The Street reports that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has received letters from more than 13,000 customers, including 5,000 members of Amazon Prime, asking that the retailer stop selling products from Donald Trump.
According to the story, "the petition, driven by online women's advocacy organization UltraViolet Action, calls for Amazon to sever ties with Trump and 'stop profiting off of his brand of hate.'
"'His hatred should have no place in the Amazon marketplace,' the letter reads, citing what it calls the GOP frontrunner's 'misogyny, racism, and outright bigotry'."
In a prepared statement, Karin Roland, Chief Campaigns Officer at UltraViolet, said, "Donald Trump has consistently lobbed racist, sexist, and xenophobic attacks against entire groups of people, encouraged violence and vitriol against his political enemies and perpetuated a culture of violence against women. Amazon.com should want to distance themselves from this hateful rhetoric, but instead, they're profiting off his brand. Jeff Bezos needs to listen to his customers and ensure that Amazon doesn't profit off of Trump hate, and take immediate steps to dump Trump."
The story says that Trump has been critical of Bezos in the past, accusing him of buying the Washington Post so he could have "political influence so that Amazon will benefit from it. That's not right. And believe me, if I become president, oh, do they have problems. They're going to have such problems." Trump also has accused the Post of being unfair to him in its political reporting.
According to the story, "the petition, driven by online women's advocacy organization UltraViolet Action, calls for Amazon to sever ties with Trump and 'stop profiting off of his brand of hate.'
"'His hatred should have no place in the Amazon marketplace,' the letter reads, citing what it calls the GOP frontrunner's 'misogyny, racism, and outright bigotry'."
In a prepared statement, Karin Roland, Chief Campaigns Officer at UltraViolet, said, "Donald Trump has consistently lobbed racist, sexist, and xenophobic attacks against entire groups of people, encouraged violence and vitriol against his political enemies and perpetuated a culture of violence against women. Amazon.com should want to distance themselves from this hateful rhetoric, but instead, they're profiting off his brand. Jeff Bezos needs to listen to his customers and ensure that Amazon doesn't profit off of Trump hate, and take immediate steps to dump Trump."
The story says that Trump has been critical of Bezos in the past, accusing him of buying the Washington Post so he could have "political influence so that Amazon will benefit from it. That's not right. And believe me, if I become president, oh, do they have problems. They're going to have such problems." Trump also has accused the Post of being unfair to him in its political reporting.
- KC's View:
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A few things here.
First of all, there is no way that Amazon pulls Trump's stuff from the site. Nor should it. Even if a lot of people find his opinions to be reprehensible, he's not going to be denied the ability to sell on Amazon. (Besides, if Amazon pulled his merchandise, it'd just increase his poll numbers because it would reinforce some people's opinions.) If you don't want Trump's stuff to sell, then don't buy it.
Second, it is worth pointing out that Bezos' desire to influence the public debate hardly makes him unique. Trump did it for years .... and I sort of think there's a pretty good argument that he's doing it now.
Third ... in a battle of Trump vs. Bezos, I'll take Bezos ... unless Trump means to use the power of the federal government to go after his political enemies. (I think I've seen that movie.)
Finally ... there are a lot of retailers out there that sell Trump stuff, and I wonder how many of them have gotten this volume of mail on this subject. I think that one thing this indicates is the kind of relationship that Amazon has with its customers ... and it is impressive.
