美国国家公共电台 NPR GrabYourWallet's Anti-Trump Boycott Looks To Expand Its Reach

 

LOURDES GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

Mass protests may become a fixture¹ of Donald Trump²'s presidency³. Yesterday, activists⁵ marched in cities across America to pressure the president to release his tax returns and highlight potential Trump family conflicts of interest. But others believe a boycott⁶ is the better approach.

The San Francisco woman behind the #GrabYourWallet boycott of Trump family products is now looking to expand the movement. NPR's Eric Westervelt reports.

ERIC WESTERVELT, BYLINE⁷: Shannon Coulter didn't spend her college years occupying various administration buildings. She's a career digital marketing⁸ consultant⁹.

SHANNON COULTER: I don't consider myself an activist⁴. Even now, it's a strange label to me. I think of myself first and foremost as a businessperson, and the newer role of activist is still taking shape for me.

WESTERVELT: But last fall, the 45-year-old was outraged¹⁰ by Donald Trump's comments about women - you know, the one where he said you can do anything when you're a star, grab them by the genitals. It was picked up by a hot mic on "Access Hollywood." Back then, Coulter tweeted a screenshot of a handful of companies that sell Trump family products. The boycott was born.

Today, #GrabYourWallet's simple spreadsheet on a website of the same name gets more than 2 million unique views a month - not bad for an organization with no budget, no employees and no permanent office. Coulter met me in a rent-by-the-day office in downtown San Francisco. There are now more than 50 companies she encourages people to boycott because they sell Trump products or because a member of the company's board has backed Trump's campaign.

COULTER: If you're going to give money to the campaign of a guy who makes fun of disabled people, who questions the nationality of our country's first black president, who likes to grab women by the genitals, you are going to raise the ire of consumers. That's a part of your brand, and any company that thinks it's not a part of their brand is being naive¹¹.

WESTERVELT: Coulter's weathered hate mail and nasty phone calls and tweets from Trump supporters, as well as numerous denial of service attacks on her website. It's not clear what, if any, economic impact the boycott is having. Studies show these consumer protests often have a limited effect on a company's bottom line and long-term corporate¹² policies. But a brand's reputation can take a hit.

Coulter's success metric for this isn't a company's stock price or quarterly sales. It's how many companies have been taken off the boycott list. So far, it's about two dozen, including Nordstrom, Kmart and Neiman Marcus.

COULTER: Some have made public statements and some haven't. For our purposes, it doesn't really matter why a company has dropped Trump products, only that they have.

WESTERVELT: More than 50 companies remain boycott targets, including Amazon, MillerCoors, Wal-Mart and L.L. Bean. We reached out to more than a dozen companies. All declined to comment, except for MillerCoors. Pete Coors, a board member of the parent company, has actively¹³ supported Trump. In a statement, the company said, boycotting¹⁴ our brands only harms our hardworking employees and their families.

Coulter says one sure sign of the boycott's broader impact is the speed with which dozens of companies quickly stopped advertising¹⁵ on Bill O'Reilly's Fox News show in the wake of sexual harassment¹⁶ allegations against the host.

COULTER: There's just a lot of appetite right now to understand how we, as consumers, can use our spending power to promote inclusivity and respect in our society.

WESTERVELT: Coulter is now talking with a wide range of people about how to morph this movement into a wider, nonprofit vehicle for taking on Trump and advocating for broader corporate social responsibility.

COULTER: It feels like this movement wants to be something more than it is today. There's a lot of momentum¹⁷ behind this. There's a lot of activity around it still, and I want to leverage¹⁸ that into something larger.

WESTERVELT: For now, Coulter will continue to encourage Trump opponents to see daily shopping as a deeply political act. Eric Westervelt, NPR News, San Francisco.

(SOUNDBITE OF FOUR TET'S "PLASTIC PEOPLE")

1 fixture   

n.固定设备；预定日期；比赛时间；定期存款

参考例句：

• Lighting fixture must be installed at once.必须立即安装照明设备。
• The cordless kettle may now be a fixture in most kitchens.无绳电热水壶现在可能是多数厨房的固定设备。

2 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

3 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

4 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

5 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 boycott   

n./v.(联合)抵制，拒绝参与

参考例句：

• We put the production under a boycott.我们联合抵制该商品。
• The boycott lasts a year until the Victoria board permitsreturn.这个抗争持续了一年直到维多利亚教育局妥协为止。

7 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

8 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

9 consultant   

n.顾问；会诊医师，专科医生

参考例句：

• He is a consultant on law affairs to the mayor.他是市长的一个法律顾问。
• Originally,Gar had agreed to come up as a consultant.原来，加尔只答应来充当我们的顾问。

10 outraged   

a.震惊的，义愤填膺的

参考例句：

• Members of Parliament were outraged by the news of the assassination. 议会议员们被这暗杀的消息激怒了。
• He was outraged by their behavior. 他们的行为使他感到愤慨。

11 naive   

adj.幼稚的，轻信的；天真的

参考例句：

• It's naive of you to believe he'll do what he says.相信他会言行一致，你未免太单纯了。
• Don't be naive.The matter is not so simple.你别傻乎乎的。事情没有那么简单。

12 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

13 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。

14 boycotting   

抵制，拒绝参加( boycott的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• They're boycotting the shop because the people there are on strike. 他们抵制那家商店，因为那里的店员在罢工。
• The main opposition parties are boycotting the elections. 主要反对党都抵制此次选举。

15 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

16 harassment   

n.骚扰，扰乱，烦恼，烦乱

参考例句：

• She often got telephone harassment at night these days.这些天她经常在夜晚受到电话骚扰。
• The company prohibits any form of harassment.公司禁止任何形式的骚扰行为。

17 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。

18 leverage   

n.力量，影响；杠杆作用，杠杆的力量

参考例句：

• We'll have to use leverage to move this huge rock.我们不得不借助杠杆之力来移动这块巨石。
• He failed in the project because he could gain no leverage. 因为他没有影响力，他的计划失败了。