Corporate Politics

Target and Best Buy have donated funds to a PAC that supports a candidate they regard as "pro jobs" but who also advocates social policies in conflict with the corporations' own HR practices. Some shoppers have protested with a boycott; it is a time honored American practice going back at least to the Revolution and boycotts on tea and abolitionist boycotts of slave produced sugar and cotton.

And yet . . . Target gives money, lots of it, to lots of other causes: local schools, arts programing, etc. The Daytons, the family whose Daytons Department Store was the "parent" to Target, were among those who set the bar for charitable and civic giving by Minnesota companies. They made such giving at, I think, 5% an expected standard among reputable businesses.

On the other hand, Target has had some bad press about some of its labor practices. Not as bad as Walmart, but of concern to my friends who know about such things.

All this leads to two points to ponder:
1) corporations are as complex as human beings in their policies and values, but their reason for existence is, finally, to make money;
2) so, why are these two corporations taking stands that may well diminish their income and beyond the obvious matter of which retail outlet has the item I want at price I'm willing to pay, what values come into my decision about where to spend my money?

Here's MPR Midmorning from August 2 when this was the topic of discussion: here

And a thoughtful comment from Religion Dispatches that includes a bit more about the Target and one woman's response: HERE