# Lowes -----WTF? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 14, 2011, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lowes-wtf/606228 "2011-12-14T21:35:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lowes-wtf/606228/21 "2011-12-15T14:58:43Z")
Let’s not be so hard on Lowe’s. After all, cross-burners need to buy their lumber _somewhere_. ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lowes-wtf/606228/22 "2011-12-15T15:02:24Z")
> [@shiftless](#): > > I really wish I hadn’t read these. It is depessing to think there are even 25 people this filled with hate. Please remember that these are the collected dumbest comments, not the typical comments. I saw so much worse before Lowe’s “took control” or their facebook page. It’s jaw dropping how not just anti-Muslim but just flat out racist it got. ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Jocko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uncle_jocko/32/2932_2.png) [@Uncle\_Jocko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Jocko)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lowes-wtf/606228/23 "2011-12-15T15:20:15Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > All publicity is good publicity? This foreigner had never heard of Lowes until this incident. > > I heard about it because someone linked the [25 Dumbest Comments On Lowe’s Facebook Page About “All-American Muslim”](http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/dumbest-comments-on-lowes-facebook-page-about-al). “Exercising your Right to advertise or not is a God Given Right.” Okay, that made me laugh. Must be in the Book of Don (Draper), part of the Apocrypha, no doubt. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lowes-wtf/606228/24 "2011-12-15T15:42:15Z")
> [@stpauler](#): > > I saw so much worse before Lowe’s “took control” or their facebook page. It’s jaw dropping how not just anti-Muslim but just flat out racist it got. Yeah… I actually think they were being smart by deleting all the posts. Whatever flak they’re getting for this decision is nothing compared to what they’d get from leaving dozens of posts about blowing away Muslims up. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lowes-wtf/606228/25 "2011-12-15T15:54:08Z")
Upon consideration, I can’t really get too het up about this. Nobody thought Glen Beck’s advertisers were stifling his right to free (idiotic) speech when they pulled ads. Obviously, this show and Beck’s are hardly similar, but the principle is the same. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lowes-wtf/606228/26 "2011-12-15T16:03:46Z")
> [@WolfpackJeep](#): > > Not so fast! They wiped a tremendous number of posts because they were too “sharp”. They’re down to about 3,000 now. It appears that my comment from this afternoon was deleted…I was simply pointing out to all the Good Christian People that their ire was misdirected, as Lowe’s is clearly playing up this incident to distract people from the “War on Christmas” (they advertise “Holiday Decorations” on their site). 😃 > > This was actually a savvy business move on Lowe’s part…they recognized that their target demographic is the all-American bigot, and decided to lock into it. Sadly enough, there are plenty of them in this area. > > It’s really a shame that the staff of every Home Depot I’ve ever visited acted like I didn’t belong there. Home Depot’s corporate policies are otherwise good; didn’t they withstand some crap from the fundies about their positive treatment of gay employees? Yeah, I told them that I thought it was a class act to add censorship to cowardice. I’m sure my post was deleted also, but haven’t been back to check. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lowes-wtf/606228/27 "2011-12-15T16:07:35Z")
What confuses me is, didn’t Lowe’s \*buy \*ad space on this show in the first place? Their ads didn’t just generate spontaneously, did they? What did they think “All American Muslim” \*was? \* ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lowes-wtf/606228/28 "2011-12-15T16:14:36Z")
> [@CitizenPained](#): > > Didn’t people pull sponsorship from _Ellen_ when she came out of the closet? > > Super suck. Unfortunately, Lowe’s won’t feel the heat from any of us boycotting them. Yes they will. A little anyway. I’m buying a bunch of stuff right now and I purposely went to Home Depot yesterday instead of Lowes. I’ve always preferred Lowes, but no more. I won’t shop there until they reverse this decision. I know my little bit of money won’t make much difference, but it’s a start. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lowes-wtf/606228/29 "2011-12-15T16:18:16Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > What confuses me is, didn’t Lowe’s \*buy \*ad space on this show in the first place? Their ads didn’t just generate spontaneously, did they? What did they think “All American Muslim” \*was? \* Cable advertising doesn’t really work that way. You pay for the channel and time slot, rather than the specific show, except in a few limited cases. Pretty much every show on TLC draws a \>1.0 rating, so nobody really cares which shows their ads run against. What people mean when they say they’re “pulling their ad” is that they’re specifically requesting that their ads _not_ run at the same time as Show X. So TLC’s programming people will just run their other ads more during this show, and Lowe’s ads more during others. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lowes-wtf/606228/30 "2011-12-15T16:22:13Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Cable advertising doesn’t really work that way . . . . Ah, thanks–ignorance fought! ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lowes-wtf/606228/31 "2011-12-15T16:32:55Z")
Well, I’m not completely sure that cable ads get assigned at random. On our Hoarders snark site one of our pastimes is to count the number of cleaning product ads which appear during the show. Sometimes it’s half of the ads. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lowes-wtf/606228/32 "2011-12-15T16:33:54Z")
My pleasure. I actually discovered this when advertisers started “pulling” ads from WWE programming because of the Parents’ Television Council. I meant \<1.0 rating, incidentally. On a side note (and I just posted this on Lowe’s page), as a Florida resident and member of a family, I want to apologize for the Florida Family Association. The part I didn’t post is that they can suck my balls. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lowes-wtf/606228/33 "2011-12-15T16:37:28Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > What confuses me is, didn’t Lowe’s \*buy \*ad space on this show in the first place? Their ads didn’t just generate spontaneously, did they? What did they think “All American Muslim” \*was? \* My understanding of the situation is they thought it was a sewing show called _American Muslin_. ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lowes-wtf/606228/34 "2011-12-15T17:05:08Z")
Not surprised. I see stories from the USA all the time of someone or other being fired or sentenced to “sensitivity training” or some other similar totalitarian re-education program, and all for the most spurious of reasons after complaints from some special interest group or whining individual – [even anonymous complaints even](http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/12/13/university-denver-professor-will-teach-course-offended-students). It appears that you have created a culture where someone complaining over something is always right, and the institution/company/etc. must always cave in. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lowes-wtf/606228/35 "2011-12-15T17:08:09Z")
I went to the website and used the “Contact Us” link to find the form where I could send them an email – which took some doing. I wrote a very polite but firm note explaining how disappointed I was in their decision, and how I could not in good conscience continue to shop there unless they changed their minds. When I submitted the form I got the message: "We are having a problem with our Application. Thank you for visiting [Lowes.com](http://Lowes.com). Our site is currently down due to technical issues but will return soon. We apologize for any inconvenience." ---
**Author:** ![miss\_elizabeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@miss\_elizabeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miss_elizabeth)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lowes-wtf/606228/36 "2011-12-15T17:08:12Z")
> [@Duke](#): > > Well, I’m not completely sure that cable ads get assigned at random. On our Hoarders snark site one of our pastimes is to count the number of cleaning product ads which appear during the show. Sometimes it’s half of the ads. That sounds like an AWESOME site! Can you PM me a link? I know we aren’t supposed to advertise other boards on here. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lowes-wtf/606228/37 "2011-12-15T17:11:49Z")
> [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](#): > > Yes they will. A little anyway. I’m buying a bunch of stuff right now and I purposely went to Home Depot yesterday instead of Lowes. I’ve always preferred Lowes, but no more. I won’t shop there until they reverse this decision. > > I know my little bit of money won’t make much difference, but it’s a start. It’ll be more than offset by all the people who posted comments in the FB link above that they will make it a point to shop at Lowe’s this CHRISTmas thanks to their support for All-American Americans. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lowes-wtf/606228/38 "2011-12-15T17:21:59Z")
> [@Duke](#): > > Well, I’m not completely sure that cable ads get assigned at random. On our Hoarders snark site one of our pastimes is to count the number of cleaning product ads which appear during the show. Sometimes it’s half of the ads. Do you also keep track of the blatant product placements during the cleanup scenes? I guess that’s done to catch the DVR crowd. I also remember seeing an extreme number of ads for Home Depot during the season of the little people show (on TLC) that featured a home renovation. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lowes-wtf/606228/39 "2011-12-15T17:30:02Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Obviously, this show and Beck’s are hardly similar, but the principle is the same. The principle is, but the motivation isn’t. One is about a pundit giving his views and people disagreeing; the other is about prejudice against a large group of people. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lowes-wtf/606228/40 "2011-12-15T17:32:59Z")
Sure, but the point is that pressuring sponsors is either a legitimate tactic or it isn’t. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lowes-wtf/606228.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lowes-wtf/606228.md?page=3)