Whole Foods Boycott Picks Up Steam
Whole Foods CEO John Mackey shot his company in the face the other day with an anti-health care op-ed screed in the Wall Street Journal. He’s managed to piss off his company’s core demographic: liberals and progressives, and in the process, enabled a boycott that could actually work.
There is no doubt that boycotting Whole Foods would be a difficult proposition for many latte-sipping, Volvo-driving libruls. After all, where else are we going to spend hard earned grocery money for a $25 steak or a $10 pound of fair trade coffee?
The thing is, when Rupuert Murdoch published an anti-health care security op-ed from Whole Foods CEO John Mackey in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, a few progressive latte drinkers decided they didn’t need to buy their arugula at Whole Foods anymore, and called for a boycott. After all, the big marketing gimmick for Whole Foods is that they’re a socially responsible company which sells food that is actually good for you (even if the products are very over priced).
As of today, the boycott is really picking up some steam.
While I don’t normally support boycotts (for the most part, I don’t think they’re terribly well organized or impactful), this one is different, and I do believe it can be very effective. Here’s why:
Whole Foods has always marketed itself to a fairly educated and financially secure customer base. This is why they can successfully sell healthy (and primarily organic) foods, at a higher cost. The company has also fostered the image that it has an altruistic streak in supporting progressive causes.
With a single op-ed in an uber conservative national newspaper, this wholesome image has been blown to bits. In the course of writing 1,165 words, CEO Mackey has caused more potential damage to the Whole Foods corporate image than an e-coli outbreak in the meat room.
In calling for support of the boycott of Whole Foods, I’m making an educated guess that their average customer is very politically progressive in nature. And that is why, if liberals and progressives quit shopping at Whole Foods, the impact would be quickly apparent to the company’s Board of Directors. By quickly, I mean by this coming Monday morning when the weekend receipts are tallied.
I am all for freedom of speech. Mr. Mackey had every right to express his views on health care in the WSJ, even as anathema as those views might be to progressives. Similarly, we progressives have every right to decide whether or not we want to spend our food dollars in a store whose CEO clearly doesn’t support the most important progressive cause of the moment.
So, if you are a Whole Foods shopper, please consider honoring the boycott, at least for a short period of time. The impact will be very evident, and almost immediate.
On a lighter note, take a few minutes and read the Whole Foods website forums on this topic. The forums have been invaded by freepers and redstaters, with predictably resultant hilarity. If one was to believe the freepers, Whole Foods is going to have an entirely new demographic shopping in their stores. The only problem is: last I checked, Whole Foods doesn’t stock Coke, Cheetos, Armor hotdogs, or 365-brand Instant Grits.
Some links:
Join the Whole Foods boycott on Facebook
LA Times: Whole Foods is in a whole lot of trouble
Whole Foods boycott on Twitter
I don’t see the point of a boycott. He didn’t say he doesn’t support fixing health care, he just gave cautions about the way the current legislation seems to be leaning. This appears to be a snap judgement of “He disagrees so he hates health care reform”, I would disagree and think he has some valid points about things to consider when solving the current problems with healthcare. We as a society need to put aside the partisanship and focus on fixing the problems. Passing health care reform that doesn’t solve the problem will be worse than doing nothing. We need to fix this issue, and fix it right the first time. Now is the time for critical thinking about the issues to make sure we have considered all of the options and not rushed into a solution just so we can claim “our side won”.
I won’t be boycotting whole foods.
i’d love to boycott them, but since I never shopped there in the first place…
The boycott worked today. My partner works at the Franklin store in San Francisco and was sent home early after spending half a day in an empty store. He said the phones ran off the hook with people expressing their displeasure and people honking and screaming “Boycott Whole Foods” as they drove by.
We’re now fearful for his job if this isn’t just a flash in the pan. =(
It must be hard for liberals when “one of their own” turns out to be libertarian. Get over it. Mackey’s points make a lot more sense than any of the government boondoggles being proposed currently.
I say we all boycott everybody, and then eventually we’ll be back to normal!
But seriously, the left is sounding like O’Reilly lately (remember his idiotic French boycott?). Here’s a thought: debate the issues! And don’t start whining when you still can’t convince the majority of Americans that a Government “run” “sponsored” “endorsed” “etc” health option is a GOOD idea, then… you’ve lost.
Personally I think the Prez himself put the nail in the coffin w/ his “UPS / FedEx” comment in New Hampshire.
You should encourage people to read the CEO’s piece before deciding to join the boycott. Things like this aren’t bandwagons to be jumped on. To be socially responsible, one should read the editorial before deciding whether or not they should boycott Whole Foods.
I love the name calling at the bottom of the article. You’re so much better then them!
Actually, you’re a partisan fuck. You and your ilk (on both sides) are destroying this country.
No quarter for differing opinions! Death to compromise!
The problem with this issue is that the right does not want to talk about the issue, they want to yell about random things so that there is no talk. The right does not want to pass anything, anything. They want this to fail so that the pres and the democrats look like idiots because they couldn’t get it through (even if it hurts the country).
Given that kind of attack and mentality there is no room for talk but to respond with aggressive tactics that will push hard on the rights funders and take away their steam.
I work for whole Foods and I’ve actually read over the whole Reform proposed. I agree with my CEO. Unfortunately, in this country, food, shelter and health care are priveledges. I wish I didn’t have to pay my rent, or buy my food, or pay to see a doctor.
I have to agree with the previous poster, Mike, on this one. If you take the time to read Mr. Mackey’s article he’s make several lucid points on how health care in the U.S. could be improved. While I may not agree with his view I can’t really see anything so alarming in his article to merit boycotting the store.
Except for the tort reform business, I would say that Mackey’s column was mostly correct.
what exactly are the pinkos going ape shit over here? i read the op-ed, and it’s an eminently sensible set of proposals. I don’t agree with him in every particular, but there’s not a thing in that essay to get bent out of shape over.
These points made by the CEO of whole foods are not valid. They are ridiculously stupid right wing talking points. Are we really going to provide healthcare with voluntary donations? LOL!! So he can feel good about throwing them $10 on his tax form? So if 50 million people do that then every uninsured person can have $10 a year to pay for their healthcare.
Where will the enlightened shop if their Whole Foods goes out of business?
To whoever reads those comments and starts to wonder if maybe the op-ed is not that bad: Read the op-ed. Judge for yourself. I’ll wait.
It is exactly that bad. It’s recommending very clearly the exact opposite of what is needed: More deregulation for the insurance companies, and nothing that would make health-care more affordable, nothing that would put a stop to the outrageous pre-condition scam.
To top it off, as a final middle finger thrown at the plebeians, he presents encouraging donation of money to charities as the only way the little people would be able to afford their medical care.
All we can do is thank John Mackey for making his position so abundantly clear, and wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors.
@ Mike:
Would you prefer progressives register their displeasure by breaking windows, lynching effigies, shooting up churches full of conservatives just because they’re conservatives, blowing up buildings and showing up for town meetings and shouting at and booing just because we can?
Because I fullly expect that to start happening if the right wing asshats don’t stop their asshattery. There are just as many nutjobs in the far left and since the right started their slow takeover with the Contract On America they been alienating everyone left of Coulter for over a decade now. People will only put up with so much shit before the powderkeg explodes and we center left put up with more than enough shit during the Bush administration for the next ten years. Now we’re not even being allowed the run the government we lawfully transitioned into the power because an insigificant percentage of Americans don’t actually like democracy. They just want power and they don’t give a damn who has to suffer to give them it.
Our representatives, the ones we put into office are more afraid of conservatives and other assorted riff raff that would never vote for them in a million years than they are for us - the ones that got them their cushy jobs.
And now you expect us to just sit back and let this go too?
No, sorry. I expect Americans to stand up for their beliefs and if they believe in universal health care and they feel the need to boycott those who don’t then they should absolutely boycot. They are voting with the wallet which is a hell of a lot better than what the neo-cons have been doing.
I was expecting rhetoric from Mackey but it wasn’t. He made some points that should at least be discussed. I think this blog is acting way to hysterical and playing into the hands of right wingers and fundamentalists.
I’d be curious to see a point-by-point rebuttal to Mackey’s individual suggestions rather than the blanket statements made by others. Is transparency in pricing bad? Is Medicare reform bad? Is competition bad?
@ ed:
Except that all the polls say that the majority DOES agree with our side. The only reason why it seems otherwise is because a loud, crazy minority shows up and gets all the press.
In 2003, right before the Iraq war started a half million people marched against the wall in New York city. The crowd was by and large peaceful and civil despite a few police who would have liked to see it otherwise and that was just in New York City. Bush called it “a focus group” and dismissed it. Conservatives called us all traitors and terrorist sympathizers. Coulter said we should all be rounded up.
in 2007 we were told that despite having our civil rights violated and despite having a President that had admitted to violating the law and the Constitution and laughed at any attempt to call him on it that we were NOT allowed to sue the telecoms that had allowed it to happen.
And we’re supposed to just ’shut up’ because a group of fingers who can muster a few dozen people with no jobs to travel to other people’s town halls and yell? No. Screw you. Mobs do not run this country. The People run this country and it’s about damned time we started kicking these people where it hurts most - the pocket book.
I would like to boycott you for being for government regulated health-care. I am not going to read your drivel any longer. For a country with morbidly obese people on welfare who would otherwise starve to death in other countries, and illegal immigrants who make up the majority of wasteful spending of health-care resources I find your pro-boycott thoughts disheartening for the simple fact you wish to be pro-boycott because you think the government knows how to run anything cost effective. I’m sure the 1.6T deficit in July, the most in history, is a great example of the careful oversight of spending. Did you know recovery.gov is costing $18 million dollars to build a website to show how government funds are spent. We’d all be so lucky as to have such careful spenders. I especially love the fact that as a part of the health care bill is the governments access to your bank account to deduct your contribution to others medical bills. Love that. You should check our reading the draft of the bill. I’m sure you’d actually read more of it than those who are trying to vote on it.
@ Some Guy:
Unless of course it was a bunch of sensible proposals about a woman’s right to choose. Then of course everyone has to be murdered, burned with acid, blown up with propane tanks with nails all over them and attacked and beaten, right?
Why is it every time the right disagrees with something they get to shout and scream and shoot up schools and churches and carry signs and force their religion into schools and bribe congressmen and send paid thugs to do their dirty work and dump teabags into rivers.
But when the left disagrees with something, we’re not even allowed to boycott. We’re just supposed to sit there and take it, no matter what IT happens to be.
@ Jon Bob:
Why is it the right wing answer is always that the left compromise?
@ Good Job:
Oh that’s right, we’re left of center so we’re not allowed to feel or have opinions about things.
If anyone’s ‘destroying America’, you are. Nice use of right wing rhetoric. Lynched any effigies lately?
I already switched buying groceries for this week.
Well, it is my money until I spend it, so I don’t see any reason to spend it at companies hostile to me, my life or my politics. After all, by the rhetoric of the “right” it would be socialism to require me to spend money at Whole Foods. And yes, I (used to) shop there.
So Mackey’s position and the positions of Whole Foods are one and the same?
Can a CEO not have any opinion that is different from those of his corporation?
When you run an organization do you give up your free speech rights?
Just wondering because I read Mackey’s opinion and I don’t recall him saying that it was the position of Whole Foods inc.
it’s hard to see how this form of protest is more offensive than say, showing up at a large gathering with a gun strapped to your leg, carrying a sign threatening to spill blood, or one saying kill the president’s children (but hands off poor bristol!), but apparently for some it is. i like to put my money where my mouth is.
i would dispute mackey’s points one by one if i had the energy to sit here that long, but hey there’s plenty of others. there are also millions of health care horror stories, many from insured people, if anyone cares to look. our current system is nothing short of ridiculous.
the core assumption underneath mackey’s drivel - that we get the health we deserve, proven primarily by wealth - is what i find most heinous. it’s very c street, dontcha think?
@ Zero:
as long as a corporation has the rights of an individual, yeah in my book the ceo and the corp. are the same.
look i don’t want whole foods to go out of business. it would be a disaster for too many people. but mackey should know that the i got mine attitude does not fly with lots of people..
Health care isn’t a right, nor is it a privilege. It’s a commodity to be purchased. What these subhumans want is simply that they can force others to pay for their health care. Get a job, layabout! Pay for your own!
@ krystal:
Beware the uninformed. Don’t confuse the redstaters with facts, their collective opinions are mostly disorganized hogwash. Put Whole Foods on notice. Healthcare is a right. Why would any person think Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness isn’t what everyone wants. I have a better idea. Shutup, the debate is over, the election is over. Let our representatives, such as they are, do their jobs. No wait, I like those news stories about kids who have never been to the dentist and people splitting their pills because GW awarded most of the money to big Pharma.
Health Care, like whole foods, is a privilege not a right.
So I exercise my privilege to never shop at whole foods ever.
Those who boycott Whole Foods are buying into a simplistic strawman argument, that somehow suggesting that government isn’t the solution is the same as suggesting the current system rocks.
His op ed was well thought out and reasoned. Why would anyone argue that every adult is responsible for their own health?
@ E in MD:
This post wins the Oscar for best f___ing post. Nails it. The liberals won the election, big time, but the media acts like the outcome was a 50 50 draw. That’s not the way democracy works. The Corporate elites like the mass media approach, because that way, when it comes to actually advancing the interests of the vast majority of the working class, you can have DEADLOCK, i.e., no action. But if the finacial industry wants some spare change, oh, say, a couple trillion dollars, NO DEADLOCK.
@ Col. Hogan:
Health Care is a commodity to be purchased. Life is a commodity to be purchased. Humans are commodities to be consumed and thrown away. Americans are people with heads up their asses.
I read John Mackeys’ article in the WSJ and wondered about exactly the same thing that this article discusses. The question is, how many people actually read his acticle? While I disagree with a couple of his points (I do believe that all humans in an advanced society do indeed have a right to basic healthcare, regardless of income level), many of his arguments made good sense. Which brings me to my next point. How many people have actually read what’s in HR 3200? I voted for Obama and I personally I support single-payer, universal healthcare (at least for basic services, with some level of penalty for people who choose to live unhealthy lifestyles - and yes, as determined by me). But read the bill. It is a 1700+ page disaster. No wonder the conservatives have so many things to pick on. HR 3200 is not what I expected, and we’d all be better off telling our new president to slow down a bit and quit trying to make everyone happy.
Oh no! He offered his opinion on an issue and you don’t agree with it. Burn him!
libertarianism is an intellectual exercise. The thomas paine’s are useful for formenting revolutionary ideals that motivate people to action, and provide texture for governance, but in the end, like Paine, they must be set aside so that the pragmatic business of running a state can be accomplished. That requires compromise.
the defense budget is over a trillion dollars.. why not direct your fiscal responisbility ire there? We could fund most social programs if we trimmed the enormous fat off of that oversatiated cow.
Really simple folks:
1. Boycott all you want, it just makes you look STUPID and less healthy. Those of us who know better because we actually work and do our research on the issue will gladly make up the difference.
2. John Mackey is a self-made man, and he’s earned all he has. You’re pissed because he made his money in a free market providing stuff to you lefties to buy to satisfy your smugness factor.
3. His points are right on the money, because he knows what you don’t seem to get–this ObamaCare just will not work, period.
4. Whole Foods using a CDHP is one of many right answers to the health insurance debate.
5. Yes, it is about health insurance, not health care, and that’s the problem with the entire debate!
6. And yes, health insurance is a privilege and a service, not a right. If it is a right, then with it comes responsibility, and lack of such responsibility on your part is not my problem to subsidize your failings. Take charge of your own health, fatass!
7. Yes, lefties are entitled to their pro-government Big Mommy views on the issue, even as those views are just wrong according to simple common sense as shown by the grown-ups in the room.
8. Yes, John Mackey is a libertarian. Got news for you, most self-made men are, because they know the value of their own dollar, hard work, and how to succeed despite the inane rhetoric of the left. But that’s old news to actual libertarians, because we’re the only ones who have a clue what’s really going on.
So sure, complain all you want, and boycott all you want. It will make no difference.
So a bunch of a rich liberals are boycotting Whole Foods because the CEO supports reality based economic proposals to lower the cost of health care for poor people. Makes sense.
To compare health care to food and rent doesn’t add up. How many people have gone bankrupt from a trip to the grocery store?
Maybe at Whole Foods, that does make sense.
In any case, I have never thought of Whole Foods as having a “liberal” demographic. Although, this is only based on my own observations. The parking lots are always jammed with single occupant Lincoln Navigators and Hummers. My personal musings are that it is the worst offenders of environmental degradation going to assuage their gilt while purchasing the highest quality steak they could find. So, I think Mackey knew what he was doing - playing to his base, as they say.
Oh noes! Where will I pay too much for my cheese?! I won’t be caught dead in Safeway!!!
Forget whole foods your MAMAS cooking is the best!
Waaaah! We so sad for wepublicans! Poor Joh Mackey, he should move to China or the UAE with Cheney and other beholden US leaders where freedom to opress the masses is held sacred and pirated DVDs of Friends are cheap. If the GOP hates the hand of government so much (justice, police, fire, public utilities, safe food & drugs, social security, unemployment insurance, a national military, parks, defense jobs, interstate highways, freedom to choose you own destinty) then they should move to Somalia and start over. Republicans are purely un-American with this hate garbage. You owe us 10 hail marys. Where has national unity gone? The way of the red-necked closeted bible thumping finger pointer. Remember the holocaust. We will not sit idle ever again as nationalism and fear of the marginalized grows. We SHARE as a nation. Would your mother turn away a hungry guest? Did Mary and Joseph not find a place to rest?
Im sorry but this part: “The only problem is: last I checked, Whole Foods doesn’t stock Coke, Cheetos, Armor hotdogs, or 365-brand Instant Grits.” just struck me as immature. Im probably not going to shop at Whole Foods for a while because I want health reform, but name calling and crap like this is getting old. Maybe you can just spend more of your time debating the real issues instead of thinking up rude comments and nicknames for politicians.
E in MD wrote:
WTF are you talking about? I was discussing this guy from Whole Foods who wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal. What you’re discussing seems to be something from your fevered imagination. Perhaps you’re eager for socialized medicine because you desperately need your psych meds?
Greg C wrote:
Actually, I don’t think it’s the rich liberals who are participating in the boycott, so much as the hippie loser types who are impoverished because they refuse to remove their facial hardware for a real job.
Looking around the Whole Foods store in my neighborhood, it seems to me that the bulk of their revenues comes from upper middle-class twits who believe the nonsense about “organic” food being more nutritious (it isn’t) and better for the environment (not by a long shot).
This boycott will be a good thing for the company, because its participants will be the lower-revenue customers who creep the yuppies out. Lose the smelly hippies, and Whole Foods would see more frequent visits from customers with more money to spend.
Jeff wrote:
Not unless you’re treating yourself, it’s not. You have no right to anyone else’s labor. If you want someone else to provide you with a service, then it’s up to you to offer them something of value and trade for it.
You have no more right to a doctor’s services than you have to force someone to clean your house or pick your cotton.
Mackey is an extremely wealthly individual who will never have to worry about health care costs. He can have his kidneys replaced once a week on his interest income alone. His company appears to provide decent coverage to 89% of its employees. Of course, he apparently provides no insurance to about 6000 workers, most likely those earning the least amount of money.
Mackey is the perfect capitalist for modern times. I am sure that if the boycot succeeds (justified or not), Mackey will go running to Washington for help to save his company. Where is Mackey’s op-ed expressing outrage for taxpayer bailouts of Detroit or Wall Street? His notions of free market capitalism appear limited.
Let’s pick apart a few of his criticisms (in no particular order):
His argument about high deductible and HSA’s is non-existent. He simply says that promoting them will help solve many problems. His example is simply self-promotion. Which problems will be solved? How will they be solved?
Mackey maintain that health care is NOT a right, so why should companies or individuals benefit from tax breaks for providing it. His lobbying for individuals is merely a smokescreen for his desire keep tax breaks for his own company. He knows very well that providing health insurance is not a perq or freebie that his company gives employees but is an essential part of their package, something they weigh heavily when choosing a job. He is being greedy and disingenuous.
Wholesale repeal of government mandates of what insurance companies must cover is a dangerous proposition. Already these companies practice the sad art of rescission on the top 0.5% of their insured, those who need the coverage the most. We would end up with cheap insurance that covers a few aspirin a year with expensive, employee paid options to cover the rest.
Picking on Medicare is an easy diversion and not a direct part of the debate. Why doesn’t he mention the bloated, useless military budget, pork, fraud, and the preferential tax treatment of hedge funds? He is merely plucking right-wing heart strings with “evil, bankrupt” Medicare.
Make health care costs transparent. How does this help consumers? And how does this jibe with Mackey’s libertarian, small government stance? Why doesn’t he break out the costs of all the products HE sells? Would his customers be so happy if he marked the profit margin on each melon he sells?
He doesn’t believe in socialized medecine yet he wants the governement (taxpayers) to pay for (by reducing tax revenues) socialized medecine for the uninsured funded through tax deductible donations. This will provide medical care for “millions”. So, basically, most Americans would contribute money to provide coverage for the rest of the country for free, yet he maintains that Americans shouldn’t have socialized medecine. At this point, it is obviously necessary to call Mackey an asshole because this point is just too stupid.
“All countries with socialized medecine ration health care”. I agree 100% with this statement. Of course, he might as well have said “All countries ration health care” since it is severely rationed in the US. In fact, I would argue that rationing of health care is much more severe in the US than elsewhere. The difference is that we don’t have access to waiting or refusal lists because health care is private. I would like to see an industry-wide report on refusal of treatment and waiting times versus equivalents in Canada, France, and the UK. Once again, Mr. Mackey is a multi-millionaire who can afford to import organs from China at the drop of a hat so rationing is something he never worries about. What about his employees, especially the 11% with no insurance. Again, time to call Mackey an asshole for this one.
I agree with Mackey’s point that poor nutrition, laziness, smoking, and alcohol are major causes of disease in the US. I call on Mackey to stop sellling junk foods, alcohol, cigarettes, and anything else “unhealthy”. I also demand that he not eat any junk food, smoke, or drink alcohol as a shining example to all of us. Unless of course, he meant that his “slave” working class should keep themselves fit so he can make them work long hours without any sick time. Ah, that makes sense.
Tort reform: Ah, yes, it’s always the evil lawyers who screw it up for all of us. First, let Mr. Mackey fire all of this lawyers since they are so evil. Meanwhile, the AMA, an immensely powerful monopoly and lobby, is composed of ultra-wealthy doctors who are becoming more and more enmeshed in the medical care industry. They own clinics, HMO’s, MRI’s, etc. They may pay large insurance bills but they remain one of the wealthiest segments of the population. The AMA and the legal industry work hard to limit sanctions against doctors to dollar payments, most of which is paid by the insurance company. Few doctors ever lose their licenses. Docctors like the system; it lets them pay for mistakes with someone else’s money and charge massive fees by claiming high insurance costs. Do we need tort reform? Yes, but we then need to punish offending parties with disbarment, loss of licenses, prison, etc. This applies to all of America, not simply doctors. In any case, the cost of “excess” insurance is but a minor part of the overall medical bill.
Perhaps Mr. Mackey should look at overhead and profits for the medical industry as a whole and the private insurance industry in particular. He waxes lyrical about free markets and their efficiency yet does not address this issue. From what I have read in the press about this recently, private insurance overhead is around 20% (admin costs including profits) while government programs cost only 3%. Sounds to me like government is more efficient.
And where does Mr. Mackey chime in on big pharma. Despite all the lobbying to the contrary, pharm spends less on R+D than on marketing and advertising. What R+D they spend is usually on tweaking an existing drug to extend its patent or file a new one. They overcharge massively for medication in the US because the tab is picked up by private insurance. The same medecines sell for much less abroad but big pharma tells you they are unsafe. Funny, because it’s the same stuff they manufacture in their Third World factories and ship to the US, Canada, Britain, France, etc. Of course, they don’t have the same cozy relationships with legislators abroad and so cannot enforce such high monopoly pricing.
Mr. Mackey is entitled to his opinion. After all this is America. American are entitled to boycott his store because this is America. I believe Mackey deserves to see Wholefoods driven into bankruptcy. Unfortunately, this won’t hurt Mr. Mackey one bit because he will remain an multi-millionaire with access the greatest medical care in the world, the kind you have to pay for through the nose…oh, I forgot, Mr. Mackey doesn’t pay for health care…his company pays it for him. Gosh, isn’t that a bit socialist…I mean, isn’t that just a matter of scale.
@ Col. Hogan:
I just wanted to let you know that I used to work for a health insurance company. Most of the employees there did not even have insurance. I know its too late for your feeble mind to wrap this around, but a LOT of full time jobs out there do NOT offer benefits, especially the newer ones. These are all college educated people. What about us self employed entrepreneurs who make too much for Medicare, but not enough for private insurance? God forbid you have a pre-existing condition. But judging from your comments, it doesn’t look like you’ve ever encountered any real hardships. Figures.
We should all print out this blog post and pass it out at entrances to Whole Food stores.
While I didn’t appreciate Mackey’s op-ed, he is hardly the only benefactor of Whole Foods’ profits. Whole Foods is one of the best employers for entry level jobs in the United States- they pay a fair starting wage, include profit-sharing in their pay to staff, and have EXCELLENT health insurance completely paid by the company for full- time staff and well subsidized for part-timers.
Disclosure- I worked at Whole Foods in college, as a regular worker in their deli. I now assist new immigrants in finding jobs. As a job developer, I am always very happy to employ job-seekers with such a conscientious company as Whole Foods Market.
I have no personal connection to John Mackey, and hardly ever heard about him when I worked for the company. Boycotting the store is a good way to show displeasure at his comments, but keep in mind the company overall does more good than harm.
What’s wrong with Grits?
Jerk.
So a company that caters to a niche crowd pisses them off to the point of boycott. Makes good business sense.
Yes Mackey has a right to his own opinion, but he should have keep his mouth shut. The main problem with Mackey writing an op-ed at all is that it is his position at whole foods that makes it printable. If he were like you or I, some Joe on the street, the op-ed would never have been printed.
What is striking to anyone who is following this debate, is the stupidity Mackey showed by writing the op-ed in the first place. In addition to alienating the customer base, he has also alienated the investors threw his lack of knowledge of his customers, and not foreseeing the reaction from them before he wrote it. If I were a shareholder of Whole Foods, I would probably question my investment, and watch very carefully how the boycott over the CEO’s remarks play out. Come Monday, like many others, would be selling my shares…
From Whole Foods’ investor relations page on their website:
The things that make Whole Foods Market special to our customers, make us special to our investors. The fact that we are a company with a mission is very important to many of our investors.
I enjoy eating natural foods - they keep me regular and the high fiber makes for a good solid stool. Say what you want about this CEO, his self-indulgent positions on healthcare, and the hypocrisy of trying to spin it to increase sales.
Yah gotta admit, it’s really just a pants-load of sh!t and that is why I eat natural foods, to get those bowels moving.
If ya all will just chill, sit down on the crapper, do a little reflecting, and get those cheeks a-flexin’, you will probably agree - this is all makes for a pretty good dump.
And the best part is, don’t even need to buy over-priced, questionionably “organic” crap at a corporate whore like Whole Foods.
Stupid John Mackey wrote:
..and another irony meter goes up in smoke. So, he has a right to his opinion, but if you disapprove of his opinion, he should shut up?
Scratch a liberal, find an autocrat.
@ Tannim:
@ Tannim:
John Mackey is NOT a self made man as you say. I knew all of these guys back in Austin in the late 70’s. His father was a filthy rich Houston banker and GAVE him the money for WF after his little store failed. He could not have done this store without the partners he got - other, smarter guys with a more successful little store. He’s an idiot and has always been an idiot, but has progressed to a really greedy idiot. I have been boycotting WFM for YEARS. Glad the rest of you are figuring it out.
@ Good Job:
Your name calling at the end of your post says It all
You are an elitist and think you are better than the people who work together to make this country something to be admired through out the world
People like you give me the creeps.
did anyone ACTUALLY read his WSJ op-ed piece?
Makes a lot of sense. Health Care reform is a good thing but government run health care on the backs of the small business owner is NOT.
congrats Mr Mackey
@ will:
It’s not called Polenta.
I plan to shop there more often now. Nice name calling…redstater? Freeper? By the way, they don’t have the products you mention in your article because they contain preservatives or dye or something like that. Only in a wealthy, Capitalist society, can a store like Whole Foods exist. This store would never exist in a Socialist utopia because people wouldn’t be able to afford to shop there. Get a clue!
Several years ago, before Whole Foods exploded as a major chain, I shopped there. I go to a lot of music shows in all genres. I met a fellow audiophile and we would chat about the shows what was going on, who was coming, new albums, etc.
Some time late, I was in the Whole Foods store, when she came up to me and asked why I was shopping there. I thought it was better nutritionally. She told me to go shop at Safeway, it was cheaper than Whole Foods and “exactly the same crap.”
She was the manager.
Never been in Whole Foods since.
I hope all you unwashed liberals boycott Wholefoods. Wholefoods has a new customer now.
Expat-
I sympathize and agree with your points, and the underlying “class struggle” meme your post quite clearly alludes to.
However, to equate the government with us ad taxpayers is disingenuous. Our government works for themselves and the highest bidder. If you are looking for the government to do anything you are delusional. Obama hasn’t changed one damn thing - giving welfare to the rich like Bush, kept Gates as defense secretary, hasn’t repealed the Patriot Act… how much longer are the Obama faithful going to “hope” for “change”? Both sides of the isle are on-in-the-same, a WWE wrestling script designed to fool the idiotic public.
For me it comes down to that I used to think that by supporting Whole Foods I was supporting an organization that shared my values about creating an equitable society that took care of the basic needs of it’s citizens. That is clearly not the case. I have nothing against Mr. Mackey, but my reason for spending a premium dollar to shop there has disappeared, so I will be shopping in the far cheaper (and nearly as nice) Publix.
Support the people and organizations that are building the world you want to live in, and leave the others alone.
“Whole Foods is going to have an entirely new demographic shopping in their stores. The only problem is: last I checked, Whole Foods doesn’t stock Coke, Cheetos, Armor hotdogs, or 365-brand Instant Grits.”
The sneering condescension just drips from that statement.
@ krystal:
You must be one of the Team Members that is single and doesnt have a lot of medical expenses. For a Team Member like myself who gets $1800 on my PWA card every year, it doesnt last with a family of four. Out of pocket expenses are really high too. The problem is that John is entitled to his opinion, but because he is the CEO he shouldnt have used his position to express his political views. His public opinion is going to hurt us directly if this boycott sticks.
@ Zero:
Wow…Now dont you sound like someone who works at Central.
@ Some Guy:
Ummm.. Have you ever heard of the GENEVA CONVENTION??? Health Care is indeed a HUMAN RIGHT.
Victoria wrote:
First time here, huh?
Ok let’s all hold hands now, breathe deep and remember that we have freedom of speech for very special reasons and that somehow we need each other. Divided we fall. Sorry, just watched The Lives of Others.
I agree that a well organised boycott is a very effective tool when trying to make a point to organisations however this appears to be the opinion of an individual who happens to work for Wholefoods rather than a philosophy of Wholefoods. The risk here is that the ‘little guy’ will suffer the most as jobs will be cut, starting at the bottom ( wonder how many people worked there because fo there reputation in the first place). Perhaps a better demand would be for the resignation of McKey, but then the question of freedom of speech enters the equation.
Good Job wrote:
Good call !
Guess it’s just another progressive expressing that passionate love they have for the little guy, from within their own gated communities.
Bob wrote:
Shmuck. The restrictions set in place today create an environment that reduces competitiveness and increases the threat of moral hazard of insurance agencies, doctors, and hospitals. Emergency Room visits are the most expensive because hospitals shift expenses to the department, instead of acknowledging the fact that ER doctors are limited in there pay while in the ER, the ER has no real technology assets and is usually the smallest area in a hospital, and sees the most patients in a given day. How could it be that expensive??? Yet you are still billed a few thousand dollars for 2 or three tests and a few visits with a doctor.
So what if the CEO has an opinion. Its his freaking right. Wholefoods is a company, not the CEO. And by boycotting a good company you risk hurting the employees, you risk hurting the communities that benefit from the store, you risk hurting the commercial real estate firm that owns the property that Wholefoods is parked. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Grow up and discuss his points instead of chasing him out of town with pitch forks and torches.
Hey, Chris, who is the little guy about whom you speak? Surely you don’t consider Whole Foods or their CEO a little guy, do you?
@ mieses:
I’m all over it! I plan to open up a store that sells organic Cheetos! Hah!
I went to a Whole Foods store that was packed and selling away…I don’t normally shop there, just for their kickbutt white asparagus, but now I am, just to piss off you idiots. Actually its to try and offset one idiot boycotter. You see, you will not hurt the CEO, you will hurt the workers who then , HELLLOOOO, won’t have the great health care they have now! Oh and by the way, one of you stand in front of me and the door like this guy tried to do today, and you will definitely need healthcare! Hah! freakin’ morons.
@ Mary331:
Ummm…have you every actually read the Geneva Convention? I think you are using something to support an argument that doesn’t fit well….I would agree we should provide people immediate/emergency healthcare, but we need to fix the system while reducing costs, “continuing” to provide the best healthcare, and “letting people make their own decisions”…Tort reform is an immediate no-brainer, lawsuits should be legitimate, which most are not, and most people suing doctors are the ones who are paying anything for their healthcare. Doctors should be held accountable for incompetence, but we take it way beyond that and it is one the key root causes for cost. We need to partner with health insurance companies and make sure everyone can afford adequate healthcare, not necessarily a “cadillac” healthcare plan…if there are companies preying on folks or that are unethical, then we should nail their asses, but most are not. If you want a cadillac then pursue the dream and go buy it. I’m tired of working my ass off to pay for peoples “entitlements”, so they can afford their “Slade” payment (but not their childcare payments they don’t pay). Hah! Anybody know where I can get some organic pork rinds?
When I was a manager and buyer at this store, they used to try to intimidate their employees by taking away hours from the employees and making the managers work extra so they could take the leftover hours and pay the store managers bonuses and raises. Whole Foods has been doing this for years. This boycott is not about just healthcare but also a company that has been ripping off its employees for years! I don’t shop there because it is too expensive and i would not give them the money they stole from me. they should know better