Corporate Influence

I've been reading about companies cutting ties with the NRA....presumably because as an NRA member I am evil and do not deserve a discount.

Delta stopped a discount program with the NRA. To which I say, "who cares?!" I have never used my NRA card for discounts on anything! That is not why I joined NRA and not why I continue to be a member. I doubt you will find anyone who joined the NRA to get discounts at Delta or FedEx or anywhere else. Nor is anyone going to cancel their membership with the NRA because Delta no longer gives a token discount to NRA member. Hail, I never even knew about these various discounts.

I think corporations do themselves a disservice trying to influence social issues in the country. A couple of years ago Target announce they would make their bathrooms open to the opposite sex if they person 'identified' as the opposite sex. The last thing a mom wants to hear her 8 yo say after using the bathroom at Target is, "Mama, there was a man in the ladies room." This decision totally blew up in their face and cost them millions in revenue.

CVS decided a few years ago to no longer sell cigarettes because they were unhealthy....yet they still sell Snicker's bars, Coke, beer, ice cream, etc. It was a marketing ploy and I guess we will never really know if this made more people shop at CVS or fewer people shop there or what effect the lost revenue from cigarette sales cost them. Did anyone quit smoking because CVS no longer sells cigarettes? No.

I guess I have an issue with the whole 'guilt by association' thing. If the triple k gives money to a political candidate does that mean the candidate supports them? No, it means the campaign needs money! If the DNC takes money from that Hollywood producer and then later finds out he is creepy sexual harasser should they give the money back? No! If Farrakhan endorses a candidate does that mean the candidate supports Farrakhan? No.

I guess fundamentally I think business ought to steer clear of social issues and just focus on providing the best goods and services they can. Starbucks is forever trying to outguess the public....problem is, they are a Seattle based company and what plays well in Seattle does not play so well in Nashville.