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August 25, 2005
shop wisely
if you don't want to be funding companies and owners of companies who are big supporters of the right wing agenda. The Boston Phoenix has an excellent story on who is who when it comes to contributions by brand names you may currently support.
Some of the brand names are familiar--Curves, for example, whose owner Gary Heavin is a huge pro-lifer (pretty hypocritical for a man who runs a health chain for women), Walmart and Home Depot, long known for supporting the Bush agenda.
Others are a bit interesting: Vick's Vapor Rub, Starz!, Band-Aid, Charmin, Domino's Pizza, Proctor & Gamble, Pfizer, Activision games (makers of Tony Hawk's Underground), the owners of Applebee's, Best Buy, Michael Dell from Dell Computers, Pepsi, Target, Urban Outfitters(!!), Pier 1, Kellogg's...and on and on.
Maybe Joe's best friend Tony will have extra incentive to stop the chew when he finds out that the owner of the company that makes Skoal and Copenhagen are also on the list.
And as the author of the article said--no, you aren't going to stop any of these companies in their tracks by not buying their products, but still, you should know where your money is going.
Shop At Your Own Risk (make sure you read pages 1 & 2, the links are easy to miss)
Also included are links to places where you can find out more about where your money is going:
Buy Blue
Sourcewatch
Media Transparency
Stealth Pacs
Okay, I'll get off my high-horse now. No more political posts for awhile. Or at least not until gas hits $3.00 a gallon (that probably will be next week...)
Posted by crystallyn at August 25, 2005 06:46 PM
Comments
Thanks so much for posting this. I do believe you are voting when you shop.
Posted by: paulette at August 25, 2005 01:06 PM
HOME DEPOT?!? TARGET?!? BEST BUY!?!
NOOOOOOO!
I knew that about Dominoes, actually. Haven't eaten their pizza since I found out how much they give to pro-life organizations. But Home Depot! Geeze peeze, where am I supposed to buy my weed whackers?
Posted by: Redpanda at August 25, 2005 03:52 PM
Target made me the saddest, sigh.
Posted by: Crystal at August 25, 2005 05:48 PM
I knew about Wal-Mart... only shop there if I absolutely must. I never buy Proctor & Gamble as it is (one of the worse companies for animal testing).
My dad will be disappointed when he hears about Pepsi. :(
Posted by: Mary Ann at August 26, 2005 01:55 PM