The Dixie Chicks of the health reform debate
Summary: As with Maines the problem is not so much what Mackey said but who he alienated. For the CEO of Whole Foods to heart WalMart is like seeing Toby Keith at a Joan Baez concert.
Celebrities don't like to do politics.
You can't win. No matter where you stand or what you say you are alienating part of your audience. Maybe most of it. (Picture from BNET.)
The best-known example this decade is The Dixie Chicks. Singer Natalie Maines criticized the Iraq War and lost her country music following. Their music may be better than ever, they still sell, but they no longer churn out hits the way they did. Some will never forgive.
Whole Foods may be in those same crosshairs now. CEO John Mackey (right) wrote a health care piece for The Wall Street Journal, echoing Republican talking points on health reform, and some of his liberal customers went ballistic.
Some of what Mackey wrote makes good sense. Price transparency is good. Creating a single national market is basic. But it doesn't extend coverage to small businesses and consumers who can't afford coverage now, and for that he is being blasted, with some calling for direct action.
This is not a good time for that. Whole Foods stock is just getting out of the hole it got into with the recession that began last year. Profits are down, its goods seen as luxuries by many consumers.
As with Maines the problem is not so much what Mackey said but who he alienated. For the CEO of Whole Foods to heart WalMart is like seeing Toby Keith at a Joan Baez concert.
Consumers can vote with their wallets, and while speech is free where we spend money is a choice. That's why where celebrities stand is often where they sit, and those who step out of line learn hard lessons.
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Talkback
On the other hand...
What the Chicks did...
Whole Foods is moving into smaller cities and using a WalMart-type strategy. So you might be right.
Whole Foods and Apple
Small correction.
It wasn't that she said she was against a war in Iraq.
What cost her dearly was that she said "...we?re ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas."
The interpretation is what counts
trying to fire up some disappointed supporters.
What matters in any event is the interpretation
given it after-the-fact. Maines' statement about
Bush was interpreted as an attack on the
Administration's policy on Iraq, and for this she
was vilified.
Shut up and hawk your overpriced apples
While I probably agree with Mackey's view point, upsetting your key demographic in this economy is not only reckless, it could be your death nail. Do what you're being paid to do, everything else, keep it to yourself.
Perhaps
I haven't listened to their music or purchased it since around that time, however, my reason is slightly different.
Movie stars and singers are for entertainment. I don't care who they want elected. I don't care if they think a certain proposal should or should not become law. I don't care if they think global warming is real or not.
They are for our entertainment, and that's it. The second they begin to feel they can try to tell me what to think, or how to vote, I have absolutely no interest in them.
That's the risk
That's harsh.
And it should be noted...
couldn't criticize a war that hadn't started.
Which makes a difference?
I'm certain there are some Illinoisians who are ashamed that Barack Obama is from their state -- maybe even some Hawaiians. I'm not going to boycott them if they say so.
But it's only the liberals hurting in this recession
money. :)
As for Whole Foods, I can't see where their thinking on
health care matters as long as they provide a good policy to
their employees.
And if they do provide a good health policy to their
employees then I can't afford to shop there.
Costco provides health care
Think First
He wants to legalize sweet Mary Jane???
There are conservatives who are pro-pot
I openly question whether the war on pot is worth the cost in money and lives. Add the tax money spent on police, prosecution, and prisons, plus the cost of the pot, and compare that to the health costs of treating people who smoke pot. (Consider those costs go up if prices are down and more smoke, but be realistic.)
I don't buy the argument we can tax it. The level of taxation being proposed would push too many into the black market, and make prosecutions difficult besides due to the difficulty of telling suspects from legal buyers.
I agree.
It's certainly no worse than alcohol. I've yet to hear of someone flying into a THC rage and beating his wife or girlfriend half to death, as is all too common with alcohol.
Libertarians
I know Sen. Bernie Sanders calls himself a socialist and runs as an independent, but he caucuses with the Democrats and thus counts as one. Just as Paul counts as a Republican.
The hair-splitting in this case is silly.
RE: The Dixie Chicks of the health reform debate
But...hypocrisy reigns supreme from both sides of the isle - so what. Regardless, all sorts of conservative business people have written op-ed for WSJ - and it didn't kill their business -look at the success of R. Murdoch. Whole Food's biggest danger in a recession is their prices. Around my neighborhood, they call it "Whole Paycheck" since that's what it costs to shop there.
Value
The rest of your blather is just that. Assuming one side is always right in word and deed and the other is always wrong in word in deed just identifies you as an absolutist ideologue. Which I don't think you intended.