GrabYourWallet

The correct title of this article is #GrabYourWallet. The omission of the # is due to technical restrictions.
GrabYourWallet founder Shannon Coulter speaks at Day Without a Woman San Francisco, March 2017.

#GrabYourWallet (also Grab Your Wallet)[1] is an organization and social media campaign that is an umbrella term for economic boycotts against companies that have any connections to Donald Trump in response to the leak of a lewd conversation between Donald Trump and Billy Bush on the set of Access Hollywood where he said "grab them by the pussy".[2][3] The movement has particularly targeted Uber and Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump's clothing and shoe line, which was carried by Nordstrom before being indefinitely discontinued due to poor sales as a result of the boycott.[4][5]

History

GrabYourWallet was started on October 11, 2016, via Twitter by San Francisco marketing strategist Shannon Coulter,[1][6][7] with the help of Sue Atencio.[8] Coulter created a list of stores that carried Trump products after the Access Hollywood tape came out.[6] The news from the tape made her physically ill for a few days.[9] On Twitter, she wrote about her "deep ambivalence" about spending money at a place that sold Trump products.[9] She stated that she wanted "to be able to shop with a clear conscience",[7] and did not feel comfortable purchasing items from those who do business with anyone in the Trump family.[10] The name "GrabYourWallet" is a reference to both Trump's comments about women, and to people using their buying power to influence companies.[10] Coulter emphasizes that the movement is non-partisan, and says, "This is a human decency thing. It's about the divisiveness and disrespectfulness of Donald Trump."[11]

Within a month, Shoes.com dropped Ivanka Trump's brand from their website.[12] Interior design company Bellacor dropped the Trump Home brand in November.[13] Both of these companies contacted supporters of the boycott campaign after dropping the Trump lines.[13] By February 2017, 18 companies had stopped carrying Trump brand merchandise.[11]

After Trump was elected president, Coulter created a spreadsheet of companies that do business with Trump family members and distributed the information online and via social media.[1] The sheet also provides alternatives to stores on the boycott list,[14] and has contact information so that consumers can "express their outrage".[15] #GrabYourWallet as a movement grew larger after the election,[14][8] partly because the campaign became part of the broader anti-Trump movement.[2] Working on the campaign has almost become a full-time job for Coulter.[2]

Nancy Koehn of Harvard Business School told PBS NewsHour that though boycotting businesses is not new, the scope of #GrabYourWallet is unprecedented.[10] She said that the boycott is unique because it is in "resistance or opposition to the current administration".[10]

On Twitter, more than a combined 626 million impressions have amassed.[16] Twitter users use the hashtag #GrabYourWallet, and some independently tweet at businesses carrying Trump merchandise.[6] Captiv8, a social media influence study group, has found that most engagements with the hashtag come from California and New York.[2]

Counter-boycotts

Forbes dubbed it the "Trump effect" and "GrabYourWallet effect", given that when people boycott companies, his supporters pledge to start buying those products and vice versa.[15][16] Trump supporters started boycotting Nordstrom after they dropped Ivanka Trump's line of clothes.[10] They also took to Amazon.com to make Ivanka Trump's fragrance the best selling fragrance on the site for a week.[17]

Notable boycott targets

Uber

Uber was targeted for its alleged relation to Executive Order 13769, which has also been referred to as a "Muslim ban".[18] As taxi drivers to JFK Airport launched a strike action in solidarity with Muslim refugees, Uber removed surge pricing from the airport where Muslim refugees had been detained upon entry. Uber was also targeted because CEO Travis Kalanick was on President Trump's Strategic and Policy Forum.[19] As a result, a social media campaign called #deleteuber arose and approximately 200,000 users deleted the app.[20] This campaign made Kalanick resign from the council.[21] An email with a statement sent to those who had deleted their accounts said that the company would be assisting refugees and that CEO Kalanick had not joined the council as an endorsement of President Trump.[22] In June 2017, Kalanick resigned as CEO of Uber.[23]

Ivanka Trump

Ivanka Trump in 2016

In the beginning of the proposed boycott, Nordstrom stated that if customers stopped buying Ivanka Trump's line, as a business decision they would stop carrying it (which they did in February 2017). Nordstrom also acknowledged that customers would counter-boycott if they dropped the line.[24] Before the inauguration of President Trump, Ivanka Trump had announced she would be resigning from her fashion brand.[25] Sales of the line started falling before the 2016 election.[26] In February 2017 President Trump expressed his ire at Nordstrom via Twitter, and White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer called the business decision a "direct attack on President Trump".[27] President Trump's tweet caused Nordstrom's shares to temporarily fall, before rising again by 7%.[28]

Macy's customers have also asked that the company drop Ivanka Trump's line.[29]

Ivanka Trump also faced criticism from Coulter when she promoted her $10,800 gold bracelet to fashion writers after wearing it on an interview about her father on 60 Minutes.[8]

Controversy

In February 2017, President Trump's spokeswoman Kellyanne Conway formally endorsed Ivanka Trump's products on Fox News by saying she was giving the brand a "free commercial", telling viewers to buy Ivanka Trump's products.[30] The statement was seen as a violation of federal ethics laws.[31]

Primary targeted companies

These companies have been identified by grabyourwallet.org as companies that will not be boycotted though they have a connection to President Trump or family members and their businesses.[33]

  • The Washington Post is owned by Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon (which indirectly sells Trump products), but the Post has not been targeted since it did critical reporting of President Trump.[2]
  • Facebook has not been targeted because of the scope of its user base, and because CEO Mark Zuckerberg has criticized President Trump.
  • Delta Air Lines has not been targeted because they do not directly have any business ties to President Trump, though there have been political controversies with certain passengers aboard Delta flights.
  • PayPal has not been directly targeted even though co-founder Peter Thiel has endorsed Trump, since he is no longer involved with the company.
  • Carrier Corporation has not been boycotted although then-President-Elect Trump was directly involved in keeping 1,000 jobs from moving to Mexico, because they do not do monthly or continued business with any Trump family member.

Companies that have cut ties with Trump family as a result

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Taylor, Kate (November 15, 2017). "An anti-Trump movement is calling for the boycott of these 32 retailers". Business Insider. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Halzack, Sarah (February 14, 2017). "Grab your wallet: The woman who began boycott of Trump products in US retailers". Independent. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  3. ^ "The up-to-date list of companies that sell Trump brands". #grabyourwallet. Archived from the original on February 8, 2017. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  4. ^ O'Hara, Mary Emily (February 3, 2017). "Nordstrom drops Ivanka Trump line, citing poor 'performance'". NBC News. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  5. ^ Isaac, Mike (February 2, 2017). "Uber C.E.O. to Leave Trump Advisory Council After Criticism". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  6. ^ a b c Hyland, Véronique (October 24, 2016). "People Are Using #GrabYourWallet to Boycott Ivanka Trump's Clothing Line". The Cut. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  7. ^ a b Fernandez, Lisa; Bhattarcharjee, Riya (October 25, 2016). "#GrabYourWallet — Bay Area Woman Leads Trump Boycott". NBC Bay Area. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  8. ^ a b c d Picchi, Aimee (November 17, 2016). "Anti-Trump GrabYourWallet boycott is gaining steam". CBS Money Watch. Retrieved February 23, 2017.
  9. ^ a b Kim, Heeseung (February 15, 2017). "How 1 Woman Launched a Boycott to Take Down the Trumps". Cosmopolitan. Retrieved February 23, 2017.
  10. ^ a b c d e Doerer, Kristen (February 11, 2017). "Upset with Trump the president, consumers boycott Trump the brand". PBS NewsHour. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  11. ^ a b Flamm, Matthew (February 21, 2017). "Retail Politics: Can Macy's, 'America's Department Store,' Survive in a Divided Nation?". Advertising Age. Retrieved February 23, 2017.
  12. ^ a b Close, Kerry (November 17, 2016). "The Grab Your Wallet Movement Wants People to Boycott Donald Trump-Affiliated Retailers". Money.com. Archived from the original on April 14, 2021. Retrieved February 23, 2017.
  13. ^ a b Walters, Joanna (November 18, 2016). "Ivanka Trump boycott campaign #GrabYourWallet claims retail victory". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved February 23, 2017.
  14. ^ a b c Feldman, Jamie (November 16, 2016). "This Shopping Spreadsheet Is A One-Stop Way To Boycott The Trumps". The Huffington Post. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  15. ^ a b Levick, Richard. "The 'Trump Effect': Consumer Boycotts Could Become Pervasive On Both Sides". Forbes. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  16. ^ a b McGrath, Maggie. "A #GrabYourWallet Effect? Following Nordstrom Drop, Ivanka Trump Line Disappears From Neiman Marcus Website". Forbes. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  17. ^ Wile, Rob (February 21, 2017). "Ivanka Trump Supporters Have Made Her Perfume the No. 1 Fragrance on Amazon". Money.com. Archived from the original on August 8, 2020.
  18. ^ Siddiqui, Falz (January 29, 2017). "Uber triggers protest for collecting fares during taxi strike against refugee ban". Washington Post. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  19. ^ Segall, Jeff Zeleny and Laurie (February 2, 2017). "Uber CEO drops out of Trump's business advisory council". CNNMoney. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  20. ^ Carson, Biz (February 2, 2017). "Over 200,000 people deleted Uber after the company operated its service at JFK airport during the Trump strike". Business Insider. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  21. ^ Etherington, Darrell (February 2, 2017). "Uber CEO Travis Kalanick quits Donald Trump's business advisory council". TechCrunch. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  22. ^ Molina, Brett (February 2, 2017). "Uber has an immigration message if you #DeleteUber". USA TODAY. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  23. ^ Segall, Laurie (June 21, 2017). "Travis Kalanick resigns as Uber CEO after months of crisis". Money.cnn.com. Retrieved June 27, 2018.
  24. ^ Reingold, Jennifer (November 22, 2016). "Nordstrom on Selling Ivanka Trump Products: "We strive to be agnostic"". Fortune. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  25. ^ McAfee, Tierney (January 10, 2017). "Ivanka Trump Will Resign from Her Job as Husband Jared Kushner Accepts Position as Senior Adviser to the President". People. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  26. ^ "Sales of Ivanka Trump apparel slumped at Nordstrom: WSJ report". Reuters. February 11, 2017. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  27. ^ Miller, Zeke J. (February 8, 2017). "White House Says Nordstrom Decision Was 'Direct Attack'". Time. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  28. ^ Kilgore, Tomi. "Nordstrom recovers from Trump's 'Terrible!' tweet in just 4 minutes". MarketWatch. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  29. ^ Johnson, Blanche (February 6, 2017). "Macy's facing pressure to drop Ivanka Trump line". Fox News. Retrieved February 23, 2017.
  30. ^ Palmeri, Tara (February 12, 2017). "Kellyanne Conway's dangerous game". Politico. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  31. ^ Dukakis, Ali (February 14, 2017). "Top Democrat on oversight Panel: Conway's pitch for Ivanka Trump's brand was a 'blatant' violation". ABC News. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  32. ^ "Report: T.J. Maxx Tells Employees to Discard Ivanka Merchandise Signs". FOX News Insider. February 8, 2017. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  33. ^ "The up-to-date list of companies that sell Trump brands". #grabyourwallet. Archived from the original on September 18, 2021. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  34. ^ a b c d e f g "All the Retailers Who've Dropped Ivanka Trump's Line". Cosmopolitan. February 8, 2017. Retrieved February 23, 2017.
  35. ^ a b Peck, Jamie (February 9, 2017). "The resistance: 1, Ivanka Trump: 0". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved February 23, 2017.
  36. ^ Peterson, Hayley; Taylor, Kate (February 7, 2017). "Here are all the companies that have cut ties with the Trump family". Business Insider. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
  37. ^ Rife, Katie (February 12, 2017). "Kmart and Sears don't want to be associated with Ivanka Trump, either". Retrieved February 22, 2017.