

Washington, D.C.-In a stunning defeat for the gun lobby, H&R Block, the nation's largest tax preparation firm, today severed a controversial marketing agreement it had entered into with the National Rifle Association (NRA). H&R Block's withdrawal from the program came as a result of widespread protests spearheaded by the Alliance for Justice's Gun Industry Watch, and supported by the Million Mom March united with the Brady Campaign and the Mid-Atlantic Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence.

"Let this send a loud message to other corporate partners of the NRA," said Alliance for Justice President Nan Aron. "If you support the NRA, we will work to make sure that your employees, customers, and all of your stakeholders know that you support an extremist gun lobby that is out of step with mainstream America."

"The termination of this agreement is a tremendous victory for everyone who was outraged that a reputable business like H&R Block would support an extremist organization like the NRA," said Michael D. Barnes, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence united with the Million Mom March. "Marketing your products to a specific group of people is an accepted business practice, but H&R Block crossed the line when it agreed to pay royalties to the NRA."

"Corporations doing business with the NRA should be very concerned by the large efforts of hundreds of gun safety activists that came out in defiance of H&R Block's agreement with the NRA," said Bryan Miller of the Mid-Atlantic Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence.

H&R Block had entered into an agreement with a marketing company called Memberdrive to market its products and services to NRA members. However, the agreement also provided for "royalties" paid by H&R Block, through Memberdrive, to the NRA. According an H&R Block advertisement that ran in the March issue of America's First Freedom, the NRA's magazine, H&R Block "will make a contribution to the NRA for every Member who becomes a new customer." Memberdrive's Senior Vice President of Marketing is Susan LaPierre, wife of NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre.

Gun Industry Watch, a student network, first exposed the agreement in late February, staging a protest outside of an H&R Block outlet in Washington, DC, and planning dozens more. Over the past two weeks, thousands of activists including those from the Million Mom March and the Brady Campaign joined with Gun Industry Watch and called, faxed and e-mailed H&R Block to express their objections to this agreement and to educate the company on the extremist positions that the NRA has taken in the past. With Gun Industry Watch recruiting students, Million Mom March recruiting its members and support from the Mid-Atlantic Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence, protests of H&R Block offices in more than 50 cities had been planned for mid-March. These protests have now been called off.

"This victory shows the power of the gun control movement's grassroots," said Aron. "When you engage students and moms together, it's a potent combination."

"H&R Block now understands that, by areeing to this royalty scheme, it was furthering the reckless political agenda of the NRA's leadership," said Mr. Barnes. "Congratulations to Gun Industry Watch and to all of our Million Mom March activists and members for making their voices heard."

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H&R Block shares slide on investor sell-off

...
Chris Gutek, an analyst for Morgan Stanley, said he heard a ``momentum investor,'' someone who had acquired volume in the stock a number of months ago as H&R Block had been going up consistently, ``has been exiting the stock fairly aggressively in the last day or two.''
``That does seem to be a specific factor negatively impacting the stock today,'' he said.
Gutek said although the current tax season was off to very good start and very likely will continue to be very strong due to changes in tax laws, the H&R Block stock had been ``under pressure for the last week and a half.''
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