Retailing and Politics

Doug Fleener at Retail Contrarian makes an interesting point today about retail employees wearing political campaign buttons.  In a word--don't.

I'm old enough to remember when politics was a fairly genteel affair.  Democrats and Republicans could have an intelligent conversation without name-calling, foul language, and physical violence.  Today, not so much.  Given the nastiness of the presidential campaign so far, and with almost eight months left to go, there's no reason to think that the candidates and their supporters are suddenly going to start playing well with each other.

Ad Doug points out, there are people who will definitely take their business elsewhere if they think you're supporting the "wrong" side.  All-in-all, unless your state is 100% blue or red, it may be best to keep your, and your staff's political preferences to yourselves.

Sidebar: Have a safe and happy St. Patrick's Day weekend and be careful out there.

Comments

[Ralph Garcia]

I was on my cities Planning Commission for almost 11 years and I know for a fact I lost some business during that time. So even when giving back to your community it can cost you

[Mike Buckley]

It's a shame that volunteering your time to help your community might result in lost sales. Being an optimist, I would suggest that you might gain more business than you would lose.