# Companies you won't patronize because of their owners/ads? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 27, 2006, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-you-wont-patronize-because-of-their-owners-ads/362766 "2006-06-27T21:06:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-you-wont-patronize-because-of-their-owners-ads/362766/121 "2006-07-06T14:53:37Z")
> [@Sublight](#): > > A good example would be **Hebrew National’s** old TV commercials, with Uncle Sam holding a hot dog: > > “The government says we can use artificial coloring.” Uncle Sam grins and nods. “We don’t.” Uncle Sam looks taken aback. “The government says we can use fillers, additives, etc… We don’t. Why? We answer to a higher authority.” In this case, the message wasn’t that their religion made them better people, or an exclusionary “by us, for us” deal, but rather that their religion imposed restrictions on them (specifically, kosher dietary laws) that forced them to make a better quality product. That’s cool, as far as I’m concerned. But here I disagree- as there is no “higher authority” than the US Gov’t. If their “higher authority” allowed them to put feces in their products, it’d be illegal, “Higher authority” or no. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-you-wont-patronize-because-of-their-owners-ads/362766/122 "2006-07-06T16:36:53Z")
But the point isn’t that the product is better solely because it follows kosher rules, it’s that it’s better because the kosher rules specifically prohibit shortcuts and impurities that the government allows. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-you-wont-patronize-because-of-their-owners-ads/362766/123 "2006-07-06T16:38:05Z")
To clarify, you’re looking for a general rule, while I’m talking about a specific case. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-you-wont-patronize-because-of-their-owners-ads/362766/124 "2006-07-06T17:03:33Z")
**DrDeth** - I know nothing about the free dictionary, so I do not know whether they order their definitions in terms of “common-ness.” The very well may. I note that #6 - the meaning I intended - is the only one that exists independent of a specific religion. I have no objection to the term being used to modify belief systems or mindsets other than Christianity. ---
**Author:** ![threemae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f9b8f/32.png) [@threemae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/threemae)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-you-wont-patronize-because-of-their-owners-ads/362766/125 "2006-07-06T19:42:28Z")
> [@fetus](#): > > I’ve never interpreted that last part as being part of the Darwin fish’s message. Is it just me? Oh, okay, so just so we’re clear, the position that you’re taking is that the Darwin fish _isn’t_ mocking Christianity? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-you-wont-patronize-because-of-their-owners-ads/362766/126 "2006-07-06T20:02:22Z")
> [@KlondikeGeoff](#): > > Madman Muntz…sold everything from cars to refrigerators. Muntz even [made](http://www.histomobile.com/histomob/internet/601/histo02.htm) cars for a short time! He had help, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-you-wont-patronize-because-of-their-owners-ads/362766/127 "2006-07-06T20:05:10Z")
> [@threemae](#): > > Oh, okay, so just so we’re clear, the position that you’re taking is that the Darwin fish _isn’t_ mocking Christianity? To the extent the Darwin fish mocks Christianity, I think it’s target may well be folks who feel a need to advertise their Christian beliefs with a piece of plastic on their car. Of course, if you look at it that way, maybe the Christian fish themselves mock the more important elements of Christianity, turning it into a childish exercise of “look at me,” and “us against them.” ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-you-wont-patronize-because-of-their-owners-ads/362766/128 "2006-07-06T20:06:17Z")
My answer to the OP: there is no way I’ll ever be “jellin’”. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-you-wont-patronize-because-of-their-owners-ads/362766/129 "2006-07-06T21:26:31Z")
> [@threemae](#): > > Oh, okay, so just so we’re clear, the position that you’re taking is that the Darwin fish isn’t mocking Christianity? Well, if you’re the type to mock Christianity outright, that can certainly be one of the tools in your arsenal, I guess. When I see it I interpret it as a dismissal of magical thinking in that person’s life, no more, no less, unless I have reason to believe otherwise. That’d be my motivation for getting it, anyway. I know not everyone feels the same way; for example, I know a lot of people who would empathize with those who display Darwin fish, who can talk your ears off about astrology. But that’s how I interpret it. Like the Christian fish, it’s really rather subdued and understated. I personally would probably not put the Darwin fish on my car because I think a lot of people would interpret it as coldhearted mockery. But that’s not how _I_ see it, and if I saw someone with a Darwin fish I would assume they took the same viewpoint I did. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-you-wont-patronize-because-of-their-owners-ads/362766/130 "2006-07-06T22:21:19Z")
In principle, I see no problem at all with businesses that openly embrace a religious faith. Whether or not I choose to patronize such establishments has more to do with the way this association affects the way they do business. If they conduct their affairs with honesty, decency, and love for their Fellow Man, I am all for it. If, on the other hand, they use their religious faith as justification for unfair/unethical/illegal behavior, well, then, fuck 'em. Chick-Fil-A I don’t have a problem with. I’ve just got to admire a company that will willingly forgo business on Sunday (and the potential profits therein) based on the belief that one should have the opportunity to spend the day with one’s family. That’s putting your money where your mouth is. Wal-Mart has lost my business forever, but it has nothing to do with their cozying up to the Moral Majority crowd – it has entirely to do with their ruthless anticompetitive practices. Here in Austin, I find that a lot of business wear their political / religious / activist beliefs on their sleeves, so to speak. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2006, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-you-wont-patronize-because-of-their-owners-ads/362766/131 "2006-07-07T19:44:55Z")
Just thought of another one. At our town’s 4th of July parade, there was a float that had a “ProLife” message. On the back, it said “sponsored by (a local car dealer).” Which caused my wife and me to look at each other and she said, “Well, I guess we’ll never buy a car there.” ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2006, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-you-wont-patronize-because-of-their-owners-ads/362766/132 "2006-07-07T22:08:19Z")
A Tucson car dealership recently funded a controversial special-election public transportation measure, whose main points of contention (for me at least) were that it did nothing to connect the fragmented bus lines, threw lots of money at an incredibly minimal trolley system without actually attempting to expand its service or make it more convenient, and included no provisions for a highway system, and given its monetary scale its passage meant we wouldn’t be able to fix any of those problems with another bill for at least another 20 years. Smelled funny to me. I wouldn’t buy from that dealership anyway because I don’t buy Fords, but I’m going to _doubly_ not go there now, or something. ---
**Author:** ![MidnightRadio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@MidnightRadio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MidnightRadio)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2006, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-you-wont-patronize-because-of-their-owners-ads/362766/133 "2006-07-08T17:37:35Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > My husband won’t stay in a Holiday Inn Express because of their ads. He got really offended by the one with the woman suggesting the bus drive over the bridge. He’s an… interesting man. I guess I missed that one. What happened in it and what was it that offended him? > [@Auntbeast](#): > > There is no freakin’ way I would work for a company that would require me to tithe… Are there companies that do that? Is that even legal? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2006, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-you-wont-patronize-because-of-their-owners-ads/362766/134 "2006-07-08T18:18:35Z")
It’s a moot point, since there isn’t a taco bell anywhere near me and I’d have to be very drunk before I ate at one, but damn if that “good to go” hand gesture dude doesn’t make me want to never eat at that place ever. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-you-wont-patronize-because-of-their-owners-ads/362766.md?page=6)