My email to Land O'Lakes today.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

After reading about several corporations financially supporting King, I got pissed. I'm physically unable to do many things to help the GOTV efforts in this election and typically can only contribute funds to a few candidates. However, I can raise some hell by email or letter to those I believe are working to slowly corrode away our democracy and social decency. That also helps me psychologically to vent my frustrations.

This is one I sent today.......

----------------------------

Subject: Regarding your support of Rep. Steve King
To: [e-mail]

My extended family and friends will no longer be purchasing your excellent products due to your financial support of Rep. Steve King of Iowa. Unfortunately, we have no other way to leverage our disgust toward his horrible statements relating to race, poverty and migration.

The very moral and emotional fiber of America is currently being damaged every day by hate-filled racist rhetoric from a number of white nationalist, xenophobic politicians as well as extensive right-wing media. These people are the epitome of hypocrisy regarding immigrants and refugees because many of them and their supporting corporations use migrant labor that is kept under cover. The farming family of Rep. Devin Nunes is a great example.

Many American corporations like yours, AT&T and others are lending financial support to those elected officials. Many are also advertising regularly on extremist media outlets. We feel it is well past time that corporations like Land O'Lakes look beyond how a politician's beliefs affect their bottom line and look as well at how their social attitudes demean the very heart of our Constitution, laws, norms and moral values.

On your internet home page, you say: "Let’s work together. We're committed to making our world a better place." Please return to being true to that statement and re-evaluate the politicians and political organizations you support.

Kindest regards,
(me)
(my home city)

---------------------

I tried to keep this focused and not get side-tracked with a rant on Trump, which was difficult. Any feedback appreciated - positive or negative!......

[Rhiannon12866]

1. Wow! K&R! That is very well stated! I wouldn't change a thing...

[KY_EnviroGuy]

5. Thanks, Rhiannon.

I pick up groceries for a shut-in lady friend and she's kinda picky about stuff. But, I'm going to try and convince her to use another brand or even the store brand of butter.

I also intend to write AT&T, who I use for internet and phone. Although it's extremely difficult to eliminate them, I sure as heck can cut back on the services I use and look more at alternatives.

Unfortunately, there's no way we can completely avoid Republican-supporting companies but we can send them the message that we're looking for alternatives and/or boycotting for a while.

Now, for another look at the Koch boy's products........

[Rhiannon12866]

7. Well, thank you for doing your part - and then some!

I don't get Land O'Lakes, it's Cabot that I usually get in this area. But you're right, we all should start paying attention - that's the only way we have of sending a message, hit them in the pocketbook.

As for the Koches, that's a tall order. They have even extended their reach into Canada. But like Michael Moore reminded us the other night (one of the shows on MSNBC), there are a lot more of us so we can make a difference!

[KY_EnviroGuy]

10. Koch...

Just to name a few (does not include Georgia Pacific building products and several others):

Koch Industry Gasoline:

*Chevron
*Union
*Union 76
*Conoco

Koch Industry/Georgia-Pacific Products:

Angel Soft toilet paper
Brawny paper towels
Dixie plates, bowls, napkins and cups
Mardi Gras napkins and towels
Quilted Northern toilet paper
Soft ‘n Gentle toilet paper
Sparkle napkins
Vanity fair napkins
Zee napkins

Source: https://progressivenetwork.wordpress.com/2013/03/23/companies-owned-by-koch-brothers-and-the-products-they-sell/

............. ...........

[Rhiannon12866]

15. Thank you!

I was aware of the Dixie paper products and I had to switch toilet paper (Northern ) and it looks like the paper towels here are Bounty ("the quicker picker upper!" ). I'll have to check the napkins, but it looks like we're good - though I'm bookmarking this just in case!

[KY_EnviroGuy]

18. Being a grocery shopper for others....

I've known some ladies that would use this phrase:

"you can have my Quilted Northern when you pry it from my cold, dead hands".......

[Rhiannon12866]

20. LOL!

I know a woman (35 years next month) who is quite obsessed with having enough toilet paper - just in case guests drop by! She also asked me recently who to vote for - she knows I follow these things. She really doesn't pay attention to politics to an alarming degree, I once sat down with her and explained who her senators and representative were. *sigh*

So I told her that I plan on voting a straight Democratic ticket - thought that was simpler than going into details and she was pleased since that sounded easy - and she told me she's a registered Democrat!

[KY_EnviroGuy]

30. Good for you Rhiannon.

I think we're shaking a lot of folks out of their complacency, including many retirees concerned about SS and Medicare.

By the way, if that lady saved the cardboard tubes from her TP to wind yarn or bric-a-brac scraps on, then she's a true product of Great Depression-era parents like me......

[Rhiannon12866]

35. I do try to spread the word - though it's not something I can bring up as an official "topic"

Though when we were discussing activities folks could get involved in, I made a point of saying that I worked on my congressman's campaign - and met others I knew there, too!

As for my long timer friend, she's not retired yet, but I have no doubt she saves everything. She's actually quite clever and really enjoys making things - she makes elaborate cards that she sells and at Easter she made thoughtful baskets for several friends, including me!

And her Dad is still living, she's currently visiting him in Florida - he's 98 1/2.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

16. thanks for the link!

There are only a few products there that I have bought in the past, but every little bit helps.

Koch Industries address at link.

[GWC58]

27. It's store brand butter for us.

It’s just as good and way less expensive.

[Freddie]

31. Me too

The one LOL product I really like is their deli American cheese. Way better than Giant brand and Clearfield. Will have to see what other brands are out there.

[GWC58]

39. When in Giant I'll buy their butter, when in

Weis, pronounced as Wise, I get their butter. Certainly there’s items I won’t, like ketchup, mayonnaise, etc.

[Freddie]

41. Store brand butter is fine

Ketchup must be Heinz.
Actually Giant brand mayo is really good, wonder if it’s made by Hellmans.

[Rhiannon12866]

36. I don't use a lot of butter, so I'm not sure if it makes a difference

But you're right, I have noticed that it's pretty expensive compared to other products - and New York is a Dairy State.

[safeinOhio]

8. AT&T?

As a share holder, I'll have to tell them I will vote at the next Shareholders election.

ok, it's only 100 shares.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

14. Yes, AT&T is frequently mentioned....

as a huge supporter of the Republican party. As an old radio/audio tech, it breaks my heart to see the company of Bell Labs and Western Electric leaning that way.

Because I almost have to use their phone service, a few of my pennies are trickling up to Repug causes every month...and it galls me. But, the same is true nowadays about most of what we purchase.....

...........except for Ben & Jerry's..........

[Sherman A1]

28. It was a well written email and I hope that others follow your effort

as an aside, note the many store brands are made by the name brand manufacturers and frankly it's hard to tell most of the time, but you may have some luck researching who is making what. Just an FYI

[KY_EnviroGuy]

33. You're right and they may have multiple sources.

Cereals, paper goods, dairy products and canned goods specifically come to mind. It would not shock me to find that many store brand paper goods originate out of Koch Industries owned mills.

Being retired, we're have having darn good luck with store brand products on somewhat of a selective basis. For example, we use several Kroger brand products that we're very happy with and save lots on our grocery bill.

..........

[Sherman A1]

38. I am a retired grocery receiver

And that job entailed handling the store damaged items (and pretty much everything else no one knew what to do with). We would regularly get in cases mismarked at the manufacturing plant that were private label for other chains across the country. It would be the pasta, cereal, canned good, grapefruit juice, but labeled for another store. All we could do was mark it down and sell it in the distressed carts.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

40. That would make me feel like I was abusing Mother Nature....

tossing her stuff around like it was orphaned, LOL.

Seriously, it's good to know it was not wasted. As far as you could tell, were the products identical to your store brand items?

Can't imagine the challenges of handling returns and mishandled goods in a grocery. I see baskets full in mine all the time.

[Sherman A1]

52. Cleaning up damage, discontinued and distressed was a

huge PITA everyday, but I went through it diligently or it would have simply buried me. The products were the same as far as I could tell and I have no doubt that the Private Label at Store X is exactly the same as it is at Store Y as they are obviously made at the same production facility.

As to what happened to the various items we had ever changing policies dreamed up by the 12 years olds in the Ivory Tower suffering from ACOS (Air Conditioned Office Syndrome) and we had to follow procedures (well, pretty much). I marked down what I could, sent those items allowed back to the reclamation center and did my best to take care of Operation Food Search during their pick ups each week. We had a Women's Shelter on Thursday and a Church group that came in on Mondays & Saturdays.

[PatSeg]

2. Excellent!

[chillfactor]

3. well done!

I could never have stated it as eloquently as you did!

[KY_EnviroGuy]

24. Thanks!

Even old senile hillbilly engineers can write fairly well when we get pissed.

Trump seems to bring that out in me......

[DFW]

4. I can only hope ten thousand people send them similar letters

I remember when I lived in the States, Land O'Lakes was THE brand of butter we bought. The Minnehaha-like image on the package was so ingrained in our brains that we all thought of butter any time we saw it.

But companies get bought by other companies, and the intentions of the people at the very top are not always noble. One letter won't raise an eyebrow. That means that maybe a hundred people think the same way. Nor will a hundred. That means that maybe a few thousand think the same way. Ten thousand will get to the desk of ANY CEO marketing a food product. That means that maybe millions think the same way, and THAT means serious sales disruption. That is when they start to listen.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

9. Thanks, DFW.

It may not mean death by a thousand cuts, but it can inflict some painful messages from their PR departments to the board of directors. Corporations are currently living in fear of another serious recession, so this may be a good time to hit them.

All I want is to see some of these companies stop the practice of blindly supporting Republicans because they perceive Repug policy is best for their bottom line. I want them to think further down the road for America and think about what completely unfettered capitalism will produce for humanity say, in the next 100 years.....rather than only thinking quarter-by-quarter.

That may be a pipe dream but perhaps we can at least get some corporate statements that disavow association with racists.

[Sunlei]

6. excellent email! also will NEVER buy Land O'Lakes products again-that CORP supports nazis

plenty of other excellent butters, creams & milks out there.

Besides, Corporate 'mega'-factory farms in America are like concentration 'work' camps for Animals.

[yellowdogintexas]

58. I buy butter at Costco

I think it is made by Challenge; the packaging is identical. I bake a LOT, especially during the upcoming holiday onslaught of occasions which require it. It is excellent baking butter.

Sometimes if I can catch it on sale, I buy butter at Braums, a local company which sources everything from its own farm. No hormones or other icky things, at least partially grassfed Holstein cows, and they make their own ice cream, butter, milk, sour cream, cream cheese, whipping cream, cottage cheese, and half & half. Good dairy products, and the best fat free milk I have ever had.

The farm is in Oklahoma. Probably Republican but doubt they advertise or support I seldom see advertising for them. Their stores also offer pretty good burgers, and breakfast and many flavors of ice cream as well as a sort of mini market which includes produce, frozen food, bacon, sausage, meat , juice, coffee, sugar etc. The usual emergency stop items.

[Amimnoch]

11. Supported.

Just sent my own message:

Since the 1970’s, as a child Land-O-Lakes has been a household staple. I fondly remember that yellow box on the counter as various recipes were in the process of being into transformed into yummy items by my grandmother and mother, especially at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Well into my adult life, your butter product has always been part of my refrigerator stock. I currently have 2 boxes with the 4 sticks in my own refrigerator. Sadly, this will be the last of my purchases. With the hate filled rhetoric in the country, I can no longer afford to support companies that back and financially support candidates like Rep. Steve King of Iowa. Your home page says let’s make America a better place. I say start by stopping the contributions to politicians whose rhetoric do the opposite.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

13. Thanks, great job.

Perhaps we can all look for more locally-sourced products to send a message to the mega-corporations who now feel immune to criticism or consequences.

I miss the old days when most of our corporations had close ties to a city and regional area and were are part of community.

[Amimnoch]

59. Received a response:

Hello,

Thank you for your feedback. We truly appreciate you taking the time to contact Land O’Lakes. Your comments are important to us and we will pass them along to our Government Relations team.

The Land O’Lakes PAC has traditionally contributed to lawmakers of both parties that represent the communities where our members and employees live and work and are also on committees that oversee policies that directly impact our farmer owners. We take our civic responsibility seriously, want our contributions to be a positive force for good and also seek to ensure that recipients of our contributions uphold our company's values. On that basis, we have determined that our PAC will no longer support Rep. Steve King moving forward.

We hope you will continue to use and enjoy LAND O LAKES® products. Please let us know if we can be of assistance in the future.

Sincerely,

Jacki
Land O'Lakes Consumer Affairs
1-800-328-4155

Case: 2197201

[KY_EnviroGuy]

61. Thanks, that's the same reply I got.

Still a lot of corporate double-speak and bullshit, but we got their attention!

Collectively with a ton of other emails and calls - along with a bunch on social media, our little effort paid off.........

[Amimnoch]

12. You know, someone should develop and android and IOS app for this..

Someone with the tech know-how should really develop an app that you can open and, as you’re shopping you can look up products for their political backing.

[diane in sf]

17. http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-buy-partisan-20140825-story.html

This is a link to a political affiliation shopping app. And there are more...

“...BuyPartisan, a free smartphone application developed by former Capitol Hill staffer Matthew Colbert, gives users the chance to learn more about the political leanings of the makers of supermarket items.
By compiling campaign finance data from the top Fortune 500 companies and matching it with their products, the app lets consumers scan their groceries and immediately find out which political party stands to profit most from the sale....”

[Amimnoch]

19. Thanks! Will give it a try out.

Downloaded it.. kind of clunky looking, and has some really bad ratings overall, but will give it a try out at my next trip to the market.

[duforsure]

21. Great post and letter!

Land of lakes will not be purchased again , and with the other lists of products the Koch brothers sell.

[Scarsdale]

22. Excellent letter.

You got right to the point. Your disgust came through,clearly. Here is another "nugget of info" The Nunes family who hire illegal workers live in King's district!! He never, ever has sent ICE to their facilities. In fact several farms do likewise, in his district. King only goes after "outside his district" offenders.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

26. I strongly suspect that practice is rampant in the whole administration...

just like a mob operation. Just think about it....we know that thousands of companies across the US use illegal migrant workers and it's hidden in plain sight. I've seen it in industry across the country on service jobs and saw it with the guys that re-roofed my house. Some experts say this country's economy would collapse without those workers.

So, these companies learn that if they openly support the Repug party, a blind eye will be turned away from their workforce. Conversely, companies that are openly liberal in their policies or that are found out to be funding Democratic candidates may suddenly find ICE at their door.

This is Republican hypocrisy at its worst because millions of migrant workers now live in far more fear of deportation and companies live in fear of having to close their doors if they lose workers.

It's perfectly accurate to say the Republican Party is the party of fear....in hundreds of ways.

[gademocrat7]

23. Bravo!

[MLAA]

25. This was perfect!

[Luciferous]

29. Excellent!

[Rorey]

32. Land O Lakes butter - over $6 a pound

So I was already not going to be buying it. That's close to twice as much as some of the other brands.

Now that you've enlightened me with your excellent letter, they could lower the price to half as much as the other brands and I still won't buy it. Ever. Thanks for writing it, and for posting it here.

[Phentex]

53. store brand for me too...

some Kerry Gold around the holidays but the rest of the time it's the cheapo store brand.

[lkinwi]

34. Land O' Lakes is under the Dean Foods label

http://www.deanfoods.com/brands/

[obamanut2012]

37. Kerrygold is better anyway, and everyone carries it now

Even Target, Wal Mart, and Aldi.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

43. Thanks, will watch for that one. It is sold in my area.

I have to convince a dear old friend to switch and she's picky!........

Have you tried the spread or the reduced-fat versions?

[ProfessorGAC]

42. Great Email!

No rhetorical grenades. Very calm and concisely stated.

That's one they are less likely to just hit delete.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

48. Thank you, Professor.

One reason I asked for feedback is because I would like to start doing that with more companies, so I need to develop a style. If we as consumers don't start rattling more corporate cages, they will continue to walk all over us, particularly considering the mergers during and after Reagan's days.

For example, as another poster mentioned, Land O'Lakes is now a part of Dean Foods, with $7.7 billion in revenue (2016). So, that makes it much harder to make a dent in their sales and get any attention.

Mass consumerism under huge international corporations and the monitization of everything is one of humanity's largest elephants in our room, IMO....

[workinclasszero]

44. Excellent letter!

I and my family will no longer purchase any Nazi butter products from Land O'Lakes, count on that!!!!!

[ck4829]

45. K&R

[mercuryblues]

46. Mine was a bit different.

It ended with... Notice I didn't tell you that your company can fuck off.

[MineralMan]

47. That's how you do it!

[Izzy Blue]

49. "Land O'Lakes boycott threat has company cutting ties to Iowa Congressman Steve King"

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/land-o-lakes-boycott-threat-has-company-cutting-ties-to-iowa-gop-congressman-steve-king/

[KY_EnviroGuy]

51. Thanks for posting that article.

Note that Intel admitted their decision to contribute was based solely on what it might do for their business interests.

That attitude is what I hope we can change......

[mgardener]

50. Sent an email to Subaru yesterday

Expressing my disgust at their advertising on Fox.
Hate to give up LOL, but I will not have any of my money supporting that jackass.
Excuse me while I compose a letter to LOL.

[Cha]

54. Excellent.. Thank You, KY_EG!

Land O'Lakes Pulls Support for Iowa Congressman Steve King Over Racial Remarks

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=11343282

[TomSlick]

55. Good job.

I was in the process of cutting-and-pasting your e-mail into one of my own when Chris Hayes reported Land-o-Lakes was pulling its support.

I think you can take some of the credit.

[47of74]

56. I would probably still send one.

To thank them and let them know that it won’t be acceptable to quietly reinstate their support a week or two later.

[TomSlick]

63. I will rework accordingly and send.

Thanks. You're a hero.

[duforsure]

57. Went to the store early this morning,

And when passing the butter section grab another brand of butter instead of theirs, and they hadn't stocked yet , and Land of lakes section was a big change . Before they would be very low on the shelf, and now it had plenty left. Other brands were less than normal.

[Delphinus]

60. Well done!

This is a great letter - thank you for sharing it and giving us wonderful ideas!

[KY_EnviroGuy]

62. Thank you, Delphinus.

Considering that very few corporations are community minded or socially conscious any more, I think this sort of effort can have an impact (and in this case, it did).

I stay furious over how large wealthy corporations and individuals have captured control over much of our government via PACs and lobbying, considering they're using our money to do it. Their goal is almost 100% to increase quarterly margins and raise profitability through efficiencies (cut/layoffs), and saying they care is just fluff and bullshit.

I'm delighted we have a great bunch of folks on DU that really care about these issues......

[Demovictory9]

64. good work

[sarcasmo]

65. Corporations have no soul.

[albacore]

66. They stopped supporting King...

"Dairy giant Land O' Lakes announced Tuesday it was axing financial contributions to the political campaign for King — up for re-election on Nov. 6 — who has voiced support for white nationalism and retweeted Nazi propaganda."
"Amid calls on social media to boycott the company's products, Nestlé-owned pet food maker Purina tweeted on Tuesday that it would no longer support King, adding that his “recent statements are in conflict with our values.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/purina-intel-land-o-lakes-ditch-support-rep-steve-king-n926856

[Algernon Moncrieff]

67. Land O Lakes is part of Dean Foods

http://www.deanfoods.com/brands/

Dean Foods is big in the Le Mars area, as they got the non-ice cream side of Wells Dairy (a.k.a. Blue Bunny Ice Cream).

[KY_EnviroGuy]

68. Deans is big here too (KY).

I'm getting the impression that Land O'Lakes just has a cooperative agreement of some sort with Deans, perhaps for product distribution. There's not even a mention of Deans on Land O'Lakes' web site. In fact, it says this:

STRUCTURE & GOVERNANCE
Land O'Lakes, Inc., one of America's premier agribusiness and food companies, is a member-owned cooperative with industry-leading operations that span the spectrum from agricultural production to consumer foods. With 2017 annual sales of $13.7 billion, Land O'Lakes is one of the nation's largest cooperatives, ranking 215 on the Fortune 500.

So, they must just have supply-chain agreements, perhaps with their dairies and/or animal feeds......

I did get a fairly prompt email back from that was essentially the same statement they put in this press release:

https://www.landolakesinc.com/Press/News/PAC-donation-statement-steve-king

..............