Politics Trump Purses
We are officially concerned about Ivanka Trump’s clothing and accessories brands. Following nearly two years on the campaign trail, climaxed with the election this week, Ivanka has come under serious fire regarding her company, her politics, and her support of her controversial father.
In October, the hashtag #GrabYourWallet, surfaced on social media. The hashtag encourages shoppers to boycott Ivanka Trump’s brands and the stores that sell them (including Nordstrom, Bloomingdales and even Amazon), until they discontinue carrying the brand. Last week, this gave rise to angry tweets and letters to department stores who sell Ms. Trump’s clothing and accessory brands.
The online movement was spurred through an open letter to Nordstrom from a customer named Laura, or @SheWhoVotes, on Oct. 25th. In the letter, Laura elaborates on her issue with Ms. Trump as a “vocal surrogate” of the Trump campaign, which has been associated with hate speech towards African Americans, Latinos, the LGBTQ community and even Jewish citizens. Laura’s main issue with Ms. Trump is not in her political beliefs, but in defending her father’s.
Since the original letter, the hashtag has exploded on Twitter, expanding into an online boycott of stores that sell Ivanka Trump products. A list of which stores do and do not sell them is available as a public google doc.
Ms. Trump does not believe that her brand should be decided by her father’s infamous presidential candidacy. "The beauty of America is people can do what they like," Ms. Trump said. "But I'd prefer to talk to the millions — the tens of millions — of American women who are inspired by the brand and the message that I've created."
Throughout the election, Ms. Trump did not believe that politics could drastically affect her business. Even in the above statement, she maintains that her company’s support has gone unquestioned since the beginning of the election, something that some consumers find hard to believe.
The #GrabYourWallet campaign not only discourages consumers from purchasing Ms. Trump’s products, it also discourages consumers from shopping at stores that sell her products altogether. Consumers cancelled their Nordstrom credit cards simply because the store sells Ms. Trump’s products. As a result, stores that plan on continuing to sell Trump products could face serious losses.
he election has also highlighted the various business holes of the Trump brand, from copyright issues to worker’s rights. Knockoff designs, poorly paid interns, and limited time off for employees are some of the few issues highlighted during this election. If you Google search Ivanka Trump, you’ll find side-by-sides of Ivanka’s shoes with the designer shoes she knocked-off.
During this election, the personal became political on so many levels. In Trump’s case, this went all the way to people’s wallets and the shopping experience. Although only time will tell, Ms. Trump's business practices and endorsements this election season have caused a real shake up at the checkout counter. What’s more interesting is that consumers have fully implicated their political ideologies into everyday practice. This requires a new kind of awareness into where you invest your time and money, a true product of the intense political climate this year. With Mr. Trump as the elected president, it should be interesting to see if this hurts or helps Ms. Trump's business in the long-run.