Whole Foods Boycott
By: Keith
I have been living in a hole. Everybody else in the United States of Righteous Indignation is bickering over Whole Foods’ CEO, John Mackey, and his disapproval of the Obama health care initiative. I read a piece in the op-ed section of the Los Angeles Times today by Meghan Daum who explained the whole thing in its condensed version. It seems that the progressives have boycotted Whole Foods because John Mackey decided to write an article for the New York Times where he stated that he doesn’t like the idea of government run nationalized health care. The interesting part of this story is that since the progressives have boycotted it, the conservatives have started what they call a “buycott” (my spell checker doesn’t like that word). That means they’ve picked up the slack where the liberals have deserted. The net result for Whole Foods? Their stock is doing just fine. And this leads me where I want to go, to talk about me.
Who Cares?
I’m guessing that there are many more people in the world who are like me than there are who care so deeply about this topic. Most of us just go about the business of taking care of our families. We shop where it’s convenient, we find the foods we like, and where we can get a good deal. I am more concerned about buying foods that are healthy for me and my kids than I am about what political party I’m supporting. I have learned that there are, amazingly, people who shop at grocery stores based on political affiliation. Who has time for that? I’m a libertarian and I’ve shopped at Whole Foods since 2000, when I moved into an apartment across the street from one. I know very well that many of the people shopping at Whole Foods are liberals and the nature loving sorts. That’s fine with me, but I don’t really care. I shop there because I like good food. I buy the 365 brand organic milk which is cheaper than Safeway’s organic milk. As a matter of fact most 365 brand stuff is cheaper than organic foods that can be bought at other supermarkets.
Employees
I’ve never met a grumpy whole foods employee. I take that to mean that they are treated fairly and that they enjoy their jobs, and that’s more than I can say for Safeway and Albertsons. I live in Boulder and most of us are liberals. Our market, the Ideal Market (owned by Whole Foods), is staffed by and frequented by liberals. I’ve never had a bad experience there. Customers and Employees are considerate and helpful. Some things are admittedly way out of my price range, but if I shop smart, it’s quite affordable. I like shopping there because it feels like a community of friendly people. It’s like the grocery store version of Cheers. I don’t want to go anywhere else because, people do not wear signs on their heads stating their political affiliations. They’re just people like me who like good food. We might not vote for the same politicians but that doesn’t mean we don’t have any common interests.
Stereotypes
I’ve never been accosted by anybody demanding I vote for anything at the grocery store. That sort of thing happens half a mile down the street at the Pearl Street mall. I know other conservative leaning people who shop at Whole Foods. One of the quotes from a liberal commenter concerning this “buycott” is this: “Once you [conservatives] walk into the place and don’t see Twinkies and other junk food, you’ll waddle on out.” – Cathy (a commenter on the American Spectator blog). I’m conservative on a lot of things, and I’m in better shape than Cathy, I’d be willing to bet. I am 6 ft 165 lbs, can do 20 pull-ups and run a sub 5 minute mile (and I’m 35 years old). Where does she get off making a stereotypical comment like that? And here’s where I’m going to end this. Anybody who cares where anybody else shops for groceries because of political concerns is an idiot. My kids are pretty much the only thing I care about. They need food, and I get them the best food I can find, and that’s at Whole Foods. So stuff it with the stereotypes and political indignation at a guy, both me and John Mackey, who just have opinions like everybody has opinions. How in the heck does health care have anything to do with what he sells? His employees seem happy enough. I’ll keep buying at Whole Foods and I’ll keep ignoring the idiots who have nothing better to do with their days than storm around angry. I am not any better off now that I know what the controversy is all about.
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Somehow EVERYTHING has to do with your political affiliation– not just your grocery store, but your brand of underwear even, it seems.
.-= Dennis Yu´s last blog ..Want to be a well-known affiliate blogger? My interview with Murray Newlands =-.
Indeed! It’s hard to believe that we’re not running around killing each other yet with all the indignant nut jobs (both on the right and the left) stoking the flames of controversy. Most people just want some money to get through their lives stress free. We’re not out looking to pick fights.
When a business or organization throw money at a issue like gun control I do have a problem with them and will spend my money elsewhere.
I think boycotts in general just don’t work. It’s fine to choose to spend money someplace else as long as you’re still getting the same service and same satisfaction. If a business can’t satisfy it’s customers then they need to concentrate less on politics and more on providing a relevant service. We’ve seen that happen with the news recently. People have been defecting from print media in favor of the internet because the internet gives every side of every position (accuracy sometimes suffers) and because they have seen newspapers and traditional media as not impartial observers to the news. That’s an example of a business that is failing because of the weight of it’s biased opinions. Whole Foods would be like that if John Mackey scoffed at his customer base and told them to shove it. But, he didn’t. He just stated his opinion. I’m sure he is still interested in everyone buying his products.