Tag: boycott
After Passage Of Anti-Abortion Bill, Film Industry Boycott Looms Over Georgia

After Passage Of Anti-Abortion Bill, Film Industry Boycott Looms Over Georgia

Georgia is already feeling the economic fallout from the radical anti-abortion law signed by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, as several major film and television productions have pulled out of the state in protest.

A film starring Kristin Wiig and The Power, a major television show for Amazon Studios, have already abandoned plans to film in Georgia, according to a Tuesday TIME report.

“We had no problem stopping the entire process instantly,” Reed Morano, an Emmy-winning director working with The Power, told TIME. “There is no way we would ever bring our money to that state by shooting there.”

As movies and television shows pull out, workers in Georgia’s $9 billion-a-year entertainment industry are afraid of the damage that could result thanks to what their state lawmakers have done.

“We’re in panic mode,” Kathy Berry, a location scout who was scheduled to work on The Power before Kemp signed the bill into law, told TIME. “The sky is falling.”

Berry added that she’d heard of at least two more productions postponing plans to begin shooting in Savannah because of the Republican-backed law.

The boycott, spearheaded by actress and activist Alyssa Milano, targeted Georgia after Kemp signed an extreme abortion ban into law earlier this month.

The law criminalizes abortion after the sixth week of pregnancy — or just two weeks after a missed period, before many women know they’re pregnant. The law threatens up to 10 years in jail for both doctors performing the procedure and the women getting it. Because it’s difficult to tell an early abortion from a natural miscarriage, the law will expose people who have miscarriages to potential prosecution.

“I understand that some folks don’t like this new law. I’m fine with that,” Kemp said dismissively at a recent Republican retreat. He said he is proud of his radical anti-woman law “even though that makes C-list celebrities squawk.”

Kemp may try to speak like a tough guy in front of a friendly audience — but he was so afraid of facing film industry representatives and protesters that he canceled a planned trip to Hollywood.

And while Kemp is making light of the boycott, Georgia workers are the ones who will suffer from Kemp’s callous extremism.

“We used to film here in the summertime like crazy,” said Tim Jordan, an experienced cameraman who worked on several major motion pictures. “Now there’s this void. It feels like with this abortion law, they’re going to wait and see what happens.”

Morano, who worked on previous shoots in Georgia, said the hardest part is knowing how the boycott will impact great folks she has worked with. But she stands by her decision.

“I’m sorry if the work moves away from where you live,” she told TIME. “But having this basic fundamental right for women is more important than anything in this moment in time.”

Published with permission of The American Independent. 

 

 

Uber CEO Quits Trump’s Business Advisory Group After Backlash

Uber CEO Quits Trump’s Business Advisory Group After Backlash

SAN FRANCISCO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Uber Technologies Inc Chief Executive Officer Travis Kalanick quit President Donald Trump’s business advisory group on Thursday amid mounting pressure from activists and employees who oppose the administration’s immigration policies.

Critics included Uber drivers, many of whom are immigrants themselves.

“Joining the group was not meant to be an endorsement of the president or his agenda but unfortunately it has been misinterpreted to be exactly that,” Kalanick, who had planned to attend a meeting of the group on Friday, said in an email to staff that was seen by Reuters.

Uber spokeswoman Chelsea Kohler later confirmed that he had left the group.

Social media campaigns had targeted Uber, urging users to delete accounts and opt for rival Lyft Inc. Uber has been emailing users who deleted their accounts to say it shares their concerns and will compensate drivers affected by the ban.

Kalanick said he spoke briefly to Trump about the immigration order “and its issues for our community” and told the president he would not join the economic council.

The CEO came under increasing pressure to leave the council after Trump issued an executive order temporarily barring people from seven majority-Muslim nations from entering the United States.

“There are many ways we will continue to advocate for just change on immigration but staying on the council was going to get in the way of that. The executive order is hurting many people in communities all across America,” he wrote in a note to employees. “Families are being separated, people are stranded overseas and there’s a growing fear the U.S. is no longer a place that welcomes immigrants.”

The White House said in a statement Thursday evening that did not mention Uber that Trump “understands the importance of an open dialogue with fellow business leaders to discuss how to best make our nation’s economy stronger.”

The move could put pressure on other CEOs expected to attend a meeting with Trump on Friday. General Motors Co said its chief executive would attend, while Walt Disney Co said earlier Thursday its chief executive would not attend because of a long-planned board meeting.

Others expected to take part include the CEOs of JPMorgan Chase & Co, Blackstone Group LP, IBM Corp, and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Others that are part of the council include Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk, PepsiCo Inc CEO Indra Nooyi, and Boston Consulting Group CEO Rich Lesser.

Musk said he would attend the meeting. “In tomorrow’s meeting, I and others will express our objections to the recent executive order on immigration and offer suggestions for changes to the policy,” he said in a tweet on Thursday.

Kalanick’s departure could signal a growing rift between technology companies and Washington.

“There is a battle brewing between Trump and Silicon Valley,” said Neeraj Agrawal, general partner at Battery Ventures. “They (the Trump administration) clearly don’t value the economic activity generated by tech.”

Microsoft Corp on Thursday said it proposed a modification of Trump’s travel limits.

Technology companies including Microsoft, Google owner Alphabet Inc, Apple Inc, and Amazon.com Inc have opposed Trump’s order, arguing that they rely on workers from around the world.

Amazon and Expedia Inc have filed court documents supporting a legal challenge to the order by the Washington state attorney general.

(Reporting by Heather Somerville in San Francisco, David Shepardson and Emily Stephenson in Washington, Joe White in Detroit; Writing by Peter Henderson; Editing by Diane Craft and Lisa Shumaker)

Is Donald Trump’s Toxic Campaign Ruining Ivanka Trump’s Brand?

Is Donald Trump’s Toxic Campaign Ruining Ivanka Trump’s Brand?

On the heels of news that future hotels won’t bear the family surname, which has been thoroughly tarnished by Donald Trump’s toxic presidential campaign, there’s another bad sign for the Trump brand. Shoppers are boycotting Ivanka Trump’s clothing and accessories label in protest of its namesake’s continued support of her father’s misogynist rhetoric, particularly following the release of a 2005 video in which he brags of grabbing women by the genitals. The boycott has been effective enough that, as Fortune and Raw Story report, “Fewer than 1 in 4 women would buy clothes from Ivanka Trump.”

The boycott was spearheaded by Shannon Coulter, the head of a San Francisco marketing agency. Coulter says Trump’s casual boasting about sexual assault triggered dark memories of sexual harassment she’s experienced in her career.

“It was a feeling of recoiling. It was emotional, visceral. Then I had a pounding headache for a few days. I was filled with nausea,” Coulter told the Guardian. “[W]hen I heard Donald Trump talking on that tape, I recognized in his words the same feeling that I had that day—of being nothing more than an object. No matter how smart you are or how hard you work, they can do that to us.”

Earlier this month, Coulter took to Twitter to urge shoppers to avoid the Ivanka Trump brand. The protesters hope to hurt the Trumps where they’ll feel it the most—in their bulging wallets—by hopefully putting a dent in profits. Last year, the Ivanka Trump label took in about $100 million in revenue, according to Forbes.

Coulter said that in addition to the leaked tape, her motivation to launch the campaign was inspired by the delayed and tepid response from Trump’s daughter. (“My father’s comments were clearly inappropriate and offensive and I’m glad that he acknowledged this fact with an immediate apology to my family and the American people,” Ivanka told Fast Company, days after the video made news.) The Bay Area marketer said she’s also irked by Ivanka’s feminist-lite rhetoric and actions, such as launching the #WomenWhoWork initiative as part of her fashion brand, while defending her father’s most outrageous anti-women comments.

“[Women] were ready to give Ivanka a pass because she’s his daughter and it’s hard to be objective about your dad. But the Trump tape just sent people over the edge,” Coulter told Cosmopolitan. “I think [women] took particular offense, as I did, to the fact that Ivanka tries to make feminism a part of her brand but is standing by, as an official campaign surrogate, a guy who is an alleged serial sexual assaulter of women. The disconnect was too big. And they were ready to speak up about it and flex their consumer power about it.”

“If Ivanka Trump had distanced herself from the campaign I would not be boycotting her,” Coulter told the Guardian. “But something changed for me when that tape was released.”

The hashtag #GrabYourWallet—a clear reference to Trump’s lewd leaked remarks—is the trademark of the boycott. Coulter is not only suggesting women not buy Ivanka Trump brand shoes, clothes and accessories, but that they also avoid stores selling the brand.

Cosmopolitan reports that since starting the boycott on October 10, Coulter’s tweets “have earned an estimated 1 million impressions on Twitter, according to her analytics report.” But it’s an uphill battle, since Fortune casts some doubt on its poll finding of three-quarters of women who wouldn’t buy from Ivanka (“Of course, it’s possible that these women are saying one thing, but doing another”). In addition, recent research indicates about half of millennial women are still willing to buy Ivanka’s Trump brand, despite her father’s campaign.

Reprinted with permission fromAlterNet.

Kali Holloway is a senior writer and the associate editor of media and culture at AlterNet.

Photo: Donald Trump stands in the Trump family box with his daughter Ivanka awaiting the arrival onstage of his son Eric at the conclusion of former rival candidate Senator Ted Cruz’s address, during the third night at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, July 20, 2016. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein

Is Donald Trump’s Toxic Campaign Ruining Ivanka Trump’s Brand?

Is Donald Trump’s Toxic Campaign Ruining Ivanka Trump’s Brand?

On the heels of news that future hotels won’t bear the family surname, which has been thoroughly tarnished by Donald Trump’s toxic presidential campaign, there’s another bad sign for the Trump brand. Shoppers are boycotting Ivanka Trump’s clothing and accessories label in protest of its namesake’s continued support of her father’s misogynist rhetoric, particularly following the release of a 2005 video in which he brags of grabbing women by the genitals. The boycott has been effective enough that, as Fortune and Raw Story report, “Fewer than 1 in 4 women would buy clothes from Ivanka Trump.”

The boycott was spearheaded by Shannon Coulter, the head of a San Francisco marketing agency. Coulter says Trump’s casual boasting about sexual assault triggered dark memories of sexual harassment she’s experienced in her career.

“It was a feeling of recoiling. It was emotional, visceral. Then I had a pounding headache for a few days. I was filled with nausea,” Coulter told the Guardian. “[W]hen I heard Donald Trump talking on that tape, I recognized in his words the same feeling that I had that day—of being nothing more than an object. No matter how smart you are or how hard you work, they can do that to us.”

Earlier this month, Coulter took to Twitter to urge shoppers to avoid the Ivanka Trump brand. The protesters hope to hurt the Trumps where they’ll feel it the most—in their bulging wallets—by hopefully putting a dent in profits. Last year, the Ivanka Trump label took in about $100 million in revenue, according to Forbes.

Coulter said that in addition to the leaked tape, her motivation to launch the campaign was inspired by the delayed and tepid response from Trump’s daughter. (“My father’s comments were clearly inappropriate and offensive and I’m glad that he acknowledged this fact with an immediate apology to my family and the American people,” Ivanka told Fast Company, days after the video made news.) The Bay Area marketer said she’s also irked by Ivanka’s feminist-lite rhetoric and actions, such as launching the #WomenWhoWork initiative as part of her fashion brand, while defending her father’s most outrageous anti-women comments.

“[Women] were ready to give Ivanka a pass because she’s his daughter and it’s hard to be objective about your dad. But the Trump tape just sent people over the edge,” Coulter told Cosmopolitan. “I think [women] took particular offense, as I did, to the fact that Ivanka tries to make feminism a part of her brand but is standing by, as an official campaign surrogate, a guy who is an alleged serial sexual assaulter of women. The disconnect was too big. And they were ready to speak up about it and flex their consumer power about it.”

“If Ivanka Trump had distanced herself from the campaign I would not be boycotting her,” Coulter told the Guardian. “But something changed for me when that tape was released.”

The hashtag #GrabYourWallet—a clear reference to Trump’s lewd leaked remarks—is the trademark of the boycott. Coulter is not only suggesting women not buy Ivanka Trump brand shoes, clothes and accessories, but that they also avoid stores selling the brand.

Cosmopolitan reports that since starting the boycott on October 10, Coulter’s tweets “have earned an estimated 1 million impressions on Twitter, according to her analytics report.” But it’s an uphill battle, since Fortune casts some doubt on its poll finding of three-quarters of women who wouldn’t buy from Ivanka (“Of course, it’s possible that these women are saying one thing, but doing another”). In addition, recent research indicates about half of millennial women are still willing to buy Ivanka’s Trump brand, despite her father’s campaign.

Reprinted with permission fromAlterNet.

Kali Holloway is a senior writer and the associate editor of media and culture at AlterNet.

Photo: Donald Trump stands in the Trump family box with his daughter Ivanka awaiting the arrival onstage of his son Eric at the conclusion of former rival candidate Senator Ted Cruz’s address, during the third night at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, July 20, 2016. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein