Commentary by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz demonstrated a stunning act of hypocrisy last week when he told shareholders that because the company “wants to embrace diversity . . . of all kinds” people who don’t support same-sex marriage should take their business elsewhere.
Forbes.com is reporting that the comments came after a shareholder complained during last week’s annual meeting in Seattle that the company had lost customers because of its support for same-sex marriage. This loss of business was due to a boycott launched by the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), which supports traditional marriage.
“Not every decision is an economic decision,” Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz was said to have responded. “Despite the fact that you recite statistics that are narrow in time, we did provide a 38% shareholder return over the last year. I don’t know how many things you invest in, but I would suspect not many things, companies, products, investments have returned 38% over the last 12 months. Having said that, it is not an economic decision to me. The lens in which we are making that decision is through the lens of our people. We employ over 200,000 people in this company, and we want to embrace diversity. Of all kinds.”
He then threw aside all the diversity he claimed to be embracing by saying: “If you feel, respectfully, that you can get a higher return than the 38% you got last year, it’s a free country. You can sell your shares in Starbucks and buy shares in another company. Thank you very much.”
In other words, if you don’t support same-sex marriage, we don’t want your business.
His comments were met by cheers from shareholders who also missed the hypocrisy of the moment.
It has not been lost on the organizers of the NOM boycott of Starbucks, which has been very successful and is still going strong.
“I am deeply offended by your corporate position to support same-sex marriage and your decision to wage a culture war against the moral views of half your US customers and the vast majority of your international consumers,” the petition states.
“Starbucks is using its resources to invalidate traditional marriage in the US and redefine the institution of marriage despite the strongly held views of so many of its customers, including me. Therefore, I will no longer purchase anything from Starbucks until you change your corporate values to be more reflective of my own.”
Click here to sign onto the boycott!
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