Most companies work hard to stay out of politics.
Even seemingly innocuous choices like Target adding a third, private gender-neutral bathroom in addition to its men's and women's rooms get viewed politically.
In a nation that's deeply divided over certain issues, even the smallest support for transgender people caused Anheuser-Busch InBev to see Bud Light lose more than 25% of its sales. The brewer — a company long-steeped in Americana and traditional values — did a minor marketing deal with a transgender social-media influencer and all hell broke loose.
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Bud Light lost its position as the top-selling beer in the U.S. because it sent some custom cans to Dylan Mulvaney in an attempt to win more LGBTQ+ customers. You wouldn't think something like this would be that big a deal, but it outraged Kid Rock, and in the current political climate one video from a long-past-his-prime singer brought down an iconic brand.
Outrage about minor things comes from both the right and the left, which is why brands hesitate to do anything that can be seen as political.
Big companies, however, can be forced to make political decisions that will alienate customers. And that's happening to Walmart and Costco, two largely apolitical brands that are being pulled into the abortion debate.
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Costco and Walmart face new political pressure
In theory retailers should be able to sell the items their customers want without what's on their shelves being considered a political statement. Grocery stores sell both meat and vegan items without drawing protests, but some retailers have been punished for what they choose to sell.
Target, for example, had to remove its Pride Month merchandise last year in order to protect the safety of its staff. Starbucks has been forced to make similar choices even though both chains were simply trying to meet their customers' needs.
Neither Target nor Starbucks forced customers to buy Pride merchandise, but that did not stop both companies from angry, sometimes violent, customers and calls for boycotts.
LGBTQ+ issues are, of course, divisive, but no issue has split the nation as much as abortion. That's because many people on both sides feel righteous in their opinions. Pro-choice Americans feel they're protecting a woman's right to make choices for her body while anti-abortion Americans feel they're fighting to protect unborn children.
No corporation wants to be in the middle of this issue, but an activist investment company and New York City Comptroller Brad Lander are forcing Walmart and Costco (COST) into an impossible decision.
Costco and Walmart pushed on abortion pill
Lander has tried to leverage his state's investment portfolio to try to get Walmart, Costco and select other retailers to sell mifepristone.
"Mifepristone is used in a regimen together with misoprostol to end a pregnancy that is less than 70 days in duration," according to the Mayo Clinic. "It works by stopping the supply of hormones that maintains the interior of the uterus. Without these hormones, the uterus cannot support the pregnancy and the contents of the uterus are expelled."
The drug is used in more than half of U.S. abortions.
New York City owns more than $1.3 billion of stock in Costco, Walmart (WMT) , Albertsons and McKesson, according to the Dallas Morning News.
The effort to push those companies into selling mifepristone has been met with a similar effort to stop them from selling the drug, led by a faith-based investment group.
"The religious coalition behind the petition owns about $172 million in shares of the five companies," according to the paper. "The coalition was led by Boise, Idaho-based Inspire Investing, which manages $3 billion of assets and includes the investment arm of the Southern Baptist churches and the American Family Association, a Christian fundamentalist group."
Neither Walmart nor Target currently sells mifepristone.
The letter from Inspire Investing was a direct response to the New York City comptroller's efforts.
Walmart declined the Morning News' request for comment while the other four companies did not respond.
CVS and Walgreens are selling mifepristone in select states.
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A letter on the Inspire Investing website designed for people to send to Costco tries to frame efforts to limit access to the abortion drug as being a states' rights issue.
"We implore you to consider whether Costco will be known for taking a stand for the lives of vulnerable women and unborn children and not allowing your pharmacies to be used in this manner, or for caving to the demands of politicians and radical abortion activists who want to keep abortion widely available, despite the clear wishes expressed by states who have banned the procedure," it wrote.
