Call for LL Bean boycott aimed at the wrong target

[mainer]

From one of our state's most liberal columnists, who thinks LL Bean shouldn't be boycotted by "Grab Your Wallet." And I agree. Linda Bean is a blot on humanity, but she is not the face of the company LL Bean, which has a long tradition of liberal values.

Once the words “Trump” and “L.L. Bean” hit the internet, a company that is as assiduously apolitical as it is roundly respected here in its home state suddenly found itself in the cross hairs of Grab Your Wallet.

Formed in October to make Trump pay for his caught-on-tape remarks about assaulting women whenever he pleases, the website now lists 82 companies, many household names, to be shunned until further notice.

Initially (and logically), the group went after companies that directly sell Trump products. Shoes.com, for example, recently stopped selling Ivanka Trump’s line of shoes, which in turn prompted Grab Your Wallet to pull the online shoe retailer off its boycott list.

But then there’s another tier of targets: companies that are, in Grab Your Wallet’s eyes, guilty by association. Thanks to good old Aunt Linda, L.L. Bean now resides on that list.

http://www.pressherald.com/2017/01/12/bill-nemitz-wallet-targets-the-wrong-bean/

And in a different editorial in today's Portland Press Herald, an astonishing fact is revealed about Linda Bean:

We are no fan of Linda Bean, whose conservative views come with more than a little hypocrisy and hysteria.

After using public assistance as a single mother before she received her family inheritance, Bean has railed against public assistance. She is staunchly opposed to gay rights and abortion rights. In an open letter released during the 2012 presidential campaign, she made bizarre claims about Barack Obama taking away farmers’ land rights, calling the president “HITLERIAN” and saying he was “closing in very fast to eliminate totally our liberty rights and heritage.”

But the editors echoed Nemitz's view that boycotting LL Bean is harming the wrong people.

http://www.pressherald.com/2017/01/12/our-view-l-l-bean-boycott-would-harm-the-wrong-people/

[matt819]

1. Tough

If she were in fact one of those 50+ people with the last name Bean who benefit from being associated with the company, that's fine. No problem.

But she's a board member, and, like it or not, she's in the center of all things LL Bean.

I've bought stuff from LL Bean for years and years, not a lot so's I'd be noticed, but, still, my money is now their money. And I've been very happy with their stuff, their commitment to quality, their guarantees. Great. But they also have Linda Bean, and, as a result, some of my money is going to an LL Bean board members whose views are odious and politics vile.

So, while I don't care much what others do, until Linda Bean is off the board, my money goes elsewhere.

[Laurian]

2. If the dingbat is such a liability, they should remove her from the board.

Learning just how ignorant and hateful she is from the second editorial you listed, I'm more committed to my decision to boycott LLBean.

I sent them an email last week and received a standard reply earlier this week. I got a catalog in the mail yesterday and promptly threw it in the trash.

[NightWatcher]

8. Boycott them and when it hurts enough, they'll dump her.

[dembotoz]

3. you can pick your nose but you can not pick your family

there are so many other companies so much more worthy of our scorn and boycott.

the threat of boycott should be reserved to more dastardly folks like hobby lobby, and chick fila and menards....
and papa johns and.....

they got their boycott the old fashioned way....THEY EARNED IT

[mainer]

5. And LL Bean doesn't sell any Trump family products.

they just have a crazy relative in the family. Who used to be on assistance, so she probably wasn't even one of the favored members of the family.

If we were to boycott every company that has one nasty member on their board, we wouldn't be able to keep track of what we're not supposed to buy.

[samsmom0403]

10. I completely agree

Should she be removed from the Board, yes. And this could be in process for all you know.

So where are you buying your boots? Land's End? Stop, right there. They pulled an ad featuring Gloria Steinem after backlash from the right. Nordstrom? Sells Ivanka Trump. Amazon? Advertises on Breitbart and treats employees like dirt. I know... Sierra Trading. Are those boots (not made by Sierra Trading) manufactured in an unregulated factory in Bangladesh?

She is one Board Member, she is a kook.

And you are punishing the company's employees for it because Donald Trump mentioned them in a tweet?

Do you shop at Amazon? I hope that while you are boycotting LLBean you are also boycotting Amazon. Despite denouncing Trump before the election, Jeff Bezos met with Trump. As I said, he refuses to blacklist Breitbart in their advertising campaign so in essence is funding Breitbart. Employees work in unsafe and extremely unpleasant conditions. So how many of you who are so quick to boycott Bean are also boycotting Amazon?

[Vinca]

4. I'm glad to learn this. I love their flannel sheets.

[mainer]

6. Feel free to boycott "Linda Bean's Perfect Maine."

That's her company, and hers alone.

[TheCowsCameHome]

7. I will not patronize her individual businesses,

but my money will still to L.L. Bean merchandise.

She is like the crazy aunt that is found in most families.

[juxtaposed]

9. Some fun facts about LL Bean

http://www.pressherald.com/2017/01/06/linda-bean-in-trouble-with-fec-over-pro-trump-pac/

what ll bean does

http://www.llbean.com/customerService/aboutLLBean/environment.html?nav=ln

http://www.llbean.com/customerService/aboutLLBean/corporate_citizenship.html?nav=ln

http://www.llbean.com/customerService/aboutLLBean/conservation_partners.html?nav=ln

from 2009
https://www.facebook.com/notes/llbean/llbean-response-regarding-decision-of-maine-voters-to-overturn-maines-same-sex-m/174981591314/