[ojkelly]

The comments here from the first hour are depressingly predictable. Just because you don’t take issue with something doesn’t mean someone else won’t. Brands have always been bigger than their main product. People wear branded tshirts, put stickers on their laptops to show some kind of affinity with a brand.

The opposite can also be true. For reasons they don’t want to use the product anymore, and they want it to be known (they mention they’ve been using it for over a decade).

The reasons themselves have been debated here on the DHH posts themselves, so how about we ask the bigger question.

How can you join the political debate publicly, without risking customers? Or should you risk loosing customers?

How do we talk politics at work? Because sometimes it’s needed. I don’t have the answers, suffice to say starting from a position of respect and a high-trust environment is important.

[adriand]

Absolutely. This is an organization with a set of values, whose members are thoughtful and highly educated, and they don’t want to help enrich someone whose values they find problematic.

This is what free markets are all about. I’m not going to buy my apples from the market stall with the confederate flag. And Bob Iger doesn’t want his movies advertised next to posts spewing white supremacy.

This ability of the market to moderate behaviour is a good thing. It is, after all, entirely peaceful and non-coercive.

[meowtimemania]

Would you buy apples from someone who has a personal blog and posted on that blog that they don’t like affirmative action?

[adriand]

In practice it's not likely I'd be reading their blog, but to answer the question, it would depend on the nature of the blog post. I think it's possible to have thoughtful and well-considered arguments against affirmative action. It's also possible to be a dick, and I'd put DHH squarely in that category. If I thought the apple-seller was a dick, then no, I would not buy apples from them.

To move out of hypotheticals, I was a long-time fan of Kanye West. When it turned out he was an antisemite, I decided I would no longer stream his music. I know each stream is worth less than a penny but I'm not comfortable putting any amount of money in his wallet. When I learned that Adidas was fully aware of his antisemitism and tolerated it to make a buck, I decided I'd be buying Nikes instead.

Every time Musk opens his mouth these days, he damages the brand of the companies he owns/is associated with. That's because it's his choice to speak his mind, and it's the choice of consumers to put their dollars elsewhere. This fact is not new. When you sell a business, some amount of the value is attributed to "goodwill". Musk, DHH and West have all damaged their brands and in the process, diminished the goodwill and thus the value of their companies.