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.

And what would you do if you stopped at motorway services and the few sandwiches they had left you really disliked?

It's the same choice

The universe is not obliged to cater to your every need. Pack a sandwich if you don't like what's on offer.

Agree this kind of stuff is insulting, I avoid any business that does this or supports things I disagree with. I also avoid all the companies with the virtue signalling adverts. Plenty of other companies not hectoring us available. I also will not be forced into donating to charities I disagree with

Indeed. Christianity is the epitome of “woo”, so the irony of the OP believing in that but not in the very real issue of homeless people is hilariously ironic.

This thread is amazing! There are some fucked up people around.

Obviously OP is not a real Christian

Me too.

My heart absolutely bleeds for the wealthy retired landlord pensioners you know

The pensioners I'm thinking of were far from 'wealthy'.

But many are repeatedly missing the point of this thread i.e.: businesses meddling with politics, forced donations and use of marketing budgets for general public aka 'customers' indoctrination

Christianity is the epitome of “woo”

Not really. There are many current and trendy 'woos' that mainstream Christianity does not approve of. But that's not the point of the thread

Then you'd buy a salad instead, go to an alternative fast food or coffee outlet to see what they have on offer as most service stations have a few food outlets to choose from.

No one is 'indoctrinating' or 'forcing' anyone. Normal people would either not notice or notice and think 'that's a good thing' and carry on with their journey.

Unfortunately most "charities" do more lobbying than anything else so yes donating to charity is often politics.

I genuinely cannot understand why you're so against some of the money going towards a charity? It's not like you'd be paying any extra for it. And I really don't understand why you're against the charity Shelter?

May we ask your definition of Christian?
Many Christians don't believe is same sex marriage, abortion, divorce or evolution.

Mermaids is a charity!

Landlord-hostile legislation? Deary me, oh the poor landlords and the terrible legislation in place to force them to spend their profits on actually providing decent houses and protecting the health and well-being of their tenants. We should definitely just turn a blind eye to slum conditions for those people that landlords deem unworthy of decent housing. These tenants should all get off their backsides and just buy their own houses if they want to live in fit housing. Poor poor landlords. 🙄

You don't understand. This is MN, all landlords are grasping Tory scum making a mint out of the poor and vulnerable. The End. You can't confuse people with inconvenient facts.

All big businesses meddle with politics. They lobby for policies that suit their needs and campaign against policies that don't.

Marketing is all about doing whatever will help their sales and proitability, from their pricing policies, to the availability of their products to advertising and promotions. If supporting charitable causes will do that, then they will pursue it. If not, then they won't.

Saying "Buy this sandwich and we will donate 5% to Shelter" is not indoctrination, it's information. If enough people believe it to be a bad tactic, then they will lose sales and stop doing it.

I don't know why you're so obsessed with focus groups. But as you keep going on about them, my friend organises focus groups and the most common time is weekday evenings around 7pm and are often on Zoom now.

And £3 isn't a massively high price for a sandwich so I'd imagine most people would spend it on a sandwich they wanted.

I think businesses can show a moral compass without donating to charities - reducing business travel, not using single use plastics and treating their staff and customers well is important too.

I am not keen on Shelter, although I did sponsor a room at Centrepoint for a couple of years. I don't agree with forcing landlords to accept pets, for example. But I don't feel strongly enough about that not to buy a sandwich!

Charities can be (and often are) political. Most carry out a massive amount of lobbying.

Well, yes. Because it is their job to improve things for the groups they represent. And that absolutely involves interacting with politics in order to effect legislative change. This is not a bad thing, unless you expect charities to just stand around wringing their hands and telling the people they represent how much they sympathise with them and leave it at that?

All big businesses meddle with politics. They lobby for policies that suit their needs and campaign against policies that don't.

This is completely different. Besides, they don't expect their customers to participate in that kind of lobbying.

Supposedly a Christian is a follower of Jesus Christ, not a member of a bigoted social group with like and dislikes about human behaviour.

Jesus espoused charity and kindness.

Jesus espoused charity and kindness

So many self-confessed atheists on this thread trying to interpret what Christianity is about

I completely agree. Avoid some products I like now as I disagree with the charities they support or causes they get behind. Giving money to your church, local food banks and small local charities is the best way to donate anyway.

And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

1 Corinthians 13:13

These days charity is generally translated as love - but useful to consider the relationship between charity and love. For God so loved the world etc not For so God loved the world, except for the homeless etc