General Mills sales and profits rise!
In June, General Mills came out in support of equality and encouraged Minnesota to vote NO on the mean-spirited marriage amendment. Today, I’m happy to report that the “Dump General Mills” boycott put on by Minnesota for Marriage had no impact on company performance. Both sales and profits rose for the quarter and General Mills shared that the results were “a little bit better than we’d planned.”
Not only have sales and profits increased, but the stock price is up five percent since mid-June as well! With all of that said, Carlton Marketing Professor, Akshay Rao, had this to say:
To make a connection between an earnings report and a particular social phenomenon is very difficult. … What you can infer, based on how quiet everything has been since the initial flurry of protests and counterprotests, is that the issue pretty much lost steam. And I think there’s been a good reason for that.
Ok, so with my Business background, I’d probably have to agree. However, it sure is sweet to see sales and profits rise despite rallies and boycotts put on by Minnesota for Marriage.
More evidence that standing up for what is right doesn’t cause the backlash some may fear. Now I ask: Where are you other Minnesota-based companies? The water out here is really nice; I think it’s time to jump in to vote NO!
Chick-fil-a’s media firestorm
Ok, so I’ve eaten at this place once or twice while traveling, and I’ve seen their cute cow advertisements, but WOW. I have never heard as much about thecompany as I have this past week! After Chick-fil-a president Dan Cathy came out defending his company’s views about “traditional marriage” a whole lot of people started talking.
You’ve got the Jim Henson company pulling their toys from the store. You’ve got political leaders in Boston and Chicago both making proclamations that they don’t want Chick-fil-a in their towns. You’ve got universities petitioning to remove the company from their campuses as it could create a hostile environment for GLBT youth and their allies. The list goes on.
The reality is, Dan Cathy has every right to hold his views. At the same time, consumers have every right to share their views as well.
I made a commitment a while ago that I’m not going to turn this blog into a place where I rally people to boycott this company or that. However, I do believe this will be an important part of the LGBT and marriage equality movements as we look back in time, and so I’m sharing it with you. Eat and Chick-fil-a, or don’t; my only ask is that my friends, family – and followers – continue to educate themselves on their decisions.
Here’s a great little YouTube video from Jackson Pearce on “Hate, Love and Chicken.” It’s making the rounds on Facebook and it’s totally worth the watch.
American Family Association Boycotts Google
The American Family Association is calling for a boycott of Google because of Google’s “Legalize Love” campaign. A little over a week ago, Google announced the Legalize Love campaign and shared that it will focus first on those areas with homophobic cultures or anti-gay laws exist.
According to Google Exec, Mark Palmer-Edgecumbe:
We want our employees who are gay or lesbian or transgender to have the same experience outside the office as they do in the office
This video features Buster Wilson talking about the boycott of Google and how it will be difficult it would be considering just how integrated Google is in our lives. From the AFA:
A lot of us are so integrated into Google and Google products. This is going to be a tough one. It’s more than just a search engine. Many of us have Android phones — the Android system is a Google product. Many of us use Google calendar, Google Tasks and Gmail. And all those kinds of things. YouTube. And all the other things … this one’s going to be tough. This one’s going to be one of those situations where I guess we’ll test the meat of our convictions.
It’ll be interesting to see where these boycotts head. I just posted how the National Organization for Marriage organization’s reach appears to be waning even more as additional organizations come out against amendments and for marriage equality weekly.
And for those AFA’ers out there, better not use Bing either, as Microsoft has donated money toward gay rights and has come out in favor of marriage equality in Washington State. Maybe it’s time to put the Internet away altogether… ;)
Dump General Mills Rally Photos
Here’s one of the pics snapped of the General Mills protest rally today. As you can see, not a lot of folks turned out to protest (about 20 or so). Protesters gathered up General Mills products from their homes to donate to homeless shelters in support of the “dump General Mills” message.
John Croman of Kare 11 posted another pic via twitpic. The most surprising (or saddest) part of these pictures is the number of children that you see. It reminds me of a lyric from a Dixie Chicks song:
It’s a sad sad story when a mother will teach her daughter that she ought’a hate a perfect stranger
And then we wonder why kids treat each other differently in our schools and why bullying has become such an epidemic. Shame on these parents.
For those wondering what they can do to send General Mills a message of thanks, I’ve posted a couple times now a quick and easy link to say “thank you.” Additionally, A “support General Mills” event was set up for this Thursday from 6:00pm-9:00pm by LeftMN. The group is asking that anyone who supports General Mills for standing up for equality bring in unopened and non-perishable items to donate as a way of saying “Thanks, General Mills!” (I love the approach of the counter-donation strategy; both this week’s rally and the thank you event benefit the homeless shelters).
Will share any additional news or insight I get from the rally throughout the rest of the week. Until then, I’ll keep eating my Cheerios!
Thanks to Andy B. for sharing the above photo with me.
Minnesota for Marriage to hold “Dump General Mills” rallies this week
Starting tomorrow, Minnesota for Marriage will be holding “Dump General Mills” rallies across from the company’s headquarters to send a message that taking a stand against the mean-spirited marriage amendment will impact their business.
While I’m not sure how big an impact rallies across from a company’s headquarters will have, it is so very important that General Mills hears from both sides.
Please take 5 minutes to show your support for General Mills and give them a call or send them an email to say “Thank you” for their support for equality and coming out against the mean-spirited amendment this fall. I’ve made it really easy for you to do by including contact information below:
General Mills
Phone: 1-800-248-7310 (7:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. CT, weekdays)
Mail: General Mills, Inc., P.O. Box 9452, Minneapolis, MN 55440
Online: Link
Every single one of us has the ability to make an impact on this vote, and in turn, history. Please let your voice be heard.
Starbucks and Gay Marriage
Well, it’s been an interesting couple of weeks for those watching the gay marriage saga in the US. Earlier this year, Starbucks came out in support of marriage equality in Washington State. Since that time, the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), has launched into attack mode against Starbucks (you remember NOM, that crazy organization that promotes ex-gay therapy and funnels millions of dollars into states that are facing marriage amendments, yeah, that NOM).
At a Starbucks’ shareholders meeting earlier this month, NOM’s director of corporate fairness project, Jonathan Baker, asked about the decision to support marriage equality. When CEO Howard Schultz shared that it was in no way a difficult decision for the board to make, NOM didn’t like that.
As a result, a “Dump Starbucks” campaign was launched asking for signatures from those also outraged at Starbucks’ decision to support marriage equality for same-sex couples. As of April 1, the pledge has received over 25,000 pledges.
Ok, so 25,000 is a lot of people threatening to dump Starbucks. On the other hand, another campaign was launched via SumOfUs.org to thank Starbucks for their support of gay marriage. I’m happy to share that as of April 1, this petition has received over 463,000 signatures. Nearly 20 times the number of signatures that the NOM-supported petition has received.
At the end of the day, the message is clear: Big Business can speak out in support of marriage equality and not fear retaliation. Starbucks spokesman Zack Hutson shared that the organization is “not seeing any impact” in regards to the boycott. In fact, the SumOfUs petition and social media sites, including Facebook and Twitter, have been all abuzz with people standing up for Starbucks. While not necessarily the plan, that’s pretty good PR. Supporting gay marriage actually may end up helping them sell more of their delicious treats.
Note: You can say “thank you” to Strabucks in many ways. Stop by your local store and thank your baristas, share this post with your friends on social media sites or simply sign your name to the SumOfUs page and help reach the goal of 500,000 signatures.
Nationwide Boycott of Starbucks?
One pastor thinks it’s time to boycott Starbucks because they have signed on to support marriage equality in the state of Washington. In fact, Pastor Steven Andrew goes as far as to say:
Starbucks can follow Satan if they want to.
Source: King5 News
Yup. This is what we’re up against people. Ignorance and hate is getting so old. Keep up the great work, Washington State, and Congrats to you!
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Tweets
- Check out what a visitor to the site asked me to pass along to Father Mike Tegeder. RT if you agree. #minnesota #voteno
http://t.co/4iqhrFX211/09/2012 - #Minnesota nice? Yeah, we #voteno twice! Congratulations to to Minnesota for standing on the right side of history!11/07/2012
- #Minnesota #marriageamendment 78% reporting. #voteno at 50%; yes side has 49%. It's going to be a while before we call this one...11/07/2012
- #Minnesota #marriageamendment 47% reporting. Spread narrows. #voteno side still at 49%; yes side has increased their support to 47%.11/07/2012
- Check out what a visitor to the site asked me to pass along to Father Mike Tegeder. RT if you agree. #minnesota #voteno
