Whether or not you agree with Whole Foods CEO John Mackey’s views on health care reform, his op ed in the Wall Street Journal is instructive. Instructive as to what not to do. John Mackey seems to have alienated the very customer base the made him a very rich man.
Lesson learned: you must know your clients if you are going to speak out politically because the Internet and social media allows your clients to speak out quickly. Or not care. And perhaps he doesn’t.
Shortly after his piece The Whole Foods Alternative to ObamaCare ran, previously loyal customers – generally liberal, generally for health care reform – were calling for a boycott of Whole Foods. On their blogs. On Twitter. On Facebook. Several formerly loyal customers were quoted by ABCNews.com as vowing to never shop at Whole Foods again.
Whole Foods’ website was reportedly deluged with angry comments, necessitating the creation of a forum for the debate, including calls for a boycott. (Of course, some people are saying that they now will shop at Whole Foods.)
I’m all for free speech. Open debate and the sharing of information and ideas is critical to maintain a democratic society.
That being said, if you are the CEO of a company, you may want to evaluate your customers’ opinions before speaking out on a hot political issue. If your clients don’t share your views, you will hear about. Quickly. Twitter, Facebook and similar applications allow unhappy customers to unite quickly and organize a boycott or a petition or take other action.
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t speak out. Just understand the consequences.
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