Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Consumers: The forced crusaders?

Whatever happened to just being able to give your money to a business in exchange for the product of your choice? Now everywhere we turn, we are forced to partake in the company's social views, even if those views are in direct opposition to ours. 

The most recent one is Burger King's "Proud Whopper" - in which the famed burger is encased in a rainbow-colored wrapper to show its support for the gay lifestyle at San Francisco's Gay Pride Parade. Right now, the corporate offices are only using consumer money to pay for the special wrapper and parade promotion at this one event. But it could expand the campaign unless consumers push back. 

In this case, celebrating a lifestyle choice - which, by the way, the Centers for Disease Control itself shows is not healthy - riddled with much higher disease and mortality rates than the general population - is not something Burger King should get involved in. Just let people eat in peace, please. 

Then again, I guess I am not forced to give my money to any corporation knowing it will be going to celebrate things I oppose - I just don't have to eat at Burger King anymore if they make their Rainbow Burgers go nationwide and it's not something I choose to support. But nowadays, there are more and more companies I need to avoid because I know my money is being used to support things that I don't necessarily support. 

I just wish that if companies want to use consumers' dollars to support something, that they could support something we can all get behind - like helping the hungry. But when a growing number of companies take on the politically correct causes of an increasingly left-leaning society, it forces consumers to be crusaders of their cause. Of course, we have the choice not to give our money to these companies - but neutral alternatives are getting more and more difficult to find.

What do you think?  Click on the comments link in the bar below to share your thoughts. No registration necessary.

5 comments:

  1. Wait. Didn't you support Hobby Lobby? And now you are against businesses that are expressing a view that is different from yours? "I just wish that if companies want to support something that they could support something we can all get behind"? This seems a touch hypocritical.

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    1. Dear May. A company being forced by the government to purchase things it is opposed to is hardly the same as a company using my consumer dollars to support things it chooses to support. In the latter, it is both about choice: the company's choice to support what it wants, and my choice not to give my dollars to that company. When the government forces anything, such as it is doing with companies, all choice is removed. I would imagine you support choice, don't you? Thanks for reading. Have a great day!

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  2. Hi Julie,

    You are expressing the same frustration I have been experiencing in regards to company supported causes that are being pushed at an ever increasing pace. Chrysler proudly supports the Motor City Pride Festival and Parade in Detroit, while GM portrays same sex couples w/kids as perfectly acceptable “families” in a Chevrolet television commercial they run. And they can be very clever in how they get their message across without being blatantly obvious to the average viewer. The Chevrolet commercial in particular will throw this at the viewer in a collage of different scenes that run so fast you don’t even realize what you were just exposed to. I bring it up in particular because I am currently looking to purchase a new vehicle and do not want to support a company that is pushing these agendas. Maybe I will land up riding a bicycle. -:) And now Major League Baseball has got to get into the act with the whole homosexual agenda and their new Ambassador For Inclusion. I just wish all these companies and organizations would stop promoting sexual perversion as something to be celebrated. And with this constant barrage of same sex promotion from everywhere I feel like yelling: “Please don’t tell me who you are having sex with!” “Please!” Sorry for going on about this, but I feel better now. -:) Take care and God Bless!

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    1. Hi Ed B - Nice to "see" you again! It is so frustrating and disheartening. And the kicker is, if we all got together and decided to start our own companies that don't proactively support the homosexual agenda (even if we did nothing to disrespect it) we'd probably be targets of protests and other consequences. People like May above are lucky - while she is not forced to shop at Hobby Lobby, the rest of us are forced in one way or another to go along with someone else's agenda. I was so disheartened to hear of MLB's latest announcement. It is everywhere. But so is God, and I will just lean into Him in all things! Thanks for getting in touch and God Bless you too!

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  3. I wonder how May would feel if she were forced to shop at Hobby Lobby? Actually it's already happening as she is now forced to buy healthcare. These people don't even realize that the government is using us like slaves. They just are happy to let their heads spin in the clouds and think they're doing good by the world. Please wake up, people. We are not supposed to serve the government - it is supposed to serve us. After all, we're the ones supporting them with our very hard-earned dollars.

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