Tractor Supply (TSCO) , which is a company that sells farm supplies, tools, animal feed, clothing, and more, has recently faced tough criticism from its conservative customers over having a plethora of “woke priorities.” But the company just made some significant controversial changes to avoid a Bud Light-style boycott from its customers.
The company (and its CEO Hal Lawton) first started to face criticism for its corporate policies early last month after Robby Starbuck, a former Republican candidate for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District in 2022, took to social media platform X to “expose” Tractor Supply for its “woke priorities.” Some of those priorities include supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives (DEI), advocating for climate change, funding pride events and having LGBTQIA+ training for employees.
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“Hal Lawton needs to understand that we don’t want our hard earned money spent on these woke priorities,” wrote Starbuck in a post on X. “If he supports this stuff then he should spend some of his $11M salary or tens of millions in stock on it instead of using the money we spend at Tractor Supply.”
In the post, Starbuck also encouraged Tractor Supply customers to call the company’s corporate office to express their disagreement with the causes it supports, and to avoid buying from the company until it makes “real changes.”
“Start buying what you can from other places until Tractor Supply makes REAL changes and shows that they respect the majority of their customers enough to not spend the money we give them on causes we’re deeply opposed to,” wrote Starbuck. “As someone with a farm, I know this isn’t easy but if we don’t show them who their customers are then they’ll just keep doing this.”
Starbuck’s post on X went viral, garnering over 2.3 million views on the platform, with some users even vowing to boycott the company.
What!?!? I will never shop there again if all of this is accurate.
— Stacy (@stacee2779) June 6, 2024
I retweeted you. This was necessary. Thank you so much. Boycotting as of today.
— Erin Elizabeth Health Nut News 🙌 (@unhealthytruth) June 8, 2024
Done with @TractorSupply until they can get their priorities in order. I’m not going to fund any woke companies that support grooming children into a hyper sexualized culture or apply racist policies of DEI that discriminates against people based on race & violates civil rights.
— TN Perspective (@SpeakinFromTN) June 6, 2024
In response to the growing outrage from its conservative customers, Tractor Supply released a statement on June 27, announcing several changes to the company’s mission and values. The company will eliminate its DEI job roles and goals. It also said that it will stop sponsoring “nonbusiness activities” such as pride festivals and voting campaigns, while focusing more on “education, animal welfare, veteran causes and being a good neighbor.” The company is also withdrawing its carbon emissions goals and will instead focus on its land and water conservation efforts. It will also stop reporting data to the Human Rights Campaign.
“We work hard to live up to our Mission and Values every day and represent the values of the communities and customers we serve,” said Tractor Supply in the statement. “We have heard from customers that we disappointed them. We have taken this feedback to heart.”
While the changes were well-received from Starbuck and other customers, some users weren’t too thrilled.
Thank you for making these changes. A strong first step in a return to corporate sanity!
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) June 27, 2024
Well, I guess I can take my business elsewhere.
— Nomad Road (@nomadland2021) June 28, 2024
I won’t be shopping there anymore.
— Machine Pun Kelly 🇺🇦 (@KellyScaletta) June 28, 2024
The abrupt changes from Tractor Supply comes after U.S. consumers have recently demonstrated how much they can damage a company’s earnings, and reputation, through a boycott.
Last year, Anheuser-Busch’s (BUD) Bud Light lost its spot as the top-selling beer brand in the U.S., along with hundreds of millions of dollars, after it faced backlash over its social media campaign with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney that promoted a $15,000 giveaway.
Many Bud Light customers viewed the campaign as a political issue due to Mulvaney’s advocacy for transgender rights, therefore sparking a nationwide boycott that lasted for months.
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Target is another major retailer that recently faced backlash, and a dent in its earnings, after it released its 2023 pride collection in June. The collection contained LGBTQ merchandise marketed towards children and transgender swimsuits, which some customers took issue with. As a result, Target faced a boycott, which appeared to have contributed to the company facing a 5.4% decline in sales during the second-quarter of 2023.
In August last year, Target announced that it pulled some items from its pride collection shortly after its employees began to face threats at its stores. Recently, Target even revealed that it was scaling back on its pride collection this year and will only sell items from the collection in “select stores.”
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