Faith

Updated: Is Whole Foods Boycotting In-Store Ramadan Promotions Because of Right Wing Bloggers?

Is Whole Foods Boycotting Ramadan? Is Right Wing Blogger Debbie Schlussel to Blame?

Was Whole Foods planning to use the Islamic holiday of Ramadan to attract Muslim customers?

Some news outlets are reporting that Whole Foods, a popular grocery chain, recently sent an e-mail to all of its stores instructing staff not to promote the Islamic holiday of Ramadan this year. The e-mail claims that some bloggers and customers have “misinterpreted” a recent, online give-a-way to mean that the store planned to support the Islamic holiday.

But, at least one blogger — Debbie Schlussel (a conservative who has covered Whole Foods extensively) – believes that the letter may be a staged attempt to stem off negative publicity, while also serving as a mechanism to strike back at her for negative coverage she’s given the company. Allow me to explain the background.

For context, let’s start by first looking at a HoustonPress.com article that was published early Tuesday morning. According to its author, Katharine Shilcutt, the decision to refrain from promoting the holiday comes as a result of right-wing bloggers who the paper says “blindly associate Ramadan and Muslims with terrorism and burqas.”

In addressing these issues, Shilcutt links out to an article written by Schlussel. With clear disdain, Shilcutt writes:

Just last week, Whole Foods began its promotion of Saffron Road’s line of halal products throughout the holiday, which ends on August 29, via writer Yvonne Maffei’s blog, My Halal Kitchen. That promotion was waylaid by what seems like a very small amount of criticism, according to an internal email that the Houston Press obtained recently.

Shilcutt goes on to claim that this e-mail pronouncement — from Whole Foods — that instructs stores not to celebrate Ramadan signifies a stark different from the past when the stores promoted halal items during the holiday and even featured signs that displayed the crescent moon (symbol of Islam).

Additionally, she writes that this action also differs greatly from the way the store celebrates Christmas, Easter and other religious-based holidays. She then shares text from the Whole Foods e-mail:

“It is probably best that we don‘t specifically call out or ’promote’ Ramadan. We should not highlight Ramadan in signage in our stores as that could be considered ‘Celebrating or promoting’ Ramadan.

We recently introduced a line of frozen products in Grocery that are Halal certified (meet Muslim dietary laws) called Saffron Road. With the introduction of this line company wide, and the beginning of Ramadan last week, we posted a product giveaway on the Whole Story blog (on July 31) to generate awareness and interest in the products.

Some people have misinterpreted the blog post to mean we are celebrating or promoting Ramadan in our stores. The misinterpretation has generated some negative feedback from a small segment of vocal and angry consumers and bloggers.”

Is Whole Foods Boycotting Ramadan? Is Right Wing Blogger Debbie Schlussel to Blame?So, which is it? Does the company wish to promote Ramadan or not? Based on this letter, it seems like Whole Foods is separating itself from the holiday, but Shilcutt indicates that it has actually promoted Ramadan in the past.

To the left, see a screen shot of Whole Foods’ official blog (also mentioned in the internal e-mail) that Schlussel shared with readers (Whole Foods does seem to be promoting Ramadan on its official blog, no?). In the end, Schlussel denies claims that the company is reacting to her coverage of the incident. She writes:

The American Muslim world, the anti-Semitic and phony ADL, and left-wing media and blogosphere (including crackpot turncoat Charles Johnson) are upset that I posted about anti-Israel Whole Foods’ Ramadan promotion, and as a result of my post Whole Foods appears–appears!–to have caved.  But that’s not really what’s going on.  Don’t believe the hype. [...]

While I’d love to take credit for Whole Foods allegedly “caving” on Ramadan, that’s simply not what happened.  Like I said, from the beginning Whole Foods never planned in-store Ramadan promotions, so there is no reason the chain would send this e-mail, other than to perpetrate a PR lie and more fiction.

According to Schlussel, Whole Foods was initially planning to “test the waters” by offering a promotion online (she claims they didn’t want to turn their customers off, so they were treading carefully). In her writings, she takes issue with both the e-mail, itself, and Shilcutt’s piece, as she explains her feeling that Whole Foods is likely making the entire controversy up to fight back against negative coverage she’s given the company in the past.

An article on FastCompany.com does, indeed, affirm that the promotion was not planned in stores. But, it also shows an urge to purposefully attract Islamic customers:

No in-store promotions for the campaign are planned, instead, in an apparent attempt to test the waters, the promotion will start online. The “campaign focuses on reaching Muslim consumers online where they are already having conversations about halal foods, grocery shopping, and preparing for Ramadan,” Saffron Road spokesperson Lisa Mabe tells Fast Company.

In the end, it is quite possible that the company sent the e-mail in an effort to ensure that Ramadan is, indeed, not promoted in individual stores (perhaps to make sure everyone is on the same page). The release was careful to say “in our stores,” thus the company never denied promoting the holiday online (if, indeed, it was doing so). Do you have a headache yet? I do.

This controversy is an intriguing one that we’ll be sure to keep an eye on.

Update: The Atlantic threw another wrench into the story on Tuesday, writing that the letter at the center of the controversy was purportedly not actually sent from Whole Foods’ corporate offices:

…a Whole Foods spokeswoman said today that the chain hadn’t backed off of its Ramadan campaign at all, and that the letter featured in the Houston Press came from within one of its 12 operating regions. “Every region operates autonomously. They have their own set of leadership, their own offices,” spokeswoman Liz Burkhart said. Unfortunately one region reacted by sending out directions to promote halal and to focus less on specifically Ramadan because they got some negative online comments.” She wouldn’t confirm which region it was, but the story came out in a Houston paper, so it’s easy to surmise it was the Southwest region.

This was confirmed last evening on the grocery company’s official Twitter Feed:

Is Whole Foods Boycotting Ramadan? Is Right Wing Blogger Debbie Schlussel to Blame?

The plot thinkens.

(h/t Gawker)

Comments (136)

1 2 3 4
  • Psychosis
    Posted on August 10, 2011 at 1:25am

    lol

    next time your in the freezer section and see some halal food could you kindly place a ham in the freezer with it ????

    Report Post » Psychosis  
    • drattastic
      Posted on August 10, 2011 at 1:48am

      Great Idea !

      Report Post » drattastic  
    • Rice Water
      Posted on August 10, 2011 at 8:54am

      While we’re at it, can we ban all those kosher products?

      Report Post » Rice Water  
    • willbedone
      Posted on August 10, 2011 at 9:26am

      In America we have freedom of choice. That includes those whose religion we do not accept. Should a store prefer to choose not to stock or sell Kosher or Halal is their business. It is your personal choice whether you purchase those items or not.

      I maintain a biblical Kosher diet, not a rabbinical Kosher one. Yes, I find it difficult at times to find the appropriate items in the small southern town that I live in, however, that is MY choice, and not that of my local merchants.

      Report Post » willbedone  
    • Servant Of YHVH
      Posted on August 10, 2011 at 12:53pm

      @willbedone
      Absolutely true!! I live about an hour outside of Houston and I still have trouble occasionally finding what I’m wanting. I can imagine what it would be like to try and find rabbinical kosher since it has a lot of rules and laws in it that isn’t in the Bible.

      Report Post » Servant Of YHVH  
    • ppeltonen
      Posted on August 11, 2011 at 7:06am

      Come on now. We don’t want to ban kosher food displays either. I think whole foods can have all types of food on their shelves and it’s okay with me. Let’s just not promote one over the other.

      Report Post » ppeltonen  
    • I support God's Israel!
      Posted on August 11, 2011 at 2:17pm

      Let’s also ban mexican foods, italian, german, and swiss foods. For Heaven’s sake, let’s just stop with all this stuff. Let the store sell what they want! Leave them alone. If you choose not to shop there, fine. If you choose to shop there, that’s fine, too. But please, STOP WITH ALL THE ETHNIC CLEANSING.

      Report Post » I support God's Israel!  
    • MAD_MAD_WORLD
      Posted on August 11, 2011 at 7:50pm

      Good advice, I will seek out hal-al and contaminate it with, mmm pork meat. Wait a minute, what if those ******* end up buying the pork by mistake and they start loving it and promoting it and then the 1.5 billion of these disgusting islamites fall in ecstatic love with pork sausage, bacon, spam, pork knuckles and trotters, pork rinds, pork loin, pork chops, ham, bar-b-q baby back ribs, pork snouts, porcetta, salami, prosciutto, pancetta and on and on and on (I’m drooling)…the price will skyrocket and we will no longer be able to afford to satisfy our hunger for all the wonderful porky stuff…SO DON’T LET THE ******* FIND OUT THAT PORK IS EXQUISITE. LET’S KEEP IT ALL TO OURSELVES AND LET THEM KEEP EATING CAMELS.

      Report Post »  
  • Hazetiva
    Posted on August 10, 2011 at 1:23am

    Whole Foods is at a crossroads. They’re D*mned if they do, d*mned if they don’t. If they say ‘NO’ to promoting ramadan their called racist muslim haters, if they say YES they lose our business.

    Here’s what every True, Red-Blooded, God Fearing Americans are thinking. muslims in this country have overstayed their welcome & It’s time to drop kick every muslim a**hole back to where they belong, the desert.

    GOD |
    ——-
    BLESS |
    |
    AMERICA |

    Report Post » Hazetiva  
    • M 4 Colt
      Posted on August 10, 2011 at 2:05am

      I agree with you all the way but we had better be careful or the left might think what we are saying will label us as racist, well you know what i don’t care anymore i am sick to death with all this P C crap and from now on i am going to call them as i see them!

      Report Post »  
    • loriann12
      Posted on August 10, 2011 at 7:27am

      I think they tried their little experiment on line, promoting Rhamadan, and it failed. Now they’re covering their “ankles” by putting out the email saying they won’t promote in the stores. Let’s face it, MUSLIM is not a race. You can convert to Muslim, you can’t convert to a race. It’s the end of days, y’all.

      Report Post »  
    • Jack2011
      Posted on August 10, 2011 at 10:24am

      Amen!

      Report Post »  
    • StanO360
      Posted on August 10, 2011 at 2:32pm

      What‘s bad is that we’re even having this discussion. There are about 3mill Muslims in the US, what store (outside of certain neighborhoods in just a few metropolitan areas) would bother with this at all unless there were politically correct motives?

      Report Post »  
    • Wurlitzer28
      Posted on August 10, 2011 at 2:51pm

      What crossroad and they certainly are not damned if they do or damned if they don’t.

      At this point in time Mudslimes are just a filthy moronic minority claiming to have a religion when it is a hate cult.

      Why would any business risk upsetting the vast majority for a small number of people who have declared war on us, want us all to submit or die and the fake, phony, non-existent peaceful mudslimes who we never see? We sure see the wild eye 7th century monkey boys dancing in the streets though.

      Any business who bends over for these pieces of human debris will never get my business.

      Time has come to decide if you are for us or the enemy within supporting a group bent on our destruction.

      Report Post »  
    • tomd123
      Posted on August 10, 2011 at 4:40pm

      Great idea!

      Report Post »  
    • olddog
      Posted on August 11, 2011 at 8:15am

      Thank You!!!!

      Report Post » olddog  
    • I support God's Israel!
      Posted on August 11, 2011 at 2:22pm

      Ah, I see. So, you are PROFILING? I DO believe in profiling at airports and borders FOR SECURITY REASONS, but I think it is wrong to do so in a capitalist business, such as grocery markets, etc.. UNTIL the person breaks the law – OUR LAWS AND NOT THEIRS, then they should be as free as you and I to live and work here in America. However, if your culture is the opposite of our general culture (beheadings, women being slaves to the Husband, etc.) then you should go to your own country. I am tired of America ADAPTING to everyone else’s culture. It is not only idotic, it create chaos and singles out people of different cultures. So, obey the laws of OUR AMERICAN JUSTICE SYSTEM, without trying to change them to fit your culture, and you can stay. OTHERWISE, GET OUT OF MY COUNTRY.

      Report Post » I support God's Israel!  
  • Robert-CA
    Posted on August 10, 2011 at 1:21am

    I never went in there anyway .

    Report Post » Robert-CA  
  • Steve
    Posted on August 10, 2011 at 1:07am

    That’s the beauty of a free society. We have a choice as to who we patronize. The other beauty of our system is private business has the right how to market their products. If whole foods does or doesn’t cater to a specific religion or culture then it has the right to do so. They take the risk.

    For a company to point fingers at groups forcing them to supply or not supply an item is ridiculous.

    The bottom line is profit either for the business owner or the share holders.

    Report Post »  
    • Marci
      Posted on August 10, 2011 at 1:28am

      Exactly Steve. I am a little disappointed in Whole Foods claiming they are caving to pressure. What a gem of a position to put themselves in—they don’t push it and *claim* that they were pressured into it. Pfffft.

      Report Post » Marci  
  • twistin
    Posted on August 10, 2011 at 1:06am

    don’t much like Muslims.
    don’t much trust Muslims.
    don’t much wanna see Muslims.
    don‘t want ’em for neighbors.
    don‘t want ’em teaching my kids.
    So, sue me.

    Report Post »  
    • bioengineer
      Posted on August 10, 2011 at 3:59am

      Your kids better not go to college then. While you’re kids are pining for their next govt handout the Muslims are off earning PhDs in engineering and spending countless billions on new research institutions. I suggest you get out more.

      Report Post »  
    • babylonvi
      Posted on August 10, 2011 at 2:37pm

      That’s right, we let them come to our schools to study nuclear engineering so the can make better WMDs.

      Report Post » babylonvi  
    • HD Veteran
      Posted on August 10, 2011 at 6:04pm

      I’m guessing TWISTIN gets out plenty and will continue to think clearly / do well with or without a degree.

      Report Post » HD Veteran  
  • capitalismrocks
    Posted on August 10, 2011 at 1:00am

    Its a private company, and its there choice as to what and how they wish to observe/promote any holiday, event or promotion….

    Report Post » capitalismrocks  
  • S_Owen
    Posted on August 10, 2011 at 12:56am

    It might not work, but Whole Foods should celebrate Ramadan and seek to bring in muslim customers by having an all-day BLT sandwich and Meisterbrau beer fest with obese feminist lesbians in thong bikinis serving up te grub and booze. Just sayin’.

    Report Post » S_Owen  
    • freedombylead
      Posted on August 10, 2011 at 1:38am

      I love it.

      Report Post »  
    • Steve
      Posted on August 10, 2011 at 4:41am

      Do you realize how much bleach I’m going to have to use to get that out of my head. Thanks…..Thanks allot! lol

      Report Post »  
    • gr29az
      Posted on August 10, 2011 at 1:36pm

      will that be on a saturday?

      Report Post » gr29az  
    • Solzhenitsin
      Posted on August 11, 2011 at 2:57pm

      That would be easy to arrange in Portland Oregon.

      Report Post »  
  • Ed Brown
    Posted on August 10, 2011 at 12:52am

    Why wouldn’t Muslims come to the U.S. in order to flee the arm pit of the Middle East.

    Report Post » Ed Brown  
  • Smokey_Bojangles
    Posted on August 10, 2011 at 12:43am

    Whole Foods has a right to cater and provide for anyone they wish.I can’t afford to shop there anyway.

    Report Post » Smokey_Bojangles  
  • 264win
    Posted on August 10, 2011 at 12:38am

    C-4 clean up in isle 9 over by the bombs and burque’s

    Report Post »  
  • jb.kibs
    Posted on August 10, 2011 at 12:23am

    whole foods…who the hell sells half foods?

    Report Post »  
  • Chuck Biscuits
    Posted on August 10, 2011 at 12:21am

    The CEO-founder of Whole Foods is a free market libertarian who figured out he could get rich selling overpriced food to stupid hippies. I applaud him.

    Report Post »  
    • SanMoo
      Posted on August 10, 2011 at 9:45am

      Yes, Yes—Dublin– Ohio is close to a Whole Foods—Hippie center of the Universe……My brother’s kids were educated in this community—they live at Whole Foods. They are so high, I am still waiting for them to drop out of the sky, so we could have a chat! Anyway,So, I went to Whole Foods–You have to be kidding me— everything is “priced twice” what it should be–and more!! And, the liberal nuts are buying it—They all think they will live longer! It also has tons of Wine and the liberal nuts drink it like water. …..so they think they can be healthy alcoholics, I guess! (I am not against drinking–I just think they want to be like “Liberal Europeans” who drink Wine for breakfast, lunch and dinner –Take France, for example, who has 90% of the population as alcoholics!) Ha :)

      Report Post » SanMoo  
    • freeus
      Posted on August 10, 2011 at 11:35am

      They keep giving him business. Whole Food prices are ridiculously high.

      Report Post »  
    • gr29az
      Posted on August 10, 2011 at 1:38pm

      i’m not a hippie

      Report Post » gr29az  
    • ConservativeNavyVet
      Posted on August 10, 2011 at 10:37pm

      I am not a hippy or a lib and I have been shopping at WF for years now. We started shopping there because of all the research that I had done concerning the growth hormones that commercial farmers were giving their animals (ever wonder why our children are “developing” at a much earlier age?). I admit it is somewhat more expensive than Kroger or WalMart but if you plan your meals and shop smart it can be done. The down side to natural/organic is the shelf life (no preservatives) so I have to shop every week. The upside, food tastes so much better and because we try to buy as much local food as possible my families immune systems have increased (fewer colds/flu’s and my husbands asthma attacks have declined). I know that my store celebrates all of the Christian and Jewish holidays and I have not seen any prominent ads for Muslim holidays or food stuffs for that matter. BTW…I shop the Dublin Ohio Whole Foods, the staff are wonderful and most of the meat and fish guys know us by name and always treat us right!

      Report Post » ConservativeNavyVet  
  • Quagaar Warrior
    Posted on August 10, 2011 at 12:17am

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    I wonder if they sell, “Lift-off only”, flight lessons too to muslims.
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Report Post »  
  • 264win
    Posted on August 10, 2011 at 12:13am

    If Whole Foods decide to cater to the terrorist, then they can count on the fact that I will never shop there ever again. And I will make sure that all my family, friends and relation are aware also!

    Report Post »  
    • azuleserape
      Posted on August 10, 2011 at 2:33pm

      A company choosing to sell halal products is not catering to terrorists. Stop giving us conservatives a bad name by spewing your ignorant logic.

      Report Post »  
    • Solzhenitsin
      Posted on August 11, 2011 at 3:02pm

      Whole Foods makes a lot of different kinds of diets easier to manage- gluten free, kosher, halal, vegan, organic-only, local-only, raw food, omnivorous…. This is one more option.

      The holiday aspect of it is more troublesome because they are so hands-off with Christmas, choosing to give more-than-equal-time to all of the other “winter holidays” in their shopping fliers and promotions.

      Report Post »  
  • flagbearer
    Posted on August 10, 2011 at 12:12am

    Reminds me of Pay Pal and Ebay. I won’t buy/donate via Pay Pal ever since they kowtowed to the Muslim Brotherhood over Pamela Geller’s Atlas Shrugs site. Unfortunately, Pay Pal has somewhat of a monopoly on payment on the Internet. I refuse to use them. It is the consumer’s choice. I for one will not support anything to do with Muslims, or stores that cater to them, until its followers demand that their religious leaders get control of the extremists throughout the world and its jihad. Just think what might result in the world if that kind of pressure were truly exerted! Until then, let them all move out of the USA and don’t allow any more into our country. Their own countries are in turmoil because of their “religion,” so don’t come here and attempt to mess up ours.

    Report Post »  
  • deereeves
    Posted on August 10, 2011 at 12:08am

    Really? Really? I have no problem with my local grocer celebrating Ramadan and subsquent food-stuffs. Just wish me a damn merry Christmas when I wish you one, and I would love a better education on Jewish cooking; it’s hard to find!! I love all culinary input, please don’t turn my Wegmans into a battleground!

    Report Post »  
    • BOUGHT YOUR SILO YET?
      Posted on August 10, 2011 at 1:22am

      Makes me wonder though. Will they celebrate in traditional style? That is, will the be closed during daylight hours, open at dusk and stay open until 3 or 4 am?

      Report Post » BOUGHT YOUR SILO YET?  
    • bioengineer
      Posted on August 10, 2011 at 4:13am

      I’m glad someone mentioned Christmas. Christmas is to a large extent celebrated more in the ME than it is here in the USA. Stores are decked out with the words “Merry Christmas” (not happy holidays) all over the place. Largest Christmas tree I’ve ever seen in my life was in Dubai, thing was like 6 stories high, had santa and the whole get up on the ground floor. Also not uncommon for them to even have trees in their houses and lights outside.

      The comments on here just crack me up. It makes me ashamed to be a conservative if this is really how ignorant and hateful they are. Or is this just common among Beck fans? And we wonder how Jews got herded into concentration camps or the Mormons were driven west by violent mobs.

      Report Post »  
  • IfTruthBeKnown
    Posted on August 10, 2011 at 12:06am

    We can’t celebrate our own Christmas holiday in stores. It has be touted as a “winter holiday” or “The Holiday Season”. If Christmas has to be incognito in the retail world, then Ramadan can certainly go unrecognized there, too. What’s good for one is good for all.

    Report Post »  
    • independentvoteril
      Posted on August 10, 2011 at 12:37am

      I do believe that is the problem WE Christians are FORBIDDEN to announce OUR holidays that have been a tradition in this country MUCH longer and more widely celebrated..HOWEVER .. MUSLIMS can have their holidays which are fairly recent and NOT a tradition celebrated without question.. loudly.. Here’s how I feel.. when I want MEXICAN food I go to a MEXICAN store.. Polish food a Polish store.. etc..now a mixture of foods are available at LARGE merchants.. each in their own section and available ALL year.. Problem with us is we are brainwashed.. people generally seek people they have things in common with.. however.. we are told if we do that we are prejudice.. therefore.. have allowed even our stores to force feed us other peoples beliefs.. traditions.. etc.. I moved out of my childhood city because they deemed that I should adhere to a Latino lifestyle.. food at local stores went to 99% Latino foods.. signage the same.. no problem.. I moved to where people like myself prefer ENGLISH and diverse selection of foods.. while my new neighborhood is diverse.. it is NOT catering to only 1 nationality or religion..

      Report Post » independentvoteril  
    • azuleserape
      Posted on August 10, 2011 at 2:36pm

      Well how about the Jewish faith? I know for a fact they mention Passover on their signage but they definitely don’t mention Christmas

      Report Post »  
  • banjarmon
    Posted on August 9, 2011 at 11:57pm

    After 9/11/2001 muslims can take their islamic holiday of ramadan and ram it back in their own country!

    Report Post » banjarmon  
    • The-Monk
      Posted on August 10, 2011 at 12:12am

      I’ll take a Ham and Swiss on Jewish Rye thank you… hold the pickle.

      Report Post » The-Monk  
  • GoingBeck
    Posted on August 9, 2011 at 11:54pm

    Is Islam a religion?

    Report Post »  
    • snidley-whiplash
      Posted on August 10, 2011 at 12:22am

      NO
      East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet. That will never change, never.

      Report Post » snidley-whiplash  
  • BOUGHT YOUR SILO YET?
    Posted on August 9, 2011 at 11:53pm

    Lived in the Middle East and had to observe Ramadan- hated it.

    Report Post » BOUGHT YOUR SILO YET?  
    • Magyar
      Posted on August 10, 2011 at 11:11pm

      LIVED IN JAKARTA for 4 years! Five times a day the call to prayer—on loud speakers in every village and town! If you happen to live right next door to a devout worshiper–tough…your day begins with him just before dawn! Ramadan—no one drinks or eats from dawn to dusk (except menstruating females or pregnant women) If you want to avoid the inconvenience and have a few $$–you simply leave the county—WOW what a religion–love the pedophilia part!

      Report Post »  
  • mharry860
    Posted on August 9, 2011 at 11:52pm

    I wonder if they ere thinking of ham and bacon sales?

    Report Post » mharry860  
    • BOUGHT YOUR SILO YET?
      Posted on August 9, 2011 at 11:59pm

      Most likely, dates. They love dates.

      Report Post » BOUGHT YOUR SILO YET?  
    • Quagaar Warrior
      Posted on August 10, 2011 at 12:11am

      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
      …and don’t forget about the suicide bomb-vest sales too. They’re a big bang with muslims!
      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

      Report Post »  
  • USAMama
    Posted on August 9, 2011 at 11:49pm

    I don’t understand the controversy, they are a business they can promote whatever they want. If they think there is a market for halil foods and they can make money good for them. I have no problem with that, but if I don’t see Merry Christmas in December I may choose not to shop there, that’s my right as a consumer. They can cater to whomever they please and I can shop wherever I please.

    Report Post » USAMama  
    • Tahriria4Life
      Posted on August 10, 2011 at 9:18am

      Thank goodness for a reasonable person!

      I agree– its their right as a business to promote whatever it wants. If a person doesn’t like it, then they can go some where else. If they lose business as a result, likely they wouldn’t promote whatever they promoted in the first place, unless they were crazy. If they gained a profit–one can imagine they will continue to promote it. And good for them if so!

      Hurray free economics!

      Report Post » Tahriria4Life  
  • Quagaar Warrior
    Posted on August 9, 2011 at 11:44pm

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    If they want to pander to Islamists, then they can open stores in the Middle East.
    SO LONG, WHOLE FOODS !!!
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Report Post »  
    • CatB
      Posted on August 9, 2011 at 11:51pm

      Or DEARBORN MICHIGAN .. basically the same as the middle east!

      I see any store promoting this and I would walk out and shop elsewhere. It is my right … as is there’s to promote or not. But I think they are picking a losing side if they do.

      Report Post »  
  • ALL4FREEDOM
    Posted on August 9, 2011 at 11:40pm

    Big whoop. Much ado about nothing. Whole Foods should do whatever it likes to attract customers by catering to their needs or desires. Who cares, really? Why should it matter? With everything going on in the world, we should worry about this kind of cr@p?

    Report Post »  
    • Quagaar Warrior
      Posted on August 9, 2011 at 11:55pm

      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
      ALL4FREEDOM,
      I‘ll bet you’d change your tune if you found out they cater to anti-American groups who applaud the attacks of 9-11. (Unless, of course, you applaud it too).
      Oh, but wait, THEY ARE!!!
      Wake up pally!
      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

      Report Post »  
    • bioengineer
      Posted on August 10, 2011 at 3:53am

      ALL4FREEDOM,
      Agreed. Who cares. WholeFoods, like any business, should cater to whoever will bring them more honest business.

      Quagaar Warrior,
      No offense, but you’re just a bigot, plain and simple. I have lived in the Middle East for years. This fear of Muslims is completely irrational. And stories like this on The Blaze is starting to make Beck look really ignorant. I’ll tell ya, I’d much rather raise my family just about anywhere in the Middle East than say San Francisco! We have far greater threats here in the USA than Islam. Muslims could be a great ally to conservatism. The right-wing fear of Muslims is just as silly as the Evangelical fear of Mormons.

      Really, we’re going to rag on a private business because it may or may not want to cater to some Muslim customers? Well hells bells, what about businesses that cater to Jews? Or Mormons? What about Christians in general? Chickfila doesn’t open on Sunday, let’s protest them. I just find it so amazing that out of one side of our mouths, we (conservatives as a group), complain about liberals and their anti-religion bias, but then we’re doing the exact same thing to Muslims. Really? Reap what ye sow!

      Report Post »  
    • azuleserape
      Posted on August 10, 2011 at 2:42pm

      Very well said USAMAMA. We should support their free choice as a company that has fought the unionization of its employees on daily basis and has a CEO that is outspoken against the anti-business climate that this administration has fomented.

      Report Post »  
  • Fitz of DE
    Posted on August 9, 2011 at 11:40pm

    anything to divide. We are ONE NATION UNDER GOD. with one flag,one ENGLISH, & no split-American. My black friends are not Africian Americans, they are Americans, My friends from Russia, Brazil, Mexico, Romania, Ireland, England… are AMERICANS & are USA citizens & do not like being a SPLIT AMERICAN> May THE LORD Bless & keep the USA & find a place for Pres nO & his czars.

    Report Post »  
1 2 3 4

Sign In To Post Comments! Sign In

Sign Up For Our Newsletter!

Glenn Beck Radio

Listen to Glenn Beck 24/7 Listen Now
Restoring Love