Courtney’s Opinion: Politics and business, don’t always mix well. Also, Barry likes stickers a lot.
The first draft of my July “man or bear” column was not the version that was sent to print. Not long after sending it to our editor, I felt a nagging need to do some tweaking. I was afraid I had gone a little too far in describing “the man” in my particular situation and I wasn’t comfortable with the over-share. So, I edited myself. I like to think this is part of my older and wiser evolution. Ten years ago, I would have blasted that guy.
So, when Barry’s favorite sticker vendor (yes, I too was surprised by Barry’s penchant for stickers, but you do you, Barry) sent him a pro-Trump email, we got to thinking. Is it a business’ place to let us know how they vote? Or is that an over-share?
I don’t get as riled up about politics as I used to (older, wiser). But the issues that do fire me up are highly personal – and thus emotional – to me. And when I think about things in that context, I realize that there is usually something behind the reason we feel a certain way. Yes, even for those folks whose choices (political or other) we cannot fathom.
Both times I lay in an emergency room, decades ago, waiting for life-saving surgery due to ectopic pregnancies, I never once considered the politics of my current situation. It never occurred to me that one day this surgery might not be deemed necessary or legal. Likewise, I suspect that the surgeons and nurses who were scrubbing in could not have predicted a change to legislation that had been on the books since the year I was born. So, when I am considering which political candidates to support, women’s reproductive rights matter to me.
In addition to my life-saving surgeries, I also endured three rounds of IVF. They were unsuccessful and I am a happy childless dog mom (and former cat lady), but the fact that IVF was a choice was a comfort during a tumultuous time.
So, let’s presume that Sticker Mule has a connection to the Trump campaign based on some deep-rooted, adhesive-related experience that is highly emotional for them. If that is the case, we aren’t going to change their mind. Just like they won’t change mine. I will certainly get the stickers I was going to get Barry for Christmas from another vendor, but I’m sure Sticker Mule will be just fine. A business that touts its politics has to be OK with potentially losing half its customers.
But, what if it is a friend who owns a business? How do we navigate the current political climate when our friends are on their other side of the fence (that feels like it is a million miles away)?
Candidly, I have been unfriending and unfollowing “friends” on social media for months. Namely, the yo-yos on my high school football team, who apparently took one too many knocks to the noggin in the early 1990s.
The older, wiser, and emotionally evolved me has also realized that if my connection to my real friends outweighs my questions around their politics, I choose friendship. My circle is small and sacred, and that is good enough for me.
And with that, I must acknowledge my friend Mia. I’ve known her for 15 years and she has been a witness to the many ups and downs of my journey. Our politics are vastly different – she is a major Trumper and proud of it. She’s been to rallies and even has the red cap.
Four years ago, I couldn’t wrap my head around how we could be so different and yet so alike. But when I’ve needed her – like when my father-in-law died – she has jumped into action. I’ve evolved to being able to joke about our contrasts, and I am grateful that she hung in with me until I got there.
Some relationships are worth it. Stickers are not.
Barry’s Opinion: Keep your politics away from my stickers, Sticker Mule!
Like most of you, my email inbox is essentially a repository for millions of emails from companies I bought something from once, sprinkled with the occasional actual email. This is because the online marketing industrial complex has convinced companies that we as consumers don’t just want a product – we also want to hear from the company we bought that product from every day from now until the heat death of the universe.
Did you enjoy that shirt you bought? Here are eight more just like it.
How’s that showerhead working out for you? Did you know we also sell bidets?
Pretty sweet knife we sold you, right? Have you thought about getting some ED medication?
Over and over we go.
So, I was a little surprised recently when Sticker Mule, a company from which I buy custom stickers and an occasional T-shirt with my face on it, decided to go in a different direction, emailing me about whom I should vote for. As a sucker for their regular sales, I tend to open their emails anyway, but I opened this one while asking myself why.
stickermule: Hey Barry! Check out our new Hot Sauce labels, and also wait til you hear what we did to our previous CEO!
Carrying the subject header “Trump 2024,” this email read, and I quote: “People are terrified to admit they support Trump. I’ve been scared myself. Americans shouldn’t live in fear. I support Trump. Many at Sticker Mule do. Many at Sticker Mule also support Biden. The political hate needs to stop. Hopefully this email helps. Btw, this week, get 1 shirt for $4 (normally $19). I suggest buying one that shows you support Trump.”
Let’s set aside for a moment the fact that Trump supporters are hardly afraid to get vocal about their support for their candidate. This was a weird thing to hear about from Sticker Mule since – and I can’t stress this enough – they are a sticker company. Full stop.
In all my years buying stickers from them, I never once considered what their position might be on politics. I would have assumed they were pro-sticker, but then that’s really all I care about. You’re a sticker company. I give you money. You give me stickers. That’s as deep as I’d like our understanding of one another to go.
The backlash online and in person was as immediate as it was expected. Two people I know who also shop from Sticker Mule, one of whom spends thousands on their products, were both looking for new vendors that day. The company’s Facebook page became a battleground as folks from both sides came to duke it out in the comments. Competing companies jumped at the opportunity, with ads that showed how much they absolutely don’t care who you vote for, only that you have disposable income for stickers.
The backlash was predictable. The fallout was baffling. Today I got an email from them saying, and again I quote, “It’s my genius idea to make Sticker Mule explode ever since the last CEO f’d things up. Btw, now that I’m in charge, I ordered the last CEO to be left wrapped in bubble wrap in an abandoned warehouse.”
This email, it should be noted, was primarily about their new custom-label hot sauces, with the earth-shattering news about their change in CEO kind of stuck in the middle.
It was signed by Ricky Berwick, a guy that the terminally online will know as a YouTuber, and not as a person who would know anything about running a business. As a result, no one is sure if this was a joke or not. Either way, the comments under their video announcement ran pretty much 50/50. Half said, “If you fired your CEO for supporting Trump I’m not shopping here anymore.” The other half said, “Seriously, what?”
The point being, this was all an unforced error. By making their views known, they made half their customers angry. By walking those views back, they angered the rest of them. By walking those views back via a YouTuber selling hot sauce, they confused everyone.
So, my advice to any company, big or small, is the same advice I give to pretty much everyone on Facebook – no one cares who you’re voting for. Please shut up. But if you are offering cheap stickers, let me know.
