Check out this great remake of Depeche Mode’s “People are People” by a flash mob in a Target store over the weekend. According to the video, over 250,000 people have pledged to boycott Target over their $150,000 donation to a group paying for ads for Tom Emmer, a conservative candidate for governor in Minnesota who opposes gay marriage.
If that many people follow through on their commitment to boycott, the store will easily lose far more than $150,000 in business for the donation, which will hopefully make other corporations think twice about the potential ramifications of spending money on political candidates.
Activists are not only upset about this particular donation, as their song suggests, but the fact that Target took advantage of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision earlier this year – which ruled that corporations can spend an unlimited amount of money on political advertisements – to back Emmer.
This would suggest that Target is just the first target by citizens upset with the now unchecked ability corporations have to influence elections in the US, and that as other donations by other corporations become public, these protests will spread. As one of the protesters mentions at the end of the video, Best Buy is already in the crosshairs for donating $100,000 to the same group supporting Emmer in Minnesota.
If you want to join the growing boycott of Target, click here or here, and sign this petition asking the company to change its ways.
Actually was a good rendition of the Depeche Mode song…however…I don’t think that qualifies as a “mob.”
Target is a private company. It is free to spend money in it’s best interests. I seriously doubt Mr. Emmer’s stance on gay marriage is the reason for Target’s donations. Conservatives generally prefer environments friendly to the free market which IS in Targets best interest, it’s shareholders best interest, it’s employees best interest, and it’s customers best interest. Plus, Target is a very philanthropic company.
“Took advantage” of a Supreme Court decision? Do women “take advantage” of Roe v Wade or does “taking advantage” only apply to decisions you agree with?
SCOTUS ruled that the law had a chilling effect on speech. Heck, the ACLU filed an amicus brief in support of the winning side.
Funny though, if those 250,000 people donated $1 to Mr. Emmer’s opponent, they’d have given almost twice the money Target donated to Emmer.
If you want to donate to Mr. Emmer’s campaign, please follow the link below.
https://www.completecampaigns.com/public.asp?name=EmmerTom&page=1
Flash mob is the term that describes that type of action, where people gather together in a public place to perform or dance or sing. Sometimes they are political and other times not. I think its become a pretty catchy way to protest, because generally they seem like fun and are inviting to bystanders.
And I agree with you that Target has the right to spend their money however they want. But people also have to right to boycott corporations for behavior that they disapprove of. I think we can both agree there.
And I do think women take advantage of Roe v. Wade when they have an abortion. So no disagreement there.
“A flash mob (or flashmob)…The term is generally not applied to events organized by public relations firms, protests, and publicity stunts.”
– This qualifies as a protest and publicity stunt.
– Yessir, we are in total agreement
– We are using different definitions of ‘take advantage’
The key word there might be “generally.” Flash mobs are increasingly being used as a form of protest. We’ve covered many of them on this site. Just check out this search result: http://dev2.wagingnonviolence.org/?s=%22flash+mob%22.
The problem with Target’s donation (and Best Buy’s and Pentair’s and on and on….) taking advantage of the Citizen’s United ruling is that Target is not a PERSON. The Supreme Court’s ruling is partisan… from Jefferson on, we have been warned about giving too much leeway to corporations. Get it people, corporations are not persons! Freedom of speech should have nothing to do with Target’s ability (or not) to speak. Corporations are allowed to form, act, function by the commercial laws of this country, but due to many corporate-fueled rulings in the past century+, they have also been construed as persons, to the disadvantage of *actual persons.* Unless you want to wind up a biochemical cog in the machine (à la Matrix) you better resist. The ability to incorporate is something many other nations more closely regulate for a reason. Wake up people!
Since 1818 the Supreme Court of the United States has held that corporations ARE persons for many purposes in law.
Too much speech is GOOD in a Constitutional sense. The law applies equally to corporations big and small, groups, labor unions, ect.
Frankly, talk that involves “evil corporations” or in this case “corporate-fueled” remind me of a South Park episode where stoned hippies drone on about “down with corporations” without really saying anything.
Government is the challenge to liberty. Not Walmart.
There is no spoon…