(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Top Comments: Vanilla Email Edition [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-02-13 Opened my email Saturday morning and found one from Penzeys. Their three vanilla extracts were on sale through Sunday and as they are my favorites (yes, I have all three for different purposes!) I posted on Facebook “I don't know who needs to know this but Penzeys Spices vanilla is on sale through tomorrow (Sunday). Theyre a great company and you need them in your life.” Then went about my day, until I discovered a friend who almost never responds to my posts replied: I prefer to buy from a different company I hate politics in their business emails (no offense to them because I WAS a huge fan). I feel like it is a misuse of their email list as an email marketer I feel very strongly on it. We had another round of comments; I mentioned free market and how I and others buy from them for both their quality and their beliefs, friend replied with where they get their spices from now, and I left it at that. But of course it got me thinking, because you know I disagree wholeheartedly with the thought of those emails being a “misuse of email list”. Penzeys CEO Bill Penzey had written about causes and issues for years, but made his feelings clear in an email to subscribers shortly after That Former Guy was elected in 2016: The open embrace of racism by the Republican Party in this election is now unleashing a wave of ugliness unseen in this country for decades [...] The American people are taking notice. Let’s commit to giving the people a better choice.” While he lost subscribers (and gained others), online sales skyrocketed. He was blunt throughout 45’s Presidency, and wrote a scathing piece in the aftermath of January 6th. Today, their website boasts a tab called “About Republicans”. While I am not aware of other companies regularly emailing their customer base (if you know of one, please let us know in the comments!), there are many who speak up and out on issues regularly, both in advertising and press releases. Ben and Jerry’s, for example. Nike. Patagonia. Dick’s Sporting Goods. Hobby Lobby. And more. If you’re wondering how consumers feel about corporations going public with their political and social leanings, a 2020 study in the Harvard Business Review found finding out a company had conservative leanings made people significantly less likely to purchase their products, while being told a company had liberal leanings had little effect on purchasing. However, they closed with an anecdotal observation that Chick-Fil-A has lines greater than any other mall fast food despite being out and proud (pun intended) with its conservative leanings. I prefer to know the values and political leanings of the businesses who want my money, so that I can have some idea where they’ll be using it to influence legislation. All things being equal I will always choose companies with political and ethical values closer to my own than those who support hate and bigotry. Several years ago in the run-up to the 2020 election, it became known that the owner of the produce market/farm I’d been getting vegetables at for two decades had donated the maximum amount to TFG. It wasn’t shouted from the rooftops; no, it was discovered only because candidate contributions are a matter of public record. I haven’t shopped there since, preferring to eat produce that doesn’t support hate. Since Penzeys became more vocal about the kind of world they want to help bring into being, we’ve made a concerted effort at Casa Brillig to purchase our spices there whenever possible. We are extremely lucky to have a physical store relatively close to us, but even during the pandemic we’d mail-order our favorites… including vanilla. What about you? Did Penzeys Misuse their email list? Would it be different if the company espoused conservative thought? Does a company/CEO leanings affect where you choose to purchase, if you can make that choice? Let us know in the comments, after tonight’s Tops! [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/13/2152410/-Top-Comments-Vanilla-Email-Edition Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/