From the nooze:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...081803613.html


Whole Foods Devotees Lash Out at CEO

Customers, Angry Over His Health-Care Views, Share Feelings of Betrayal on
Web

By Ylan Q. Mui
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 19, 2009


"Whole Foods aficionados who assumed the company's management was as crunchy
as the brand are feeling betrayed.

They have stormed Twitter, Facebook and the blogosphere to vent their rage
at John Mackey, the chief executive. In an op-ed column in the Wall Street
Journal last week, he argued for health-care savings accounts and declared
that health care is not an intrinsic right-- ideas with a conservative bent,
which made Whole Foods' liberal customer base go ballistic.

They are even talking about a boycott. And who knows? Maybe some will have
to rethink shopping at Wal-Mart. Unions once attacked the retailer's labor
and benefits policies, but Wal-Mart has become the nation's largest purveyor
of organic products and recently espoused a position on health-care reform
that is widely considered progressive.

What's wrong with this picture?

"A lot of people have been paying a premium for the Whole Foods brand for
years," said Mark Rosenthal, a playwright living in Massachusetts who
founded the Boycott Whole Foods group a few days ago. It has nearly 14,000
members. "A lot of people are sad to look at this corporation and see that
it is just like any other, if not worse."

Whole Foods spokeswoman Libba Letton said that Mackey was expressing
personal opinions in the op-ed and that the company has no official position
on the issue. Whole Foods has sent letters to customers apologizing for any
offense and created a forum on its Web site to discuss the issue. There are
more than 10,000 posts, compared with 77 posts on the raw foods forum.

Mackey is not the first corporate executive to wade into the contentious
health-care debate, but other brands do not inspire the level of fanaticism
that Whole Foods does. Safeway chief executive Steve Burd wrote an op-ed in
the Wall Street Journal in June that also called for market-based reforms in
health care with nary a social media ripple.

In some cases, the pushback has worked. Wal-Mart was thrust into the
health-care debate following vigorous campaigns by labor unions. The
retailer has spent several years removing the tar and feathers: It lowered
premiums for its health insurance, reduced the waiting period for
eligibility and slashed prices on prescription drugs for all customers. This
summer, Wal-Mart broke with business groups to support universal health care
alongside its one-time foe, the Service Employees International Union.

In a post to the D.C. for Obama listserv urging members to boycott Whole
Foods, Thomas M. Goldstein wrote, "We want CEOs to understand that they
benefit from promoting progressive policies and face costs when they take
right-wing stands."

Mackey has described himself as a free-market libertarian and has long been
known as a maverick in the industry. He has cut his salary to $1 and has
imposed caps on executive wages but opposes labor unions. In recent years,
he was investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission for posting
anonymously on a Yahoo Finance message board dedicated to Whole Foods. The
agency has ruled out any action.

Mackey was unavailable for an interview, but on his blog he blamed the
column's headline -- "The Whole Foods Alternative to ObamaCare" -- for
sparking some of the furor. He noted that his piece did not mention the
president. He did mention, though, that the company provides high-deductible
insurance for most of its employees, as well as $1,800 a year for their
discretionary health-care expenses.

Letton, the spokeswoman, pointed to the grocer's long history in supporting
sustainability and organic farming, food and nutritional labeling, and
ethical treatment of animals.

"The list goes on and on," she said. "I hope that our customers will keep
those things in mind."

But that is part of what made Whole Foods the "primo hangout of liberal
Democratic yuppies," as one call to action on MySpace put it -- and exactly
the reason that many say they feel duped.

"Dear Store Manager," a member of the Boycott Whole Foods Facebook group
wrote, "The 30 risotto cakes that I purchased from Jenkintown Whole Foods,
last Friday, were scrumptious. But today they are giving me indigestion of
the soul as I realize that my money may have funded the demise of the public
option in the nation's health care reform legislative debate."

Rosenthal said he was so enraged by Mackey's opinions that he started the
Facebook group, but did not urge his friends to join at first. Just as he
avoids sending an e-mail when he's angry, he said he tried to take a step
back -- only to find when he returned to his computer that 50 people had
discovered the group and joined.

"I think a lot of people feel really betrayed," he said.

The group also started a Twitter profile under the name Whole Boycott and
have been filing frequent updates. So far, it has just 83 followers -- make
that 84 -- compared with Whole Foods' 1.2 million. But it's still early.

It was "only a matter of time before i'd have to reconcile my politics w/my
addiction to #wholefoods," one supporter tweeted recently. "i have to get my
puffins elsewhere."

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