Before You Repost That List...
Two or three weeks ago I ran across a list of boycott recommendations. I immediately saw a couple of errors. There were more. I didn't have time for research. But the buck stops here. Always.
A couple of weeks ago there was a list circulating on TikTok and other social media sites that contained a number of organizations to boycott because supposedly they donated heavily to Trump. That list was heavily flawed. It had appeared on Reddit several months ago, with a link to a January 28, 2025 post on boardgamegeek.com. I strongly disagree with L.L. Bean, Ace Hardware and Napa Auto Parts being on this list. And just a reminder, all political donations come from employees, individuals in management or PACs. Corporations cannot contribute directly.
L.L. Bean has been a go-to source for environmentalists and people who love the outdoors since the sixties. When Linda Bean donated to a PAC supporting Donald Trump in 2016, Grab Your Wallet later recommended a boycott of the company, despite the fact that Ms. Bean was only one of the ten person board of directors. Linda Bean passed away on March 23, 2024, yet the company is still on a 2025 boycott list circulating in 2026.
There are over 5,000 Ace Hardware locations in the United States. Approximately 96 percent of them are individually or locally owned. Ace is an alternative for many items from Home Depot and Lowe's. The individual owners are going to have their political opinions, some leaning left, some right, but you’re not dealing with a corporate monolith. Ace is not a franchise, but a cooperative.
NAPA Auto Parts stores are approximately 75 percent individually owned. Each individual store owner will have his or her own political opinion. Checking to see if a store has a local owner and is part of your community is relatively easy. This is another alternative to a corporate megastore.
Dean Foods is no longer in business. It closed several years ago.
Fry’s Electronics is also no longer in business, closing it’s doors February 24, 2021.
Snopes determined that employees or PACs from the businesses in this first group donated more to Republicans in 2016, 2020 and 2024. We probably do need to find alternative places to shop where possible.
AutoZone (Mostly R)
Arizona Diamondbacks (Mostly R)
Ashley Furniture (Mostly R)
Cincinnati Financial employees did lean right in 2024. Their total expenditure was relatively small, a sum of $35,721 from employee donations. Note: In 2016 they did donate even more heavily Republican, including state races.
Exxon Mobil employees did donate more to Republicans than Democrats. Their PAC contributed heavily to Republicans and quite a bit less to Democrats.
Flowers Foods [Wonder Bread] (Mostly R)
Hendrick Motorsports (Mostly R)
J. M. Smucker, (Folgers, Jif, Laura Scudder’s, Meow Mix and more.) their employees and PACs contributed more to Republicans than to Democrats.
Hanes Brands [L’eggs, Maidenform] (Mostly R)
Hobby Lobby (Mostly R)
Koch Industries [Vanity Fair Napkins and other products] (Mostly R)
Las Vegas Sands Resorts (Mostly R)
Martin’s Famous Pastry Shoppe (Mostly R)
MolsonCoors (Mostly R)
Motorola Solutions employees contributed heavily to Republicans, less to Democrats. Note that the boycott list just says Motorola. However, Motorola split into two companies in 2011, Motorola Solutions is the one that contributed heavily to Republicans. More about the other side of the split later.
My Pillow (Mostly R 2020)
Public Storage Inc. (Mostly R)
Publix Supermarkets (Heavily R)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Mostly R)
TRT Holdings [Omni Hotels, other businesses] (Mostly R)
Wynn Resorts (Mostly R)
Sycamore Partners (Soma Intimates and other businesses) First, there may be other reasons than political donations for deciding whether to trade with stores they own. This is the company that bought Nine West, Coldwater Creek and The Limited, which subsequently closed their physical locations. While Open Secrets has information about lobbying by this firm, there is nothing about any campaign contributions by employees or management. Further digging into subsidiaries uncovers a connection between Soma Intimates and Chico’s FAS, whose employees leaned mostly Democratic in their donations. Other stores under their management had employees who donated to both parties.
American Securities LLC (Cuisinart and Conair) is included by Snopes in the group whose employees contributed more to Republicans in the last three presidential election cycles. They did, have totals that were much closer to even in 2024 than in previous years. However, this company also owns ViaPath Technologies which is a private company providing telecommunications and technology to the US corrections industry. Conair is not ViaPath. Still,there’s something here to consider.
Roark Capital Group’s combined donation picture leaned Republican in 2020 and was mostly Republican in 2016. The donations came from PACs, franchise owners and employees. This corporation is a political dichotomy. While employees and PACs of the parent company, Roark, donated more to Republicans in 2024, Inspire Brands employees leaned the opposite direction. Their associates contributed more to Democratic campaigns. Inspire Brands is under the Roark Capital umbrella and manages several restaurants, including Arby’s, Baskin-Robbins, Buffalo Wild Wings, Jimmy John’s and Sonic. According to Open Secrets, the Inspire Brands PAC donated to Democrats over Republicans by a 2:1 ratio in 2024. There’s a quandary here. Do you patronize the restaurants under Inspire’s management or do you boycott them because of the parent company? Would patronizing the Inspire restaurants and boycotting everything else send a message to the parent company? This one is going to have to be an individual decision. I don’t see the current economy supporting eating takeout food very often. It’s not the best for your health and it’s bad for your wallet. Again, it’s a personal decision.
Employees from the following companies donated to candidates from both parties in 2024. They probably should NOT be on a boycott list for their politics. Some may or may not have other issues, so due diligence is necessary before doing business with them.
Motorola Mobility, the other half of the Motorola split, did have employees who contributed slightly more to Republicans right after the breakup, but not in later years. They were absorbed by Google, then acquired by Lenovo in 2014. As far as I can tell, they don’t currently have a PAC. In the 2024 cycle Lenovo employees donated very heavily to Democratic candidates. So if you’re thinking about buying a Motorola phone, your money and your values are pretty much aligned.
Allegiant Travel Company, owner of Allegiant Air
Anthropologie (spelled Anthropology on the list)
Energizer Holdings, Inc., owner of Armor All
Bacardi
Bausch Health, listed as Bausch and Lomb
1800Flowers
Employees of Blue Bell Creameries donated a total of $1,832 to candidates in 2024, according to Open Secrets. $591 went to Kamala Harris. Most of the rest went to Republicans. They made somebody’s boycott list for less than $2,000 in employee donations. Their PAC doesn’t show any activity in 2024.
Brooks Running Shoes
Boost Mobile, a subsidiary of Dish/EchoStar
Buick
Cadillac
Chevrolet
Dairy Queen
Dole Foods
Farberware/Lifetime Brands
Fruit of the Loom
Fruit Bouquets? If this references Edible Arrangements, their employees donated more to Democrats than Republicans in 2024.
Garmin
Geico
George Foreman Grill
GMC
GNC
Grey Goose
Helzberg Diamonds
Hershey Co.
Home Goods
Hoover Vacuum Cleaners/Haier
Horizon Bank
Keller Williams Realty
Land O’Lakes
Marshalls
New Orleans Saints
New York Yankees
Norwegian Cruise Lines
Old Dutch Foods
Oreck Vacuums is a subsidiary of TTI, Inc. whose employees donated to both parties in 2024.
Playtex
Procter and Gamble products (Yes, it’s a corporate behemoth, but its 2024 political donations went to both parties.)
Perdue Farms
Rayovac
Schlotzsky’s
Slumberland
The Popcorn Factory
Tito’s Vodka (The owner made personal donations to candidates from both parties in years prior to 2020, I couldn't find anything for 2024.)
Toastmaster Appliances
Turtle Wax
Urban Outfitters
Vanity Fair (This was so vague. Neither Vanity Fair, the magazine, nor VF Corporation should be on this boycott list. (Vanity Fair Napkins probably should, and I did list it under Koch Industries.)
We need to make sure that what we are reposting is accurate. There’s already too much misinformation out there. This is just a thought, but I personally would like to see more recommendations for places to buy than for places to avoid. We need to build communities. Let’s discover ways we can help each other out.
If you find any mistakes, please point them out. I’m sure I made a few.
Notes:
https://www.snopes.com/news/2025/03/03/trump-project-2025-companies/