Whole Foods Boycott Picking Up Steam

by: tremayne

Thu Aug 13, 2009 at 16:37


You can see my earlier post on this here but there have been several new developments. This all stems from a WSJ piece written by the CEO and co-founder of Whole Foods called "The Whole Foods Alternative to ObamaCare" in which he argues for insurance industry deregulation and a shrinking of the Medicare program. Here are the new developments:

1. A newly formed Facebook group promoting the boycott will soon surpass one thousand members. Not bad for a few hours but please join and send to your friends/family.

2. I cross posted the original Open Left post at Daily Kos this morning and it sat atop the rec list for three hours, useful exposure.

3. The Austin American Statesman (hometown of Whole Foods headquarters) has run a piece on their business blog with a link to both the Open Left post and the Facebook group.

4. The subject "Whole Foods boycott" has been Twittered about 200 times today with links to the aforementioned sites.

Help keep the momentum going and join the Facebook group, send the stories to your own networks, Twitter if you got it. It's only been hours but if we can increase this by an order of magnitude or two it will get significant publicity and send a message to corporate America.

tremayne :: Whole Foods Boycott Picking Up Steam

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Whole Foods Boycott Picking Up Steam | 59 comments
Thank you for letting me know (4.00 / 1)
that you folks are a bunch of intolerant idiots.

What did this guy say so horribly?

That boomers are retiring, so fewer workers will be paying in while our deficits go up, so we need to cut the cost of entitlements, not increase them, especially for Medicare. [If we pay twice as much as other countries per capita, as Bob Somerby of Daily Howler keeps pointing out, shouldn't health insurance reform bring some of the costs in check, not increase them?]

That his company gets low insurance rates by going with high deductibles, and uses Wellness Accounts to roll over savings for the employees. [I use high deductibles myself, since I've gone more than a decade without seeing a doctor].

Make personal insurance tax deductible like corporate already is. Good idea, no?

Allow insurance competition across state lines. [Making insurance companies competitive, more responsive to customers and lower cost is a good thing, no?]

Make costs of treatment transparent. [Kinda obvious?]

He notes that at Whole Foods employees vote on what they want company health insurance to fund. [Workers' rights?]

And it should be obvious that a company based on a healthy diet might not want to pay for the unhealthy lifestyles of others. [They do pay more at the cash register].

I'm sorry giving an opinion is such a problem for progressives. Keep it up, you'll make all the right wingers seem sane in comparison.

No problem! (4.00 / 4)
What are friends for?

Montani semper liberi
[ Parent ]
That he doesn't want me to have a choice. (4.00 / 6)
Why shouldn't we be entitled to the same choices that members of Congress have? Why are so many top executives like Mackey so afraid of a strong public option? Letting the insurance industry continue to deny coverage at will and go across state lines to avoid regulation that protects consumers won't help us afford coverage. Only broad pro-consumer reforms and a strong public option to give us a real choice will help.

And btw, it's so easy for us to lecture the working poor about "unhealthy lifestyles" when we don't have to worry about the food budget, transportation to the nearest grocery store, or what may or may not be found at the convenience store or 99 cents store. It's easy for us to condemn it as unhealthful (which it is), but what are we doing to ensure that the working poor have access to the types of foods available at Whole Foods that you seem to take for granted?

Yes, Virginia, there are progressives in Nevada.

[ Parent ]
Why don't I have free postage (4.00 / 1)
like members of Congress have? Why don't I have a pool and a gym at work? Why don't I get free airfare for myself and spouse to fly around the world when I'm in extended summer vacation?

Sure, let's just give all 300+ million of us what Congress has. Wouldn't cost nuttin'.  

[ Parent ]
Pull yourself up by those bootstraps! (4.00 / 6)
And quit whining.

Montani semper liberi
[ Parent ]
But don't you know... (4.00 / 5)
Only our beloved corporate executives that drive companies to the ground and reveal the worthlessness of their MBAs deserve government bailouts. All the rest of us can eat cake... That is, whatever crumbs of the cake are left for us to fight over.

Yes, Virginia, there are progressives in Nevada.
[ Parent ]
This guy built up his own company (4.00 / 1)
Besides making healthy food more affordable and available, he gave a lot of people jobs doing stuff that wasn't just destroying the earth.

Can someone find one goddamn nice thing to say about him?

"According to the BBC, John Mackey wrote a letter in 2006 to all of his staff announcing that he would reduce his own salary to $1 a year, donate his stock portfolio to charity and set up a $100,000 emergency fund for staff facing personal problems. He wrote: "I am now 53 years old and I have reached a place in my life where I no longer want to work for money, but simply for the joy of the work itself and to better answer the call to service that I feel so clearly in my own heart."

While CEO of Whole Foods Market in 2008, he earned a total compensation of just $33,831, which included a base salary of $1, and a cash bonus of $33,830."

[ Parent ]
Alternative unions (0.00 / 0)
Whole Foods Market is one of only two Fortune 500 companies listed among the 25 Best Companies to Work For in 2005, a fact which Mackey ascribes to his pro-employee philosophy. He supports non-adversarial unions and advocates their legalization in the U.S. "It's illegal in the United States for there to be company unions - special unions which are formed and controlled by the employees and managers of the company to represent their interests and collectively bargain on their behalf. These type of unions are legal in many countries such as Japan, but are illegal in the United States. Instead the law requires that all unions be outside unions. I believe this law should be repealed and that company unions should be as legal as any other kind of voluntary association.
[ Parent ]
Seriously -- (4.00 / 3)
you think company unions are a good thing?

You need to learn history. There's a reason they're illegal.

Montani semper liberi

[ Parent ]
If he built his company (4.00 / 1)
100% by himself, out of nothing but his own rugged manliness and libertarianism, then what does he need customers for anyway?

He'll never even miss them.

Montani semper liberi

[ Parent ]
As for the Whole Foods blog (0.00 / 0)
A Whole Bunch of people had their hair on fire that those anti-democratic guys over at Whole Foods were deleting posts.

Kinda funny to think about - the guy who started this business and put his life into it promoting healthy food in a pretty impressive way - kind of an inspiration to progressives? Well, he gives his opinion, and the community decides to boycott his store. But these same people want to give their opinion with no repercussions.

But never fear - they didn't delete your comments, they just started a new section on Health Reform so these comments aren't scattered all over their blog and down the aisles.

Health Care Reform

Okay, you can go back to being irate now.

[ Parent ]
John Mackey... (4.00 / 4)
Is this your newest alias? Just asking.

Yes, Virginia, there are progressives in Nevada.
[ Parent ]
Btw... (4.00 / 1)
This is what I'm talking about.

Yes, Virginia, there are progressives in Nevada.
[ Parent ]
Ahh (4.00 / 6)
libertarianism. The belief that consenting adults have the right to do anything they want except organize.

I was a libertarian once, too. Then I turned 17, and started making friends.

Montani semper liberi

[ Parent ]
Brilliant! (4.00 / 2)

[ Parent ]
It isnt Irate - - - its effective. (4.00 / 4)
I hope it is felt deeply, and I hope its long lasting, and I hope people look into the politics of food a lot more.

Whole Foods wasn't "promoting healthy food in a pretty impressive way - kind of an inspiration to progressives?", he sawa profit being made and said hey I like that. He more drives healthy food stores out of business where they are doing well, not creating healthy food in areas where they havent been before.

When Coca Cola sells sugar water with fruit flavouring as if it were healthy hippy flower power anti pop, its not inspiring, its a deceptive business practise lading away from what they are trying to do.


Change
"We must break up the banks and never again let them get so big that they distort our politics and take down the economy.

[ Parent ]
Thank you (4.00 / 6)
After all, I was waiting for your blessing. Glad to know that you will allow some of your fellow progressives to express their disagreement with the head of a corporation by applying personal economic sanctions on that company.

Mackey has the right to speak his mind and each of us has the right to reconsider our economic relationship with him on that basis. What's so wrong with that?


"It sounds wrong...
     ...but its right."

[ Parent ]
no (4.00 / 7)
we're supposed to be tolerant and keep giving his company our money.

Just like we're supposed to be tolerant when our health insurer says: "oops, you're way too sick for us to cover anymore. Oh, is that what you've been paying us for, to cover you when the unexpected occurs? We prefer taking your money when your healthy and then dropping you when your not."

[ Parent ]
Well to be honest (2.00 / 2)
I send this to two friends of mine, who regularly shop at Whole Foods...and they both turned around and said "I don't care about politics...I like their food"

so.

[ Parent ]
A lot of former Republicans (4.00 / 2)
have lost interest in politics lately. It's not surprising.

Montani semper liberi
[ Parent ]
He is completely out of touch... (4.00 / 4)
...with the values of his customers... and he has slapped them in the face.  

Why should customers continue to patronize his stores, when they can't trust him?  How do we know his food is really healthy, when he could care less about the health of others?

Personally, I am wondering if his stuff is all from factory farms and fertilizer feed... it's very clear that he shares more of the values of Wal-Mart than of organic-minded citizens....

It's clear that he's not on our side...

REID: Voting against us was never part of our arrangement!
SPECTER: I am altering the deal! Pray I don't alter it any further!
REID: This deal keeps getting worse all the time!

[ Parent ]
He gives his workers choice (0.00 / 0)
Maybe we should get some feedback from people who work there before treating him like Sarah Palin or the head of Wal-Mart.
[ Parent ]
just another sign (4.00 / 1)
that our allies on one issue aren't always our allies on another.

That's why the Democratic Party has no effective "base"  

[ Parent ]
Well lynching the base (0.00 / 0)
tends to clear out the next generation...

I'm just amazed, a guy who built up a chain of grocery stores for vegetarians, and he's treated like some greedy oil magnate.

[ Parent ]
Mackey is already moving in the "magnate" direction (4.00 / 1)
Whole Foods actually feed lots their beef at the end of the growing process, even the organic and natural herds, patronizes large scale-based dairy operations and doesn't source nearly enough local fruits and veggies in their stores (let alone eggs and dairy).

Whole Foods is a scale based operation that depends upon scale-based suppliers.  And the Whole Foods CEO is anti-single payer, anti-public option and anti-EFCA.  

As committed progressives we need to begin redeploying our personal financial capital both to our local communities and to our allies businesses.

The Whole Foods boycott is a good place to start.    

[ Parent ]
there's plenty to object to in that op-ed (4.00 / 9)
This one really bugs me so I'll use it for starters:


Even in countries like Canada and the U.K., there is no intrinsic right to health care. Rather, citizens in these countries are told by government bureaucrats what health-care treatments they are eligible to receive and when they can receive them. All countries with socialized medicine ration health care by forcing their citizens to wait in lines to receive scarce treatments.

Bureaucrats do not decide what procedures are covered by UHC in Canada, our elected governments do that.  The Premier and Health minister are not "bureaucrats" they are public figures, who have to face the media, the opposition MPPs in Question Period and an angry public if they were to unilaterally decide to not cover vital health care procedures.  We have more say over our health care than do Americans since it's a regular election issue.  What can you do if you don't like Cigna's coverage decision?  Write a letter?  Sue?  Well for the latter tort reform will take care of that too.

It's one of the most menadcious canards about socialized medicine and either he's dishonest or he believes this crap and in either case he has no business being considered a smart voice in the debate with any ideas worth considering.  

He follows up with the old "rationing" one, which conveniently omits the 47M americans who are currently rationed out of care by virtue of costs.  The waiting line gets a lot shorter when you kick all the poor people off it.

His op-ed is full of glibertarian bad ideas that would be disastrous for average people and a bonanza for insurance.  Allowing people to buy insurance over state lines for starters.  Congratulations, all of America is now operating under Alabama's state insurance regulation as all the companies move HQ overnight to the lowest regulation state and commence kicking all the sick people off their rolls.

He can speak his mind, and liberals are free to not patronize his stores in return.  If Dick Cheney opens a grocery store, are we morally obligated to shop there too?  

[ Parent ]
Well gee Daniel (0.00 / 0)
Why don't you stop going to every store that's run by a Republican?

Just open a boycott against everyone who disagrees with you.

What an outstanding progressive you are.

A guy has some alternate ideas on health care - such as making personal insurance deductible, such as letting employees vote on what level of health care they want, and that makes him worth comparing to Dick Cheney?

[ Parent ]
I know someone who did that (0.00 / 1)
said that she will not support any corporation and would boycott then until they can see we don't need them.

The next day I saw her at work and asked how the boycott was going, she said "Great, I haven't gone to the store, I won't use my computer, etc."

Until I pointed out that she took a bus, manufactured by a Motor Coach Industries Corp., running on gas, provided by ExxonMobil, wearing clothes she bought at Target (a corporation), manufactured by some corporation and was drinking coffee who she bought at a Dunkin Donuts, a corporation, and she was at her job as an editor for ABC, owned by Disney, to get her paycheck, given to her by Disney, to put in her bank account, at Citibank l

By the end of the week, her boycott was down to boycotting Wal-Mart, which isn't hard where I live since there aren't any.  

[ Parent ]
I try to do that (4.00 / 3)
as often as possible.  If I learn that a company supports republicans or right wing christians, I won't patronize them.  I use the power of my purse to the best of my ability.  What's so wrong with that?  The inconvenience does not bother me a bit.  I was raised during the old progressive boycott days (it took years before I would eat a Nestle product).

To my mind, it's the heart of progressivism to use whatever power one has to effect change one believes in.  This is true for me whether or not I agree with the person's position.

[ Parent ]
Nestle was providing food to Africa (0.00 / 0)
when no one else was.

They got stuck in a difficult place - of course
they know Africa has water problems. And Africa
has food problems. Ever seen shriveled up breasts
in a famine in Ethiopia? Think they're going to
provide sustenance to the kids?

So Nestle, God love 'em, kept its food program
for Africa even though it got them more negative
publicity than positive. Think they made money
on helping out? Pretty unlikely.

[ Parent ]
They made a lot of money. (4.00 / 2)
And it wasn't "food" it was powdered formula, which they gave out for free in the hospitals to discourage breastfeeding. If you don't breastfeed right after birth, you can't do it later, which is exactly what happened once the women left the hospital and all of a sudden had to start buying expensive formula. Or watch their babies starve -- nice choice.

Why do you worship the robber barons so much when you are obviously not one of them? Do you honestly believe one day you will be?

Montani semper liberi

[ Parent ]
cry me a fucking river for nestle. (4.00 / 1)
how about the aquifer in brazil?  or labor rights violations in the phillipines?  this is in addition to the infant formula boycotts.

i feel super bad for large corporations which value profits over people.  and i'm sure if they ever do anything good, it is not because some internal p.r. or accounting dept. calculated the degree in which good publicity will affect the bottom line.

[ Parent ]
Agree. (0.00 / 0)
I recently made a post commenting along these lines and my post was hidden. The left I have been speaking to are so focused on hating the right and now our own, we are having less and less progressive thinking. The hypocrisy I have been seeing in my own party is alarming and so disapointing, I am at a loss. The snide remarks and arrogance is just...it's very sad. Certainly not liberal thinking.  
[ Parent ]
what's not to like about this? (4.00 / 2)
seems like a lot of Whole Foods patrons would be default Obamaphiles, who thought they were electing the health care president.

"If you want that good feeling that comes from doing things for other people, then you have to pay for it in abuse and misunderstanding..."
Zora Neale Hurston
Obama himself (4.00 / 1)
Obama himself promoted Whole Foods somewhat incongruously in Iowa saying farmers should grow arrugula like he buys at Whole Foods.  Personally, I thought it was one of the biggest gaffes of his campaign.

Yup, the President and his family are typical customers and he promoted the place.  Way to pay him back, Whole Foods.

[ Parent ]
Well, I agreed with Obama then... (4.00 / 3)
About growing more arugula and more healthful foods that we should be eating. But as I said above, what are we actually doing to ensure more equal access to these foods? Food inequality is probably the most overlooked issue in this health care debate. Why do we spend so much time criticizing poor people over what they eat and not do something to ensure they can access the same foods that so many of us take for granted? We can talk about growing arugula all we want, but how can we ensure working poor families actually have better grocery choices than the convenience store and the 99 cents store?

Yes, Virginia, there are progressives in Nevada.
[ Parent ]
It would be nice (4.00 / 3)
if the people who grow our food could afford to buy it . . .  

Montani semper liberi
[ Parent ]
The real way (0.00 / 0)
to fix the food problem is to regulate food better.  The proliferation of: sugar and corn syrup in so much of what is sold; the predominance of frozen (ie, nutritionless) foods; and the genetic engineering of our crops and meat are the real problems.  So much of our so-called natural foods (fruits, vegetables, and meat) are so pumped with chemicals that they have little taste and appeal to most people.  Living in Europe for two years really reminded how awful our produce is.
[ Parent ]
I'm trying to grow some arugula in my back yard (4.00 / 2)
becuz i can't afford what they charge at whole foods.

"If you want that good feeling that comes from doing things for other people, then you have to pay for it in abuse and misunderstanding..."
Zora Neale Hurston
[ Parent ]
try Trader Joe's (4.00 / 1)
that's why us blind, idol-worshipping, naive kids shop nowadays.  
[ Parent ]
Whole Foods took over many wonderful local natural food stores (0.00 / 0)
that I remember from my childhood and jacked up the prices. Mrs. Gooch's was my personal favorite, but there was also Bread and Circuses, Wellspring Grcoery, Bread of Life, Food for Thought, etc.

I'm not sure why the didn't earn more progressive ire a long time ago.

[ Parent ]
The Whole Foods Forums are "going whack a mole" as moderators try and erase (4.00 / 3)
and relocate boycott discussions. The original pags I posted in the lat thread is gone.

You can try this one to keep the subject alive:
Healthcare  discussion

Change
"We must break up the banks and never again let them get so big that they distort our politics and take down the economy.

I was thinking of doing Whole Foods this weekend... (4.00 / 2)
But after this crap, forget about it! For John Mackey to design this false image of Whole Foods as a "progressive" company while simultaneously trying to kill both Employee Free Choice AND real health care reform is simply outrageous. It's bad enough for them to deny their employees the right to consider organizing into unions, but this takes the company to another level... One I thought was reserved for Wal-Mart.

Yes, Virginia, there are progressives in Nevada.
One day, in the not too distant future, Wal Mart (0.00 / 0)
will have an organic foods section (if they do not already) and then what are we to do?


"It sounds wrong...
     ...but its right."
[ Parent ]
Don't shop there... (0.00 / 0)
If they remain as anti-worker as they are now. If you look behind Wal-Mart's "organic" label, you'll realize that their "organic" produce is still coming from agribusiness giants. Those small, local family farmers aren't benefitting, and you know Wal-Mart will try to make sure that their suppliers pay their workers next to nothing so they can boast about how they're supposedly "saving you money!"

Yes, Virginia, there are progressives in Nevada.
[ Parent ]
But its a healthier, greener form of agribusiness, no? (0.00 / 0)
Those small, family farms can't keep up with the demands of the wal-Mart shoppers, so the market has weeded them out, as it were. Why shouldn't the Wal-Mart shoppers have a healthier alternative? Incrementalism is our friend, right?

There's a heavy dose of devil's advocacy here.

I ALREADY don't shop at Wal-Mart, nor Whole Foods, or even Trader Joe's, but it seems to me that as the "organic/green" concepts get co-opted and become mainstream, more of these kind of contradictions are going to arise. At the root, I think its great that even a soulless corporation like Wal-mart is forced to concede to the desire for Americans to consume food more intelligently. Sure, they lie and mislabel in response, but they are responding to a real desire on the part of their customers. Tapping into that desire and directing it in a positive way is the key, moving beyond the boycott. That's why the ideas about distributing fliers about local, organic alternatives is important. Not only at Whole Foods, but also at Wal-Mart.

"It sounds wrong...
     ...but its right."

[ Parent ]
Is it? (0.00 / 0)
If it's all grown at massive agribusiness "farms" and requires tons and tons of fossil fuels to deliver it all across the country? Is it really sustainable for us to weed out the local farmers in favor of the agribusiness conglomerates? At least Whole Foods and Trader Joe's offer some local produce.

Unfortunately we don't have too many "green" food options in Las Vegas, so I'll probably just stop at TJ's tomorrow and try to get as much "local" (Cali isn't too far away) produce as I can. And when I have the chance, I really want to be able to try the farmers' market in Summerlin so I can REALLY buy more local.

Yes, Virginia, there are progressives in Nevada.

[ Parent ]
that's how i feel in the winter (0.00 / 0)
my gut reaction is that the "wal-martization" of organic foods is a net negative and the overtly corporate stance of the CEO of Whole Foods is a sign that such is extending beyond Wal-mart.  

But, i could be wrong.

"It sounds wrong...
     ...but its right."

[ Parent ]
New book out on Walmart (0.00 / 0)
[ Parent ]
High-deductible health insurance is the solution (4.00 / 4)
So says John Mackey.

Fuck him.

sTiVo's rule: Just because YOU "wouldn't put it past 'em" doesn't prove that THEY did it.

'Cos if you're sick, you deserve it! (4.00 / 3)
After all, if you just ate everything from Whole foods, you'd never get sick again!!!  And you'd get magical lollipops and unicorns, too!!!

REID: Voting against us was never part of our arrangement!
SPECTER: I am altering the deal! Pray I don't alter it any further!
REID: This deal keeps getting worse all the time!
[ Parent ]
if we boycott every company with a right-wing CEO... (0.00 / 0)
that's a lot of companies to boycott.  Look, I disagree with just about everything Mackey suggests policy-wise on healthcare, but can't the guy express his opinion?

This boycott just seems of little use to the overall effort to pass healthcare reform (I'm thinking along the same lines as Chris Bowers in his recent posts on the futility of attacking the town hall protests).

If it were just that... (4.00 / 4)
I'd agree. However, the problem here isn't just John Mackey mouthing off. It's about John Mackey presenting the false image of a "progressive" company when he doesn't treat his employees right and inserts the company into political debate by pushing these right-wing talking points. Sure, he can say what he wants to say... But I don't have to fund it.

Yes, Virginia, there are progressives in Nevada.
[ Parent ]
It's listed as one of the top 25 places to work (0.00 / 0)
How about let the Whole Food employees have a bit more voice in whether they like it or not?

While there might be some overlap with right wing complaints, it's certainly not a list taken from Rush Limbaugh. In fact, Republicans seldom actually suggest something that would help bring down health insurance costs, do they? Much less something that gives workers more choice?

[ Parent ]
Yes, Andrew please, (0.00 / 0)
please stop silencing the voices of those poor Whole Foods workers! With your . . . your . . .

ah gee I'm sure there must be some way in which you and not their anti-union, anti-progressive boss is the one silencing them.

Because we all know the guy writing the paychecks has absolutely no power over workers whatsoever.

Montani semper liberi

[ Parent ]
Listed as one of the top 25 by whom? .. (4.00 / 1)
Fortune? .. how do you think they get on that list? .. Do you really think Fortune is going to piss off advertisers? .. they are in the business of boosting each other
[ Parent ]
"Boosting" (4.00 / 1)
now there's a polite word for what goes in the corporate media complex. That's a word you can even use in front of the children!

Montani semper liberi
[ Parent ]
This boycott (4.00 / 6)
is of excellent use to the overall effort.

You attack power at its source, in this case, money. King knew that, Ghandi knew that. This is the theory the Montgomery bus strike was built on.

Montani semper liberi

[ Parent ]
i didn't shop there if i could avoid it. (4.00 / 3)
now i never will again.

support your:

1.  local farmers market

2.  local health food stores.

3.  self.  grow your own.  (this should be first)

Whole Foods Boycott Picking Up Steam | 59 comments
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