Why is it that the CEO who opens his big mouth and creates controversy, always works for something that consumers want? You never hear, "All show tunes should be banned!", from the President of the Colonoscopy Foundation. You never hear, "Women should have the right to choose their shoes and nothing else", from the head of the California Prune Association.
It's the bosses at Coors, Whole Foods, Amazon.com, Vegas casinos, and now Chick-Fil-A that seem to be doing all the spewing. I believe that everybody, with the exception of Kirk Cameron, has the right to say whatever he or she believes in. However; there can be consequences to opinion. Since there isn't any middle any more, people on both ends of the spectrum tend to get riled up. One shouldn't have to weigh what one says but that is not the world that we live in.
I don't believe in ridding the nation of all Chick-Fil-A establishments because of the words of its President Dan Cathy. In case you hadn't heard Mr. Cathy believes that, according to the bible, you can never wear pajamas that had been once worn by a gay man. As long as Nathan Lane can order waffle potato fries and Cynthia Nixon can apply for a job as a server at Chick-Fil-A, the head in the sand Mr. Cathy, can stay open for business. Instead of pickets and righteous indignation I believe that what should happen to Mr. Cathy is that he should be a guest on a re-vamped version of "Queer Eye For The Straight Guy". Let Carson Kressley teach him a few things. Snap! Snap!
What is wrong with Ellen DeGeneres, the friendly lesbian talk show host, doing ads for J.C. Penney? The outcry over her being a spokesperson for the chain was insane. Folks treated J.C. Penney like they had been Hertz hiring O.J. Simpson back to run through airports again. What a waste of energy? Besides, does anybody really believe that Ellen shops at J.C. Penney. Come on.
The wife won't shop at Whole Foods. I thought that the reason she didn't shop there was that she didn't have a coupon for sprouts. Wrong. It seems that its CEO John Mackey isn't a big fan of national healthcare. He wants to keep the government out of bed pans. Let people fend for themselves. He believes in giving tax breaks to volunteers that are willing to give a donation to someone that doesn't have insurance. When was the last time you got a knock on your door from a volunteer willing to pay your bill at Cedars?
People are upset with Jeff Bezos. He is Amazon.com's big honcho. It seems, close your ears, that he gave 2.5 million dollars to the save same sex marriage campaign. Can you imagine. What do we do now? Does this mean I might have to leave my house to buy something. No, I say. Just because some CEO does some "wacky" thing with his money doesn't mean I have to start paying sales tax.
What about the Coors family? Proud American brewers. It seems like that family doesn't have a history of being African-American friendly. William Coors had quite an opinion about Jesse Jackson and others. God forbid that a minority would dare voice a complaint about the USA. Mr. Coors said, "You don't see Jesse Jackson, or any other of these blacks making any mass exodus back to Africa, do you?" I guess I'm not ordering that second pitcher.
How about Sheldon Adelson? Newt Gingrich's pimp. He owns the Venetian in Vegas. I am not giving up my right to swim in the "European pool" just because of Sheldon's right wing leanings. I need to see breasts that aren't mine. So what if he owns the Republican Party; at least he doesn't have Celine Dionne headlining.
You wonder if some of the products and their spokespersons of the past would have held up under the scrutiny of today's multitudes of social networks. Col. Sanders probably enjoyed cockfighting. Orville Redenbacher probably wore women's clothes. Betty Crocker was a lesbian that had had a long term relationship with Hilda the vice president of daytime programming at CBS.
Where do you draw the line when it comes to boycotting? Should it also include the arts. Sean Penn played checkers with Hugo Chavez. Do you now have to change the channel every time that Fast Times at Ridgemont High comes on. Jon Voight recently wrote about Pres Obama, "Your destruction of the country may never be remedied, and we may never recover." That quote affects not only his movies but his daughter Angelina Jolie's movies as well. Ok, being a man of strong conviction, I will never watch The Tourist again. Brad Pitt gets a pass. We all have in-law issues. What about viewing a Disney film? Walt was anti-union and would have labeled anybody that gave Mary Poppins a bad review as a Communist.
We live in a nation where CEO's say the darndest things. We live in a nation where actors and artists say the darndest things. If we paid attention to everything that every CEO says, we might not buy anything. If we paid attention to everything that every actor said we wouldn't see anything. You have to let some of it slide. Otherwise you will never eat a chicken sandwich, drink a beer, buy a book, visit Disneyland, or take the kids to the "back to school sale" at J.C. Penney.
I live by this one motto when it comes to all of this: Let me see breasts at the Venetian and I promise to never watch reruns of Growing Pains ever again.
No comments:
Post a Comment