New Balance Part Deux

After publishing yesterday’s post one of my readers told me that there had been a response from New Balance to this issue. I did some searching and finally found a copy. Here’s the link: http://www.lgbtpov.com/2011/08/new-balance-ceo-distances-company-from-big-donation-to-romney/. The only way to get this directly from the New Balance folks is from their Facebook page, and you have to click “like” on that to see the post. Interesting way to get folks to “like” you, but that’s another story.

I find the letter from New Balance to be a study in avoidance. And I don’t see how it’s possible to: “...sustain an environment where everyone – our associates, consumers, customers and guests – are treated with dignity and respect,” when the message from the top is that supporting a bigot is acceptable.

As you know from my prior rants, informing those impacted by your wallet voting actions is as important as taking the action, so I wrote a letter to the New Balance executives. See below for the complete text.

Should I happen to get a response I will publish it here.  In the meantime, New Balance is on my list and I’m in the market for new sneaks.

Vote With your wallet,

Steph

My letter to New Balance:

Gentlepeople,

I have been a completely satisfied wearer of New Balance, and in fact just removed my current pair.  I am also a socially concerned member of society and I have recently become aware of your CEO’s $500,000 donation to a conservative PAC that supports a self-identified anti-gay candidate.  I am, as well, aware of the response you posted to your Facebook page (and apparently nowhere else).

While I recognize that the donation was made by an individual and not by NB, your attempt in your response to distance the company from the action doesn’t cut it. I have been involved in extensive corporate diversity activity and it’s a pretty basic concept that every time a senior leader acts in a public way that action reflects directly on the company.  If New Balance’s most senior leader condones bigotry, then your corporate culture, as viewed by your customers and I would assume by your employees as well, is ambiguous at best. The actions of the leaders don’t match the words of the company’s stated values, and your response does not indicate any concern with your leader’s actions.

For this reason, I have just thrown my New Balance shoes in the trash, published my opinion on my blog, and I’m shopping for new shoes.

Yours no longer,

Stephanie Bader

Comment from Amy

We're all still figuring out this blog thing. Amy wanted to post a comment but the s'ware isn't cooperating, so here it is:
Before dismissing New Balance as anti-gay and encouraging a boycott of what is a very good product, why not first write to the CEO and raise his awareness of what message the PAC contribution is sending to the gay community and others.  It is quite possible that he is oblivious, or if not, his awareness might be raised and, who knows, if he hears it enough, he might change the PAC recipient in the future.  Certainly, a direct communication would send a direct message while news of a boycott, however personally satisfying to the participants, might never reach him.  

Where the lines get blurry

One of the gay websites I follow recently posted the news that the CEO of New Balance gave $500K to a conservative PAC that is outspokenly anti-gay (oh, and btw so did the Marriot brothers).  I look at my feet and guess what? I’m wearing a pair of New Balance shoes.

My ethics are challenged on two fronts here.  First, how do I think about a company based on the actions of one individual?  Second, if I’m going to boycott a brand, what do I do about the implicit advertising I’m giving it by walking around with it on my body?

In answer to the first question:  I absolutely initiate a boycott based on the behavior of the CEO.  First of all, the company is paying him enough money that he can afford to part with half-a-mil for a disgusting cause. So in a sense that donation is company money. Second of all, there hasn’t been a peep out of the company in terms of apology, denial, request to don’t do that anymore…nothing that I can find.  In my view the CEO is representative of the corporation, and so the two must be viewed as part of the same whole.  Think of it in the context of the recent ruling by The Supremes – if the corporation is a person you wouldn’t condone the behavior of a murderer because only the right hand did the deed and the rest of the body wasn’t involved. 

So I’m calling boycott on New Balance. But it isn’t a black-and-white issue, and I go looking for what’s been done in similar situations to try and gain clarity. The Target boycott offers some insight but no clear answers. When it became public knowledge that Target’s political arm gave money to the campaign of anti-gay conservative Tom Emmer, moveon.org initiated a boycott that remains in place today. HRC remained neutral on the boycott but dropped Target from the HRC buying guide.  Target had been a high scorer on the HRC Equality Index, which means the “official” corporate culture is actively pro-gay, and that index is the basis for the buying guide. So the body is working for good while the right hand holds and wields an ax at a minority group. It’s a challenge and you’ll need to draw your own conclusions, but my take is you can’t separate the parts. Here’s more info on the Target situation if you are interested:  http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2010/08/20/HRC_Drops_Target_From_Equality_Buying_Guide/

Second question: I’m looking down at the NB logo and feeling pretty guilty. I’m not the only one struggling with this dilemma. A while back I posted a “Boycott companies with headquarters in Kansas” blog entry, and I got a note from my cousin Nancy saying that Levis are headquartered in Kansas and they are (of course) the only jeans that fit her properly so she has several pairs in her closet.  Being a principled soul, Nancy was wondering whether she should ditch the offending products she already owns or just take the pledge going forward.  Now I’m in the same boat (or shoes). My feet are kinda hard to fit (thanks mom) and I went through a bunch of different athletic shoes before I found these New Balance ones that fit me well. Do I consign them to Waste Management or continue to wear them? My advice to Nancy was you don’t need to pitch the existing product but don’t buy anymore. Does that still sound right now that I’m applying it to myself? I’m walking around with the brand name on my feet, providing advertising for a company with which I have a moral issue. Maybe I continue to wear them but take a marker to them and add a slogan along the lines of “New Balance supports bigots – don’t buy them”?  How many people examine your shoes to see what brand you are wearing?  I’m not sure where I’m going to end up with this, except that I feel guilty every time I wear them off the property so I guess I need to start shopping for a new pair of shoes. And if you know me you know how much I hate shopping for shoes (or any other clothing), and you will appreciate my dedication to the boycott. 

What would you do? Post a comment with your thoughts. And vote with your wallet.