So says the City Paper. Apparently Target and Best Buy, both of which are based in Minnesota, gave about $250,000 total to a group running commercials for a Republican gubernatorial candidate who opposes same-sex marriage. A boycott began, the Human Rights Campaign, a gay and lesbian advocacy group, criticized the donations, and the City Paper commenters seem pretty angry too.
Target has responded by saying they are only trying to get candidates who support economic development. Both companies gave more money to Republicans than Democrats in the last election cycle, though as some have noted, both also received perfect scores from the HRC on the equality of their workplaces.
My opinion is while I appreciate the stand people are taking, if I boycotted every company that donated money to something I don’t agree with, I wouldn’t have a lot of places to shop. Most companies (even Wal-mart) donate a lot to both parties, and considering Republicans are generally more pro-business, it stands to reason that they’ll get more business contributions. For what it’s worth, Starbucks gives much more to Democrats than Republicans.
But my opinion aside, are you going to boycott?
