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Spice company begs for customers back after ‘Republicans are racists weekend!’ ad backfired

January 31, 2022 | | Print Article

A national spice company’s divisive holiday promotion has spectacularly backfired leaving its leftist owner begging for customers to load up on gift cards to make up for lost revenue after he accused all Republicans of being racists.

In retrospect, Penzeys Spices CEO Bill Penzey may now regret his decision to honor slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. on the extended holiday weekend honoring him which he renamed as  “Republicans are racist weekend” in an email to customers, a serious lack of self-awareness that quickly came back to bite him in his smug and sanctimonious rear end.

According to the Wisconsin-based company’s letter, “So many great things about our spices and seasonings. One of those great things is that pretty much every one of them, by virtue of where they are grown, who they are picked by, or by the cultures of the foods they ultimately go on to season, cheeses off racists. And where normally cheesing off racists is something we throw in for free with the purchase of any of our spices, in honor of the life of Dr. King, this extended weekend we are throwing in an extra cheesing off of an up-to-$12.95 value 1/2-cup jar free with any $10 purchase.”

(Image: Facebook)

As a bonus, the company announced that it was throwing in “10 little but powerful BLM stickers with any purchase” and informing customers that the money spent to purchase of two of their “very best blends” which were on sale would go to both the national and the local Black Lives Matter organizations.

(Image: Facebook)

The email also claimed that Republicans are “a part of a party that does everything it can to make it harder for Black people to vote.”

But Penzey’s desire to virtue signal by insulting a large number of his existing customers quickly hit him where it really matters – in the pocketbook.

Now Penzey is crying for help in another email to customers while admitting that his ill-advised promotion bombed, driving off 40,005 subscribers from the company’s Voice Of Cooking list while bringing in 30,000 new ones, a net lose of 10,000.

“After starting the year with All Republicans are Republicans and following up with Republicans are Racists we’ve set a nice little Boycott Penzeys! surge in motion,”Penzey wrote. “It certainly wasn’t unsuspected, but if it’s within your means, you picking up a small stack of Gift Cards would help.”

He added, “Please help,” in the appeal to show support by stocking up on gift cards that is also posted to the company’s Facebook page.

Twitter users delighted in Penzy’s reaping of the consequences of his poor judgement and kicked it up a notch.

https://twitter.com/baseball409/status/1487989290319720449?s=20&t=b6pHLF5xFJW-uMd-cZ7ATw

As if alienating thousands of your customer’s by calling them racists wasn’t enough, Penzey’s MLK weekend email was less about honoring the civil rights icon than it was a love letter to the militant Black Lives Matter movement.

“Remember after George Floyd’s murder the anger and righteous outrage that swept across America? Remember how Black Lives Matter stepped in and redirected that anger into peaceful protests that millions of Americans from across all walks of life participated in, amassing a hundred million human-hours of peaceful protest? Remember how Republicans, going against a mountain of evidence to the contrary, once again lied and said BLM wasn’t a peaceful movement but instead terrorists inciting violence throughout the country and then raced out to buy a crapload of guns because maybe they were finally going to get their chance to shoot a Black person? What a bunch of racists,” the email said.

In the 1990s, legendary NBA superstar and Nike pitchman Michael Jordan was slammed by leftists for not using his celebrity status to influence leftist politics, “Republicans buy sneakers, too,” he said, a piece of business wisdom that has been completely lost on ideologues like Bill Penzey.

Chris Donaldson
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