Although a petition urging Macy's to drop its association with Donald Trump has exceeded 600,000 signatures, the retailer isn't budging, arguing that its sales are apolitical and personal opinions are not related to merchandise, Mediaite reports.
The petition began with Angelo Carusone, 30, who is a law school graduate and formerly worked for Media Matters. (Carusone is also the person behind the 2009 campaign that urged advertisers to withdraw from Glenn Beck's Fox News show.) "Donald Trump engages in especially unpleasant, nasty and despicable behavior," the petition states, going on to list his remarks about climate change, birtherism, as well as his "long record of personally attacking women he disagrees with."
It points to Macy's social responsibility policy, which speaks to the "obligation of public companies to be socially responsible to the people and communities where they do business," and succinctly urges: "Dump Trump."
"Trump's brand is consequence-free bullying. That doesn't reflect well on Macy's. People expect more from Macy's," Carusone said. "I'm more interested in what they have to say and less interested in what Donald Trump says."
Macy's spokesman Jim Sluzewski issued the following response to Bloomberg Businessweek:
"Macy's marketing and merchandise offerings are not representative of any political position. Many of the individuals associated with products sold at Macy's—or at any retailer, for that matter—express personal opinions that are not related to the merchandise we sell or to the philosophies of our company."
Read more at Mediaite.