<sigh>.
I don’t need my coffee company to jump on ever PR grenade that rolls through the world. Depending on how strictly you adhere to old Milton Friedman, the CEO of a public company is mostly supposed to run that company for the benefit of the shareholders and usually that means to make money. That can also mean not taking overt political stances that will Torpedo your Walmart distribution deal or something like that.
now back to the Meateater…
It was a PR grenade, but instead of just running away, Evan pulled the pin and acted like he was the victim.
First off they weren’t a public company at that point, and they had already come out in support of John Knospler, a former Marine who was claiming self defense but eventually convicted of murder.
So saying, “we don’t get involved” in legal defense was a lie and everyone knew it.
Even if they just put out there initial statement (which was poorly done to begin with) and dropped it like a hot potato like they should’ve, it would’ve been forgivable.
But instead Evan just couldn’t help himself, doubled down, and essentially called “MAGA Republicans” racists, didn’t want them as customers (even though they were pretty much his main customer base) etc. It was the perfect lesson of what NOT to do when faced with a PR crisis.
They should’ve said, “As BRCC, we support all legal self defense. We have yet to see all the facts in this case, and we await the legal process to ascertain the facts prior to making any statement.” Done, finished, dropped like a hot potato.
But that isn’t what they did.
I’m a meateater fan. I like Steve. Part of what I like about ME is they are relatively apolotical. I don’t expect them to come out in support of someone like Kyle or anyone else.
BRCC built an entire company around being this pro gun, politically incorrect alternative to Starbucks. But when the chips were down, they acted just like what they were trying to be the antithesis of.