Last
week was a big week. After 3 out of the
5 honorees for the Kennedy Center Honors announced that they would not be
attending , and the other 2 indicated they were likely to follow their lead,
President Trump announced that he would not attend. Wow.
So it
seems to be a good time to look again at the power of @grabyourwallet and @slpng_
giants.
1. As
of the beginning of June, Sharon Coulter founder of grabyourwallet, reports
that 22 companies on the list have dropped Trump products, and the
grabyourwallet website has 2 million unique visitors each month. (Kramer, 2017)
2.
Breitbart, the favorite target of sleeping giants, has lost 90% of its
advertisers in two months, and visitors have declined by 53% since
November. Click-through rates on the
site are a dismal 15%. (vs. 32% for the
New York Times) (Bhattarai, 2017)
3. The
exodus from the Manufacturing Council started with Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier
and quickly escalated, so by the next morning 6 CEOs had resigned. Then Sleeping Giants took up the cause, and
tweeted the names and contact information for the remaining CEOs. By the next morning
the group announced they were disbanding.
And the Strategy & Policy Forum followed suit. The Infastructure Council was abandoned
before it was even started. (Paletta & McGregor, 2017)
The
Council for the Arts, which was comprised of Obama appointees, quit the next
day too. (Hipes, 2017)
4.
Then Sleeping Giants began tweeting the names of charities who intended to hold
their fundraisers at Mar-a-Lago, and singling out their directors, with names
and photos. It's a moving target at the moment, but as of yesterday, 16
charities had canceled. Since Mar-a-Lago
makes $100K - $275K per event that has to hurt. (Dangremond, 2017)
5. On
Monday a New Jersey chapter of the United Way canceled its scheduled event at
Trump's New Jersey golf club. One imagines
they will not be the last to do so. (Shelbourne, 2017)
6.
Meanwhile, Trumps' attacks on CNN have really done wonders for the network. Their ratings in second quarter 2017 were
their best since 2003. (Kruzel, 2017)
7. And
the "failing New York Times," clearly isn't, as they gained 93,000
subscribers in 2Q, and revenues were up 9% versus year ago. (Ember, 2017)
Money
talks. And boycotts work. Expect to see
more.
Kramer,
M. (2017, June 4)
Grab your wallet, boycott Trump and participate in
“A sprawling landscape of resistance” salon.com Retrieved August 19, 2017, from http://www.salon.com/2017/06/04/boycott-trump_partner/
Bhattarai,
A. (2017, June 8) Breitbart lost 90 percent
of its advertisers in two months: Who's still there? chicagotribune.com retrieved August 19, 2017, from
Paletta, D. & McGregor, J. (2017, August
16) Trump’s business advisory councils
disband as CEOs abandon president over Charlottesville views. washingtonpost.com Retrieved August 19, 2017, from
Hipes, P. (2017, August 18) Another
Presidential Council, This One Focused On The Arts, Quits On Donald Trump. deadline.com. Retrieved August 19, 2017, from http://deadline.com/2017/08/donald-trump-presidential-committee-on-the-arts-and-humanities-quits-1202151717/
Dangremond, S. (2017, August
18) Eight Charities Have Canceled
Their Mar-a-Lago Galas This Week. townandcountry.com. Retrieved August 19, 2017, from http://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/politics/a12033310/mar-a-lago-charity-fundraisers-canceled/
Shelbourne, M. (2017, August 22) New
Jersey charity pulls out of event at Trump golf club. thehill.com. Retrieved August 22, 2017, from http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/347419-new-jersey-organization-pulls-out-of-event-at-trump-golf-club
Kruzel, J. (2017, July 3) Trump’s Pants on Fire claim that CNN ratings
are ‘way down’. politifact.com retrieved August 19, 2017, from http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2017/jul/03/donald-trump/trumps-pants-fire-claim-cnn-ratings-are-way-down/
Ember,
S. (2017, July 27) New York Times
Reports Strong Quarter on Digital Revenue Growth. nytimes.com. Retrieved August 19, from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/27/business/new-york-times-company-2q-earnings.html?_r=0
1 comment:
Well written and researched. Good work, Professor!
I personally reported Summit Racing, Orileys (sic?) Auto Parts and a few other online automotive parts sellers and ALL of them removed their ads on Breitbart within a few days.
I also love the fact that right wing boycotts never work. They have not come to the realization that trump was installed and his support is now infinitesimal. The polls say 36%, but they don't mention that it's 36% of the Republican electorate that is only 23% of the whole electorate.
I'm pretty sure thats the true number. I live in a very red part of CA and don't see much of any support for DT.
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