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Teaching @Arbys about responsibility

Teaching @Arbys about responsibility

Not taking responsibility (h/t reader Tony):

More about Arby’s here.

If you are on Twitter, you can reach Arby’s at @arbys, or at its Facebook page, or at its Contact page.

There’s probably not much we can do to prevent cowardly companies from giving into boycott threats, except to teach them responsibility.

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Comments

Joan Of Argghh | April 7, 2012 at 9:44 am

I’m teaching CocaCola a lesson by reverting to my childhood favorite, RC Cola. (and a Moon Pie!)

It’s actually very good, without all the acidy flavors now rampant in Coke.

    ClinkinKy in reply to Joan Of Argghh. | April 7, 2012 at 11:04 am

    I can look it up but thought you might have a “direct” line to Coca-Cola to let them know that an approx. 50 year patron of their product (my son says I’m addicted, he may be right) has decided to change brands.

      Cocacola.com….click on ‘contact us’ then ‘Ask Coca-Cola’ in new window that pops up….your message will be directed to someone at Industry and Consumer Affairs and they will reply to you. The response I got from them on Friday was
      “we have not provided our support for, or opposition against Voter ID legislation in any forum, including through ALEC”……so I sent a reply message questioning this with a link to the story that says otherwise.

    Yep…teach these companies not to respond to boycotts by….telling them you are boycotting them! That’ll show ’em!

    How dare they get involved in voter suppression efforts…

Walgreens needs to go on the list, too.

    Taxpayer1234 in reply to Ragspierre. | April 7, 2012 at 11:25 am

    Walgreens is the poster child for crony capitalism, anyway. It lobbied the govt. hard to force banks to lower swipe fees. And a number of years ago, it got into hot water for charging exorbitant prices in low-income areas for maximum profit via welfare and Medicaid funds.

Teresamerica | April 7, 2012 at 10:11 am

Geesh… I used to work at an Arby’s, a long time ago. This is extremely disappointing. Arby’s is against diversity of thought. Arby’s is against freedom of speech. Dang, this is really gonna hurt, I love their food. It is time to stand up for freedom of speech and boycott Arby’s.

OK I’ve been on twitter for several years now. How exactly do you know you’ve been blocked? I’m not saying Arby’s didn’t do this, I’d just like to know so I know when I’ve pushed their buttons enough!

Someone at Arby’s is acting stupidly.

This is why I don’t mix business and politics. It’s stupid to antagonize half your potential customer base.

In business, especially retail, you do not alienate the majority of your customers. I feel badly for the franchisees
and the people behind the counter. The MBA’s running the company probably never worked a day in their life. I
would bet that they never ate at Arby’s. They have gone over to the dark side a long time ago.

Kraft drops membership in conservative group amid protest

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-kraft-drops-membership-in-conservative-group-amid-protest-20120406,0,7907919.story

Color of Change, an African American advocacy group co-founded by James Rucker and Van Jones, issued a statement saying that the group would direct its sights at other companies associated with ALEC.

Other members of ALEC’s Enterprise Board include executives from Wal-Mart, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, AT&T, UPS and ExxonMobil. In January, PepsiCo quietly pulled itself off the board.

@ Professor Jacobson—OT, but wanted to reiterate what I’ve said before about your taste in music. I’m convinced that we were not only born on the same day, we were born at the same time of day:) Great selections of music!!

Heh… Arby’s ain’t alone. Three or four weeks ago I was attracted by an article, “Prepare for Takeoff: Airlines Attempt to Reduce Pollution While Making a Profit” which was a GE propaganda piece. I went there anyway because I have more than a passing interest in aviation.

In this article appeared a paragraph, “But along with the reduced fuel costs, burning less fuel creates a happy accident: less CO2—the dominant greenhouse gas—and less nitrogen oxide is released into the atmosphere.”

The term, “CO2-the dominant greenhouse gas..” is a gross mischaracterization since the dominant greenhouse gas is… Water vapor by a very wide margin.

So I decided to add a comment to add to the two that were evidently written by alarmist drones correcting this error.

Weeks later when I visit that webpage and check to see if my comment has been added, all I see is that my comment is awaiting “approval by a moderator.”

So much for open discussion by GE…

Cassandra Lite | April 7, 2012 at 11:23 am

Hey, Arby’s, unless you can convince Obama that the Commerce Clause requires me to eat at your restaurants, buh-bye! There’s a reason why the First Amendment is, you know, first. What pussies you are.

Taxpayer1234 | April 7, 2012 at 11:26 am

Dang, I’m gonna miss those Jamocha shakes. Oh, well; there are so many OTHER choices from companies who don’t roll over when libs blow the dog whistle.

    Jamocha shake and curly fries– the once-a-year treat when I can get it.

    Oh, well. The shake didn’t taste so great last time I had it, anyways, and there are other places with curly fries. Besides, McD’s has mocha frappes, now, and there’s always Dairy Queen…..

Can’t say that I ever heard an Arby’s commercial while listening to Rush, but I am only an occasional listener. Regardless, I have eaten at Arby’s. Once.

I understand the underlying principle here, but if conservatives boycott Arby’s, is anyone really going to miss that pressed dog sandwich they pass off as “roast beef”?

A guy in my church was running for a judge position. He waltzed into my business one day, assuming that I’d be happy to put a 4X8 sign in front of my place. I told him that I don’t do politics in the workplace, since it will alienate half my customer base. He countered with the claim that it was a non-partisan office. Yeah, right, no such thing (at least in this part of the world).

If a business is going to jump into the political circus, it is going to pay a price. Maybe that’s courage, maybe that’s silliness, but that’s the way it is.

    Nora in NC in reply to windbag. | April 7, 2012 at 1:43 pm

    Michael Jordan famously said, when asked why he wouldn’t endorse the Democrat in a Senate race here, “Republicans buy sneakers, too.” Why go out of your way to turn off half of your customer base? Mixing politics and business at the retail level is not a smart move.

This is sniveling selfishness on the part of Arby’s top brass. See, they can do this and the pain is felt by their franchisees, who may lose business. Those here who’ve said politics and business don’t mix are dead right … and GE is a good example of why, for reasons too numerous to mention.

Knowing that it’s the franchisees who will pay for this idiocy, I’ll continue to patronize my local Arby’s franchise, black owned and operated no less. Yeah, dickhead management, let’s screw over the “conservatives” like them.

You’d think they’d have enough trouble just getting people to eat beef with bubbles in it?

It all comes clear now. Arby’s CEO is the former CEO of Susan G Komen for the Cure.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hala_Moddelmog

I admit, I’ve become quite lost in the weeds on all this boycott/advertising stuff going on lately. Can someone sum up – preferably with links to back it up, no offense – what companies are pulling stupid moves like this?

I’m particularly interested in knowing what companies are doing things like pulling advertising from Rush, or funding from ALEC, or anti-TEA Party, etc, so I can weigh their behavior vs how much I may like or need their product, vs finding an alternative to support. (I do draw a distinction between a Corporation’s position and, say, the owner/CEO’s personal position, in cases where those are different)

I understand that Arby’s and Coke have done their bits of stupid lately, who else?

The only certain way to counter the establishment of a totalitarian regime is through the conveyance and enforcement of traditions, morality, etc. It is critical to emphasize the preservation of individual dignity. It is imperative to recognize the value of human life. This responsibility begins at home. If America is to be consumed, then it is because parents have abdicated their responsibilities.

casualobserver | April 7, 2012 at 4:55 pm

Sadly the left will usually win in these situations. Corporations put a fair effort into estimating the damage, and when they capitulate to the strong-arm tactics it likely means they’ve decided the right will be less reactionary (less damaging) than the left. So, if they did nothing they believe it would be more harmful.

I’m on the fence as to whether to join in with such tactics, myself.

I’d be glad to join in a boycott of Arby’s if someone will tell me how to boycott a business I don’t patronize anyway. (

Used to get their over-priced but pretty good turkey sandwich with cranberry sauce a while back, but of course they discontinued it, so can’t think of a reason to cross their doorstep now.)

    Joy in reply to barbara. | April 7, 2012 at 7:15 pm

    You can always do what I do when the business is not one that I patronize or buy a product from…..call or email their corporate office to express your opinion of their caving in to left-wing threats that will ultimately lead to those on the right spending their money elsewhere.

Corporate Arby’s make’s a profit from every sandwich sold. And if the franchisees feel the pressure, too, you can bet that they will put Corporate’s feet to the fire.

BannedbytheGuardian | April 7, 2012 at 11:19 pm

T’is such a shame not to be able to get a roast beef & mustard sandwich without doing politics .

Is nothing sacred?