The old adage that “all press is good press” might not ring true with department store chain Macy’s. Their recent partnership with conservative billionaire oddball Donald Trump is causing a sudden drop in the brand’s popularity, particularly among women.
According to a YouGov Brandindex survey, immediately after the Macy’s-Trump partnership, women steadily became far less likely to recommend Macy’s to their friends. In the same period, other brands like JCPenney actually performed better than usual:
Nearly 675,000 people have signed a petition asking Macy’s not to partner with Trump, citing his extremist political positions: Trump called for revolution after President Obama won re-election, has been a leader in the so-called “birther” movement, and called global climate change “a concept created by and for the Chinese to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.”
Or perhaps it’s the more overtly sexist things Trump is known for that make him such a terrible partner for Macy’s: He recently offered to expose his genitals to a woman, played “rate the women” with contestants on his reality TV show, and in 1991 he told Esquire magazine, “it doesn’t really matter what [the media] write as long as you’ve got a young and beautiful piece of [expletive].”
Macy’s has stood by its decision to partner with Trump, saying, “Macy’s marketing and merchandise offerings are not representative of any political position.”
