A petition has been collecting signatures for over a year to have a certain product pulled from retailers’ shelves. According to Change.org, close to 115,000 signatures have been collected, which pales in comparison to the amount of money the company spends on advertising.
This is not the first time a retailer has been caught between what is right and what the owner of the company does and says.
Papa John’s (PZZA) found John Schnatter was reportedly using inappropriate racial slurs. As a result of the owner’s poor decision the company lost out on its massive partnership with the NFL. News surfaced that Schnatter blamed poor sales on NFL players' choice to take a knee during the national anthem.
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Scandals Can Be Toxic to Products
Other business owners saw the writing on the walls and sold their Papa John’s franchises, most notably Peyton Manning. Manning owned 30 franchises from 2012 to 2018, curiously he sold his franchises shortly after this scandal took place and the partnership with the NFL ended.
This isn’t the first time a product has been pulled from store shelves over something controversial.
Dicks Sporting Goods (DKS) decided to pull its sales of firearms from its stores. Starting back in 2018 shortly after the Parkland, Fla., shooting. The store began to eliminate firearms sales and ammunition. Overall sales for these stores increased after this change. This product elimination was set to be a multi-year project. Their intent is to completely remove sales of semi-automatic weapons.
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Consumers Spoke and Retailers Listened
Retailers claim that they are dropping the product due to poor sales, but consumers are speaking through their purchases, they are speaking to have it removed from their local stores.
Inventor of My Pillow turned businessman Mike Lindell claims that the his pillow was dropped from store shelves because the corporations want to cancel him. In fact, stores are stocking what customers want to buy, and the My Pillow product is now rated less than 4 stars.
Target (TGT) has already stopped selling the My Pillow product line, but some resellers might still be using original packaging of stores like Target or Bed Bath and Beyond (BBBY) from their ‘As Seen on TV’ section of the stores.
Kohls (KSS) also has removed the My Pillow product line from their stores and website. According to the company, it was based on sales performance.
Walmart (WMT) is pulling the My Pillow product line and moving all inventory through Walmart.com. Lindell has again cried Cancel Culture on this change in his products availability. The products decline has seemingly corresponded with the outspoken remarks of CEO Lindell.
Whether politically motivated or not, the consumers have spoken and they do not want buy the My Pillow product line from these retailers. The retailers responded by clearing their shelves to make room for products consumers will buy.
It should be noted that anyone with a Walmart.com account can rate their products, no proof of purchase is necessary.
