Fed up of businesses aligning themselves with politics!

[thehorsehasnowbolted]

I was about to grab a turkey and cranberry sandwich yesterday at a major retailer when I noticed on the package that 5% of that purchase would go to Shelter.

Why are we being increasingly forced nowadays to contribute to causes we may not necessarily agree with in this way? Why don't businesses stick to selling goods? Why the constant virtue signalling? It's annoying

I do not intend to comment on this charity in particular, but I have seen my fair share of pensioners being out of pocket to evict problem tenants who were in a position to pay the rent and look after properties but simply didn't want to and just played the system.

The results of charities activities are not always 100% positive, so customers shouldn't be forced to contribute in this way.

Why do businesses assume that their customers agree with the charities they pick? The constant virtue signalling is patronising and insulting.

In the UK, same sex marriage is not controversial. So a retailer in support of the LGBT community can safely align themselves with a charity in this area and not lose business. In other parts of the world it's different, and that same retailer (if they are a global brand) will work differently. Not rocket science.

Overall, supporting charities makes retailers money - if it did not, they would not do it because they are about profitability. And if their charity support offends some people, the retailers don't care - because overall they are making more money from charity affiliations than they would otherwise. That's the reality of the world we live in. Moaning about it won't change it. Saying that charity affiliation doesn't positively affect profits without providing any evidence of that just makes you a laughing stock.

Will nobody think of the climate denying, homophobic, pensioner landlords? Why shouldn't they get to buy a festive sandwich without giving 10p to the homeless?

Op I think you should write to the retailer. Twitter is excellent for contacting big business direct. Feel free to share their response.

Will nobody think of the climate denying, homophobic, pensioner landlords? Why shouldn't they get to buy a festive sandwich without giving 10p to the homeless?

You missed off "racist" and "disablist", Notonthestairs ... since landlords are so regularly demonised on here you might as well chuck in all the popular "isms" while you're at it

In the UK, same sex marriage is not controversial. So a retailer in support of the LGBT community can safely align themselves with a charity in this area and not lose business

You should know by now that the UK population is not a mass of homogeneous opinions. What does 'safe alignment' mean? How about just advertise the product and don't align yourself with anyone?

A retailer enabling an advertising agency to act as if the own the business, hijack marketing budget to push their own political agendas, and allowing them to say 'I will not cater for you because your opinion doesn't matter' is at best disingenuous and can cost them dearly.

Twitter is definitely the right platform for the OP.

All proceeds are going to the Elon Musk Twitter rescue fund.

That does not make good business sense and can prove fatal over a period of time. Best to stay away from politics and focus on advertising your products

And yet numerous businesses have been doing it for years, and are still making profits...

And yet numerous businesses have been doing it for years, and are still making profits

This is a relative new trend, so they haven't been doing it 'for years', no. I would say 5 or 6 years. Also some of them have flopped.

M&S have been doing it since 2005!

What does 'safe alignment' mean? How about just advertise the product and don't align yourself with anyone?xit

'Safe' in this instance means 'does not adversely affect profits'.

And while there has been an increase in retailers affiliating with charities in the last 5 to 6 years, the phenomenon is absolutely not new.

Your entire take on this seems to be 'the retailers are wrong because I don't like what they're doing'. And yet they're still here.

Which retailers have gone under because of their charity affiliations (and not, say, because of recessions, COVID, the Ukraine war, Brexit impacts etc.) and can you provide us with the evidence that it's the charity support that has led to their demise?

@Notonthestairs a mere almost 2 decades! Pah! 'Tis no time at all!

So you wouldn't think anything of upsetting a large proportion of your client's customer base just because they don't agree with your personal beliefs?

@thehorsehasnowbolted you have asserted this several times on this thread. Please provide some evidence that M&S is upsetting a large proportion of their customer base by donating some money to Shelter when people buy a turkey and cranberry sandwich?

I understand they have lost your custom - how much were you spending at M&S that is would affect their profits?!

Are you claiming that you are a large proportion of their customer base?

This is a great thread! It reminds me of that one about charity shops with numerous amateur 'experts' insisting charities would make more profit by pricing cheaply and having high turnover than by being selective and having higher prices. Despite those involved in the industry explaining why that isn't the case...

Hours of fun 😁on a quiet weekend.

that this would affect their profits.

The crash is imminent. The turkey sandwich/charity-demonising-landlords was a step too far, the great mass of down-trodden M&S customers are about to turn.

Man the barricades and set up the guillotines - those marketing teams are going to pay for their insolence 😂

What's much more likely is that the Tories want everyone to be homeowners and we have a housing crisis

This could have been achieved a lot sooner, ages ago through stopping new buy-to-let mortgages before the whole situation spiralled out of control. There's no need to punish pensioners or accidental landlords with expropriatory legislation. The rhetoric and activities of some of the charities just adds fuel to the fire and feeds biased MSM . Other political parties would probably have been a lot worse.

Blaming M Thatcher for the current situation as a PP did is ridiculous, have a word with yourselves

Just a point on the LGBT support, people recognize and quite like the multicolored flag.
However, adding stonewall to marketing campaigns and the trans flag has negative connotations. We know particular organizations of charitable status have become embroiled in pedophilia accusations. This stain is tough to remove.
Men and women also have vastly different views and levels of acceptance concerning these issues. Businesses have oft used charities or good causes to gain customers and a reputation, however, they do need to be mindful of this positive representation can change very quickly. There are plenty of brands such as Abercrombie & Fitch etc, even the recent Joules tarred reputation supporting trans.

Pret has been doing similar - partnering with charities to alleviate poverty, hunger & homelessness- since the late nineties.
It's not a new thing at all.

Must say this thread is excellent for highlighting their work. 👏

Well I don’t make a donation in shops, mainly because I don’t want the retailer boasting about how much they have donated to charity when it’s their customers money, and I already direct debit to sex matters and trussel trust and various feminist crowd funders some of which I suspect the retailers are actually opposed to with their TQ++++ virtue signaling

@Sigma33 there's surely a business opportunity here? You could make it like Build-A-Bear - Demonise-A-Landlord. You get a little kit with a toy house and a landlord, and a fluffy hammer that you could whack them with. Great fun.

OP, Margaret Thatcher was responsible for the Right to Buy legislation that started all this. If she had included a clause in the law that any council house sold must be replaced one for one, we wouldn't be here now. But she didn't. Now we have a massive shortage of affordable rental housing.

they do need to be mindful of this positive representation can change very quickly

Indeed. Sentiment can change quickly, especially when businesses start to support different causes and upsetting different customers on different issues.

Just keep neutral and sell a good quality sandwich

@RedAppleGirl of course there are charities which are controversial. But it's up to retailers to take the risk by affiliating with one of those, and that is going to depend on the retailer's target customer demographic.

OP, Margaret Thatcher was responsible for the Right to Buy legislation that started all this

And no political party in the 50 years since this happen has had the opportunity to correct this (assuming this is the source of the problem?). Ridiculous

Maybe M&S could get it into production for Xmas next year? Instead of the now-infamous turkey & cranberry sandwich 🤔😂

But it's up to retailers to take the risk by affiliating with one of those

Nobody is asking them to take any risks. It's the marketing agencies that are convincing them that this is a good idea. Based on..you know... unbiased marketing resarch....

@thehorsehasnowbolted still waiting for your evidence? I am sure you are just putting the finishing touches to it and double checking the figures.

So you wouldn't think anything of upsetting a large proportion of your client's customer base just because they don't agree with your personal beliefs?

@thehorsehasnowbolted you have asserted this several times on this thread.

Please provide some evidence that M&S is upsetting a large proportion of their customer base by donating some money to Shelter when people buy a turkey and cranberry sandwich?

I understand they have lost your custom - how much were you spending at M&S that is would affect their profits?!

Are you claiming that you are a large proportion of their customer base?

Those poor, deluded retailers, being conned right, left and centre.

How on earth do they manage to make a profit year after year?