I don’t think this is chaffy out of the gate, but it may get chaffy; if it does, Roger, feel free to move it over.
Dave Chenault’s most recent smartly-written blog post deals with corporate ambassadorship; it included a link to Kuiu’s corporate blog, which includes this recent post, essentially a corporate endorsement of Trump for president.
The post raised an eyebrow. I don’t think I’ve seen anything nearly as direct from any outdoor brand. Chouinard’s writing makes some leanings clear, but you’d have to seek those out; while the Pata site often features media about conservation, there’s no endorsement of specific parties or policies. There’s been some coverage of BD’s Peter Metcalf and his dealings with local and congressional-level land use officials, but I don’t think BD has featured said coverage on their blog.
As someone who works in branding the naivete of the Kuiu post surprised me; no matter one’s personal political leanings, it’s hard not to come away from the post feeling that Jason Hairston isĀ a bit starstruck by his affiliation. Explicitly tying your entire corporate brandĀ to a political campaign (particularly with zero mention of having investigated or understood any other candidate’s position on hunting or land-use issues) seems a dubious customer engagement strategy, even for a go-it-your-own-way outfit like Kuiu.
Thoughts?
