Macy's announced on Wednesday that it will no longer sell the Donald J. Trump clothing line or any other Trump-branded merchandise citing recent anti-Mexican and anti-immigrant comments made by the businessman and presidential candidate during a June 16th campaign speech and over the weekend. The announcement follows a two-week fallout over the comments, in which the presidential hopeful said that most Mexican and other immigrants were rapists and criminals. Trump faced a virtual purge from television media in the past week. Broadcasters Univision and NBC have refused to air the Miss America Pageant, which Trump owns and the latter has also dropped him from a star role in the “The Apprentice,” a reality show. Ora TV also ended an upcoming media project with Trump, owner Carlos Slim announced on Monday.
"Macy’s is a company that stands for diversity and inclusion. We have no tolerance for discrimination in any form. We welcome all customers, and respect for the dignity of all people is a cornerstone of our culture. We are disappointed and distressed by recent remarks about immigrants from Mexico. We do not believe the disparaging characterizations portray an accurate picture of the many Mexicans, Mexican Americans and Latinos who have made so many valuable contributions to the success of our nation. In light of statements made by Donald Trump, which are inconsistent with Macy’s values, we have decided to discontinue our business relationship with Mr. Trump and will phase-out the Trump menswear collection, which has been sold at Macy’s since 2004.”
The Macy’s announcement followed calls from Latino groups on Tuesday, as well as petition from MoveOn.Org, demanding that the retailer dump the Trump brand. The petition garnered over 700,000 online signatures in a single day. Macy’s rebuffed a similar effort in 2012 saying that “Macy’s marketing and merchandising offerings are not representative of any political position.” MoveOn.Org’s current petition criticizes Trump for the anti-immigrant comments as of a number of broadly defined topics: misogyny, climate change denial, outsourcing and the perpetuation of birther conspiracies.
Ethics, Or The Power Of Latino Consumers?
What changed since 2012? Trump’s rhetoric has always been bombastic and offensive to some, but his shots against Mexicans cut into Macy’s recent efforts to market specifically to Latinos. Arturo Carmona, Executive Director Presente.org, pointed to Macy’s partnership Thalía Sodi, a Mexican pop star and entrepreneur whose fashion line sits on shelves in the same stores as Trump’s. While Macy’s did not cite Sodi specifically, Carmona says that including both clothing lines was a contradiction in values.
"Macy's approaching Thalía to collaborate with them showed that the retailer was eager to have some sort of positive impacts with Latinos, and they succeeded. The Thalía Sodi Collection is a best-seller. Not only did she bring her name to it, but also her style and her followers, who love the fact they can somewhat look like their favorite star. Macy's knows the economic power of Latinos and I'm sure that they want to continue doing business with Thalía, as they seem very interested in the market and continuing their expansion into it,” Carmona told the Latin Times in an email, ahead of the Macy’s announcement.
Sodi was Macy’s first partnership with a Latino figure and an important act of minority-focused marketing. Their launch of Sodi’s clothing in January attracted plenty of positive press coverage, including at least three articles from the Latin Times. Associate Editor María Valdez explains how important and successful the campaign was.
"Macy's approaching Thalía to collaborate with them showed that the retailer was eager to have some sort of positive impacts with Latinos, and they succeeded. The Thalía Sodi Collection is a best-seller. Not only did she bring her name to it, but also her style and her followers, who love the fact they can somewhat look like their favorite star. Macy's knows the economic power of Latinos and I'm sure that they want to continue doing business with Thalía, as they seem very interested in the market and continuing their expansion into it."
Update: Presente.Org released a new statement welcoming the Macy's announcement:
“Today, diversity wins. We are thrilled to see Macy’s dumping Donald Trump’s toxic discrimination against Latinos. Macy’s could never expect Latinos to flock to their stores while supporting a man who paints Mexican-Americans as rapists and killers, and we are encouraged that today, inclusion wins over discrimination."
Trump Fights Back Against “Political Attacks”
Trump’s original anti-immigrant comments came out of a semi-scripted campaign speech delivered on July 16th. In the speech, Trump warned that immigrants were criminals and rapists and called for a high fence across the U.S. Mexico border to stop immigrants from bringing “crime” and “terrorism.” The most controversial section of the speech concerned Mexicans.
“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”
So far, Trump has lashed out against Latino organizations who cut ties with him. He lashed out at Univision anchor Jorge Ramos following a negative op-ed, and suing Univision for dropping Trump’s pageant show. Trump has not threatened to sue NBC or Macy’s.
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