Food Brands, Retailers Halt Political Donations
Following the violent attacks on the U.S. Capitol last week, and heeding customers’ increased calls for accountability, food companies, suppliers and retailers alike are adjusting or suspending political donations. Walmart, Tyson Foods, Target, Smithfield Foods and Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. (ADM) have all issued statements in recent days confirming that they, like many other large corporations from a variety of industries, are reflecting on how they donate to political campaigns going forward.
“Along with millions of our fellow Americans, we were horrified by the recent violence at the U.S. Capitol,” Keira Lombardo, Chief Administrative Officer at Smithfield Foods, told NOSH. “We have paused all federal campaign contributions until more facts are known.”
Some companies have gone a step further.
Retailer Walmart not only is evaluating its political giving strategy but also will “indefinitely suspend” all donations to “those members of Congress who voted against the lawful certification of state electoral college votes.” According to data from the Center for Responsible Politics, with $4,268,681 in donations, Walmart was the largest retailer to contribute to Federal candidates, parties and outside groups during the 2019/2020 election cycle. General Mills also said that the company has suspended all donations to “any member of Congress who voted to override the results of the U.S. presidential election.”
According to a spokesperson for confectioner Hershey, the company’s PAC committee is meeting in the next few days to make decisions about future donations.
Meanwhile, some smaller brands have also condemned the events of last week. Healthy-eating plan and now condiment producer Whole30 announced on Instagram that in response to “armed white supremacist insurrectionists attempt[ing] to take over the U.S. Capitol building and disrupt the final certification process of a democratic election,” it would hold an Instagram Live “community meeting” with the company’s founder to help its community process the day’s events.
Ice Cream producer Ben & Jerry’s, owned by Unilever, was outspoken about the Black Lives Matter protests this summer; the company issued a strongly worded statement not only condemning the attacks and the events that allowed the attacks to occur, but also calling on President Trump to resign.
“The events of January 6, 2021 were not a protest—it was a riot to uphold white supremacy. It was allowed to happen. The mostly white insurrectionists roamed freely and without consequence through the heart of our democracy. The only explanation is that this was allowed to happen because they were white—not Black, Brown or Indigenous people,” the online post states. “How we respond to the events of January 6th will determine which America we will be.
Resign, impeach, 25th Amendment… not one more day.”
This story has been updated to reflect new statements by Target and General Mills.
