Founder tracks store inventory
They often have the best tips on stores from which Trump merchandise has quietly disappeared, and she feels like members of the group get more energized when she communicates with them directly.
There are also frequent decisions to be made about what companies should be on the list. Chains such as Lord & Taylor or Macy’s easily make the cut because they carry Trump family merchandise.
But other times, it is less cut-anddried. Bookstores are generally spared, but that could change if any agree to host Ivanka Trump during her upcoming book tour. Belk has removed Ivanka Trump gear from its website, but not its brick-and-mortar stores, so it is still on the Grab Your Wallet list.
Meanwhile, the Washington Post is “NOT being boycotted at this time,” even though it is owned by Jeffrey P. Bezos, the chief executive of Amazon.com, which makes the list for carrying Trump family products.
On the Grab Your Wallet website, it says that decision came after a majority of boycott participants said in a poll that the Post should not be excluded. Neiman Marcus, Belk, Lord & Taylor, Macy’s and Amazon did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
While Coulter started the campaign as an outcry against Donald Trump’s treatment of women, it has mushroomed into a more sprawling expression of anti-Trump sentiment. Some are worried about the conflict-of-interest issues associated with having president with such a tangled web of business ties in the White House. Others came into the fold after President Trump issued an executive order that barred refugees and people from seven majority- Muslim nations from entering the United States.
But even as the tent gets bigger, Coulter is determined to keep to goal the same: to not let it turn into an aimless funnel for outrage, but to continue to offer clear, actionable ways for companies to get out of boycotters’ crosshairs. (In this case, to stop doing business with the Trumps.)
Some unsuccessful boycotts, she says, are “just created to punish companies, they’re not created to help them evolve to a more ethical place.”
As Grab Your Wallet grows, so too do new challenges. Coulter has occasionally been bombarded by vociferous e-mails from those who oppose the boycott.
“Something changed for me when those Trump tapes came out.” SHANNON COULTER FOUNDER, GRAB YOUR WALLET
Also, a Facebook page has popped up that Coulter says is not affiliated with her campaign, but uses the Grab Your Wallet moniker and is hawking “Grab Your Wallet” T-shirts.
“It’s so important to me that this not be tied to any desire to make money,” Coulter said.
Coulter is still figuring out what’s next for Grab Your Wallet: she hopes, at some point, not to be a one-woman band. And perhaps the campaign might grow to include other companies that aren’t necessarily affiliated with the Trumps, but those that are perceived to be standing in the way of inclusivity. Retreating is not on the list of possibilities.
“I feel a seriousness of purpose that I’ve never felt before in my life,” Coulter said.