Activists behind the DumpTrump movement have found a new corporate target: Amazon.com.
The activist group UltraViolet calls on Amazon to dump Trump’s clothing line
Some 1,500 Amazon shareholders signed a petition urging Jeff Bezos to stop selling The Donald’s line of suits, shirts and ties.
Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
UltraViolet Action, a group devoted to fighting sexism, called on Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos to stop selling the Donald J. Trump Collection of menswear and take a stand against the Republican presidential nominee’s “bigoted bullying.”
Some 1,500 Amazon shareholders organized by UltraViolet signed a letter urging the online retailer to follow the lead of Macy’s, which pulled its Trump merchandise last summer after the candidate referred to immigrants as rapists and drug dealers.
“This isn’t about politics: Donald Trump’s misogyny, racism, and outright bigotry are dominating the political news cycle,” the shareholders wrote to Bezos. “[Trump] has encouraged violence at his rallies, mocked his opponent’s wife, ridiculed people with disabilities, and even refused to denounce his campaign manager who was recently arrested for violently assaulting a female reporter.”
Activists are applying increasing pressure on major corporations to sever their association with Trump and his incendiary political rhetoric.
Progressive and civil rights groups including Color of Change and CREDO Action petitioned Google to withhold sponsorship of a Trump-led Republican National Convention — to no effect. Google plans to livestream the GOP convention, which will be held July 18-21 in Cleveland, arguing its participation is neutral and nonpartisan.
Facebook also received criticism last week when it, too, said it would sponsor the nominating convention — notwithstanding CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s veiled public condemnation of Trump’s stand on immigration.
Microsoft recently said it won’t provide cash support to the RNC, but said its decision was reached long before advocacy groups began urging the Redmond, Wash., software giant to withdraw sponsorship.
The letter is timed to coincide with Amazon’s annual shareholder meeting May 17 in Seattle. In addition to shareholders, more than 58,000 Amazon customers have signed a petition urging the retailer to stop profiting from its association with Trump, UltraViolet said.
Amazon could not be immediately reached for comment.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
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