Thursday, September 20, 2012

General Mills' Profits Rise Despite Boycott Over Gay Marriage


A boycott against General Mills over its support of gay marriage does not appear to be hurting the company's bottom line.
In June, the Minnesota-based food giant became the target of a boycott after it announced its opposition to Minnesota's proposed constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. As of Thursday, more than 24,000 people at the National Organization for Marriage's (NOM) “DUMP General Mills” boycott site (DumpGeneralMills.com) have pledged to “dump” General Mills products.
In announcing the boycott, NOM President Brian Brown suggested the company would pay financially for its decision.
“This will go down as one of the dumbest corporate PR stunts of all time,” Brown stated.
General Mills CEO Ken Powell told the Pioneer Press that he had not seen any sales impact from the boycott.
Quarterly profits released on Wednesday showed increased sales (5%) and profits (3%). Shares of the company are also up 5 percent since mid-June.
A counter petition thanking the company for its support and organized by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) attracted nearly 80,000 signers.
“You hear a lot of bluster from groups like the National Organization for Marriage,” HRC's Michael Cole-Schwartz said. “But at the end of the day, the majority of Americans are supportive of marriage equality, and no companies have ever paid the price that groups like NOM threaten to exact on them.”

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