In their responses, Google and Ford emphasized their support of their LGBTQ+ employees and prior endorsement of pro-LGBTQ+ legislation, while maintaining that their bipartisan and across the spectrum donations were in the best interest of their operations. A year later many companies can't or won't. Newly built and under-construction high-rise apartment buildings in Moscow on Feb. 28, 2023. Bullock claimed Heritage of Pride has over time created a parade in which the main goal is to pimp out queer people and queer culture to corporations to make as much money as possible. The film is directed by Julia Bacha; it premiered in 2021. An employee at Ben & Jerry's Israeli factory in Be'er Tuvia on July 20, 2021. A new report finds that companies like Comcast/NBCUniversal and AT&T have donated millions to lawmakers who oppose LGBTQ+ equality. according to TV ad analytics . The move cost 500 Palestinians their jobs. Haaretz Daily Newspaper Ltd. All Rights Reserved, being morally opposed to selling ice cream to the settlements, company ad broadcast during the 2014 Superbowl, SodaStream recovered from its sales slump, he said in comments to Agence France-Presse, agreed to sell nearly all of its Israeli operations, G4S retains a 25 percent stake in Policity, It announced it was settling the four lawsuits and would continue to list settler homes, French court ruled in 2013 that they were not in violation, joined bidding for the Tel Aviv Light Rail, invested in the Israeli railway-tech startup Cylus. In 2016, another 15 states passed anti-BDS laws of their own, including New Jersey, California, Florida, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Ohio. About 85% of independent retailers will not participate this year in Black Friday, the day sellers claim to offer bargains and slash prices in an attempt to shore up custom before Christmas. The pandemic has been very difficult for those retailers classed as non-essential. Chalfen. The pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has stopped investing in Russia but continues to sell . Notably, both AT&T and Comcast/NBCUniversal recently signed an HRC statement expressing opposition to anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, alongside many of the other corporations that Popular Information listed including Amazon, Johnson & Johnson, Facebook, and others. In fact, when the time came in 2019 for awarding the concession, only two international consortia made bids, which Israeli officials blamed on the boycott. NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA/AFP via Getty Images. The 2019 Queer Liberation March Reclaimed the Resistance of Pride, The Double-Edged Sword of Corporate, Commercialized Pride. Tennessee's April 2015 law, the nation's first anti-BDS law, echoed common criticisms of the BDS by arguing that the movement is "one of the main vehicles for spreading anti-Semitism and advocating the elimination of the Jewish state." This photo shows a tourist photographing a sign reading "Boycott Israel" painted on a wall in Bethlehem, West Bank on June 5, 2015. At this point, us queers are so used to the annual cycle of corporations profiting off of LGBTQ+ aesthetics every June that we make cynical memes about it. imposed sanctions over human-rights abuses against ethnic minority Uyghurs in. Vis--vis Israel, however, it was particularly vulnerable. All rights reserved. Small businesses werent allowed to trade, they were deemed non-essential in many categories. Barack Obama, meanwhile, commended the MLB on its decision to move its All-Star Game from Atlanta. and voting rights in 2019 and 2021 . Others mentioned in the study for promoting a perfect score on the Corporate Equality Index and publicising support for LGBTQ+ rights while donating to anti-LGBTQ+ lawmakers include United Health, Deloitte and Wells Fargo, which made a $1,000 donation to the North Carolina state senator Joyce Krawiec, who has shared anti-trans articles on social media. Below are some of the most prominent cases of companies that had been targeted by BDS and wholly or partially divested from Israel or the West Bank. Their poster boy, Bill Gates, might not be the hero he wants you to see. At least one company, meanwhile, has issued a statement that contradicts . Sign up for notifications from Insider! On July 22, 2021, in News Releases, by Staff TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Today, Governor Ron DeSantis called on the State Board of Administration (SBA) to immediately place Ben & Jerry's and Unilever on the Continued Examination Companies that Boycott Israel List and initiate the process to place both companies on the Scrutinized Companies that . If every corporation that commodified queerness for Pride lobbied against these anti-trans bills in state legislatures none would pass, Strangio tweeted in March. as well as other partner offers and accept our. Alstom subsequently joined bidding for the Tel Aviv Light Rail and in December invested in the Israeli railway-tech startup Cylus. "Oil and gas is the lifeblood of the Texas economy," state Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford, said on the House floor Monday. Companies that have cut ties include MetLife, Symantec, Enterprise, Alamo, National, and First National Bank, which will not renew a co-branded NRA Visa credit card. Performance & security by Cloudflare. Don't go back to their products until they relent. NOW WATCH: What Trump University was really like according to a former professor. "Never submit, never give up!" Other companies that have released statements about the law include Delta Air Lines, which was also facing calls for a boycott, and BlackRock. In " Boycotting Israel Isn't Free Speech " (op-ed, July 6), Eugene Kontorovich argues that the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel is losing. He hopes to create a space where members of Not on Amazon can display their work for sale and come and share information and ideas with each other. Other independent retailers, such as Surrey-based Shutter Jewellery and secondhand childrens and maternity clothes retailer Build a Bundle in Cumbria, will plant trees on Friday as an antidote to the waste created by consumerism. The American Legislative Exchange Council has drafted legislation modelled on efforts to block divestment from Israel . Business Xinjiang cotton row leaves brands reeling Nik Martin 04/08/2021 Names like Adidas and Burberry face a dilemma: either respect a boycott on cotton from China's Xinjiang region . "Major League Baseball may be scared of Joe Biden and Stacey Abrams, but we're not. McDonald's Malaysia has denied channelling aid to Israel, and described the matter as a blatant lie and slanderous. It's pretty obvious these times are quite tumultuous when it comes to political views, as well as social and religious beliefs. Israel Wants U.S. to Enforce anti-BDS Laws Against Ben & Jerrys. Whats more, HRC ranked all of the anti-LGBTQ+ politicians to whom these various corporations with a 0 on its most recent Congressional Scorecard, which scores representatives based on how theyve voted on various pieces of LGBTQ+ legislation. A company ad broadcast during the 2014 Superbowl featuring Scarlett Johansson raised its profile even higher and raised BDS hackles. repeal LGBTQ+ nondiscrimination ordinances in 2017, criminalize the provision of transition-related healthcare to minors. The documentary notes that between 2015 and 2021, 33 U.S. states passed legislation or executive orders that allows for punishing individuals or companies that express support for boycotting Israel. Before Ben & Jerrys, the San Francisco-based online vacation rentals company was arguably the BDS movements biggest success until it wasnt. Campaign finance law prevents companies from taking sides in politics, but brands can still distance from Trump legally, writes Tyler Hagenbuch. This is in addition to donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to state legislators who have sponsored recent anti-trans legislation, per research from Popular Information, a newsletter from ThinkProgress founder Judd Legum and Tesnim Zekeria. Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data and Analysis. [7] Cinematographers were Amber Fares and Kelly West, while editors were Flavia de Souza and Eric Metzgar. Targeted for operating main plant in the West Bank, Targeted for links with Israeli cellphone operator Partner, Targeted for staffing West Bank checkpoints and Ofer Prison, Targeted for allowing settlers to list their West Bank homes on the platform, Targeted for helping build and operate Jerusalem Light Rail. Anti-BDS executive orders and laws arrived in South Dakota, Oklahoma and Missouri in 2020. That remains the case today, to the anger of the BDS movement: When Airbnb filed for an initial public offering in December, Amnesty International protested. Up to 85% of smaller sellers will protest against online giants such as Amazon by closing their websites and planting trees. Credit: SodaStream David Rosenberg Follow Jul 21, 2021 The global boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign has been lobbying intensely for close to two decades for companies to stop doing business with West Bank settlements, and even with Israel itself. Most of us understand that the real danger lurks in the things that get decided 'quietly' legislation that impacts people just trying to live their lives and do their jobs. In any case, SodaStream announced in October 2014 that it was moving its plant to Alon Tavor in the Negev. This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. Three more states have already adopted anti-BDS laws in 2021. 2023 Cond Nast. Last week also saw the launch of another website designed to showcase and generate sales for independent shops across the country. Click to reveal MyPillow has been a top 10 Fox News advertiser in 2021, both in terms of TV ad impressions and estimated spend, according to TV ad analytics company iSpot.tv. We are not giving in to the boycott, he told TheMarker just before the move was unveiled. The sale of our business in Israel is part of our active portfolio management program announced in 2013 to improve our strategic focus and capital discipline, he said in a statement at the time. It didnt use the decision to make a powerful statement, settling for saying it was halting sales to the Occupied Palestinian Territories and explaining vaguely that this was because such sales were inconsistent with our values.. This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from. (1) "Boycott energy company" means, without an ordinary business purpose, refusing to deal with, terminating business activities with, or otherwise taking any action that is intended to penalize, inflict economic harm on, or limit commercial relations with a company because the company: The founders of Pantee, a sustainable underwear brand, plan to switch off their website. On Monday, Alfredo Rivera, president of Cokes North American operating unit, said in a statement that the company is disappointed in the outcome but doesn't see this as the final chapter. A list of more than 100 corporate signatories that appeared in the ad can be found at the bottom of this article. Georgia voting rights activist Stacey Abrams said she supported the league's decision but didn't "want to see Georgia families hurt by lost events and jobs.". Its new factory is actively complicit in Israel's policy of displacing the indigenous Bedouin-Palestinian citizens of Israel in the Naqab (Negev), the BDS website states. Although Popular Information asked all of these companies whether they would continue their support of these politicians in light of their supposed commitment to equality, only 5 of the 25 companies responded. Similar boycott calls soon hit other major fashion brands like Nike, Zara, Burberry, . In any case, Orange isnt boycotting Israel: Its venture capital arm has stakes in two Israeli startups. There is a vetting process, so we make our best effort to avoid some of these conflicts of interest but that said its a moving target because companies change over time, Dimant said. Our message this Black Friday is to stop and think before you buy. On anti-Black Friday, Im encouraging people to look inside their jewellery box and instead of buying new, have treasured pieces repaired, she said. The claim: Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey, responding to calls to boycott Coke over a diversity training, said: 'A few right winged nuts won't affect our bottom line.'. Scarlett Johansson staring in the 2014 SodaStream commercial. In almost all cases, the departing company itself doesnt admit the decision was political, thereby depriving BDS of a moral victory. Legal challenges have mounted and some of the laws have been struck down in court on constitutional grounds. SodaStream InternationalTargeted for operating main plant in the West Bank, OrangeTargeted for links with Israeli cellphone operator Partner, G4STargeted for staffing West Bank checkpoints and Ofer Prison, AirbnbTargeted for allowing settlers to list their West Bank homes on the platform, VeoliaTargeted for helping build and operate Jerusalem Light Rail, AlstomTargeted for helping build and operate Jerusalem Light Rail. We want to hear from you. By James Factora June 16, 2021 Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey said Wednesday that the company has always opposed legislation in Georgia that restricts voter access. [4], Mik Jordahl is a lawyer in Arizona who has pledged to boycott companies involved in the Israeli occupation after taking a trip to the West Bank with his son, who is Jewish. A few months earlier, the company also sold its water, waste management and energy operations in Israel to a U.S. private equity firm for 220 million euros. Small retailers dont want to pay 30% commission to an online giant, they dont want their things coming out of a fulfilment warehouse. China this week has pushed a campaign to boycott Western retailers after the U.S., U.K., Canada and the E.U. AT&T donated slightly less ($1,079,500) to anti-LGBTQ+ federal representatives but gave significantly more money ($59,450) to sponsors of anti-trans legislation than Comcast/NBCUniversal did.