. JoAnn Farb’s Email exchange with
. The Merc’s marketing manager
Date: Wed, 9 Dec 2015 11:05:15 -0600
Subject: Publications within The Merc Co+op
Dear JoAnn,
Thank you so much for your continued partnership with our co-op classes. We are proud to be able to offer our community classes that highlight alternative diets and perspectives.
We have noticed that copies of your publication, Feast Lawrence, are being dropped off in our cafe’s publication receptacle each month. While we appreciate and understand your desire to share that news, we do have a policy of posting only publications that we have an established advertising relationship with, such as: Taste for Life, Feast and Liberty Press.
The past few months staff has been removing these copies and shredding. With that in mind, I wanted to reach out to you so that we can avoid the loss in terms of printing and paper.
Thank you for understanding. We appreciate the work you do!
xxxxxxxxx
Marketing Manager
On 12/9/15 11:23 AM, "JoAnn F"
Hi xxxxxxxx
I really do appreciate you letting me know this so that I am not wasting my money!
That said....every month that the Feast Lawrence News has been out, I have advertised my Community Mercantile Cooking Classes, and I link to The Merc's website from my own website.
The Merc has so publicly embraced what is local -- and my newsletter is more local to Lawrence than any of the others that you currently allow in this space. The content of my newsletter is also focused upon health, environmental sustainability and social justice -- with the primary goal of helping to bring about a more just and compassionate world. The other publications that you allow are profit and/or corporate driven -- so the Feast Lawrence News actually has more in common with established coop values.
Would you approve the Feast Lawrence News on this basis of all of the above, so that it can also be one of the publications that are sanctioned to be in the receptacle?
Thanks so much,
JoAnn Farb .
Date: Wed, 9 Dec 2015 11:46:30 -0600
Subject: Re: Publications within The Merc Co+op
Re: Publications within The Merc Co+op
JoAnn,
I appreciate the comments and points that you make below. I wish to stress that I am not arguing against the content of your publication, nor making a statement for or against the consumption of animal products as a whole. However, I fear that your publication relays sentiments that directly conflict with our desire and our brand promise to be welcoming, upbeat and nonjudgmental to all our owners and shoppers.
Thank you for your ownership and participation with the co-op. Should our publications policy change, we will be certain to contact you.
xxxxxxxxx
Marketing Manager
On 12/10/15 10:48 AM, "JoAnn F" <[email protected]> wrote:
Hi xxxxxxx:
If it is your intention to be welcoming, upbeat and nonjudgmental to all Merc owners and shoppers, perhaps you would indulge me a moment to share with you a minority perspective, within our diverse community.
Not all of The Merc’s owner/members find images of dead and dismembered cows, pigs, chickens and fish appealing. Some have had personal relationships with these animals similar to those that most Americans have with cats and dogs. Dozens of people have told me how The Merc’s increasing emphasis on promoting consumption of animals and their bodily excretions is so unwelcoming to them that they rarely shop at The Merc anymore.
How many people would be outraged if you started advertising dog and cat meat? Would you call their attempts to raise awareness of such an injustice “judgmental?”
Imagine if you will, walking into The Merc and seeing a large picture of a Labrador retriever puppy that was dead, its hair removed and its anal cavity stuffed full of bread crumbs and herbs. Imagine getting weekly emails from the Merc, that although filled with information you DID want to read, you had to scroll through disturbing images of dead cats, with their severed heads removed and cooked to a golden brown. Would that make The Merc feel welcoming and upbeat to you? If you went to the café and looked for something to read, but the only things available reinforced this perspective, would that feel welcoming and upbeat?
To be told that the Feast Lawrence News is not appropriate for the café, when every periodical you provide is filled with blatant violence against animals – and give no thought about how unwelcoming THOSE are for some, is inconsistent. Why is the minority disregarded, while actively censoring/shredding honest information that could help others decide for themselves which products support values they already hold – about not unnecessarily causing harm to other beings, or about selecting products with the lowest carbon, and water footprints, so we don’t hasten the disappearance of island nations, or increase drought? Why does your policy respect only one perspective?
It is one thing for The Merc to claim that selling meat, dairy and eggs is being driven by customer demand. It is another entirely for the Merc to selectively enable only distribution of information that will welcome the majority while deeply offending the minority – when they are peaceful and seeking only to inform. The Merc would be more welcoming if it allowed all perspectives that are not violent or hateful.
I respectfully request that you reconsider, and provide space for the Feast Lawrence News in the Merc’s café. This would be most consistent with coop principals, and give customers an alternative to publications which offend those waking up from the culturally taught desensitization to injustice, that makes it hard to recognize violence right in front of us.
Sincerely,
JoAnn Farb
_____________________________________________________________________________________
From:
marketingmanager
Sent:
Thu 12/10/15 11:13 AM
To:
JoAnn F
JoAnn,
Our café’s publication policy is not based on perspective, but about—as stated in my original email below—an established advertising relationship. Should that policy change, I will contact you first.
Thank you for your time and for sharing your thoughts.
xxxxxxxxx
Marketing Manager
. The Merc’s marketing manager
Date: Wed, 9 Dec 2015 11:05:15 -0600
Subject: Publications within The Merc Co+op
Dear JoAnn,
Thank you so much for your continued partnership with our co-op classes. We are proud to be able to offer our community classes that highlight alternative diets and perspectives.
We have noticed that copies of your publication, Feast Lawrence, are being dropped off in our cafe’s publication receptacle each month. While we appreciate and understand your desire to share that news, we do have a policy of posting only publications that we have an established advertising relationship with, such as: Taste for Life, Feast and Liberty Press.
The past few months staff has been removing these copies and shredding. With that in mind, I wanted to reach out to you so that we can avoid the loss in terms of printing and paper.
Thank you for understanding. We appreciate the work you do!
xxxxxxxxx
Marketing Manager
On 12/9/15 11:23 AM, "JoAnn F"
Hi xxxxxxxx
I really do appreciate you letting me know this so that I am not wasting my money!
That said....every month that the Feast Lawrence News has been out, I have advertised my Community Mercantile Cooking Classes, and I link to The Merc's website from my own website.
The Merc has so publicly embraced what is local -- and my newsletter is more local to Lawrence than any of the others that you currently allow in this space. The content of my newsletter is also focused upon health, environmental sustainability and social justice -- with the primary goal of helping to bring about a more just and compassionate world. The other publications that you allow are profit and/or corporate driven -- so the Feast Lawrence News actually has more in common with established coop values.
Would you approve the Feast Lawrence News on this basis of all of the above, so that it can also be one of the publications that are sanctioned to be in the receptacle?
Thanks so much,
JoAnn Farb .
Date: Wed, 9 Dec 2015 11:46:30 -0600
Subject: Re: Publications within The Merc Co+op
Re: Publications within The Merc Co+op
JoAnn,
I appreciate the comments and points that you make below. I wish to stress that I am not arguing against the content of your publication, nor making a statement for or against the consumption of animal products as a whole. However, I fear that your publication relays sentiments that directly conflict with our desire and our brand promise to be welcoming, upbeat and nonjudgmental to all our owners and shoppers.
Thank you for your ownership and participation with the co-op. Should our publications policy change, we will be certain to contact you.
xxxxxxxxx
Marketing Manager
On 12/10/15 10:48 AM, "JoAnn F" <[email protected]> wrote:
Hi xxxxxxx:
If it is your intention to be welcoming, upbeat and nonjudgmental to all Merc owners and shoppers, perhaps you would indulge me a moment to share with you a minority perspective, within our diverse community.
Not all of The Merc’s owner/members find images of dead and dismembered cows, pigs, chickens and fish appealing. Some have had personal relationships with these animals similar to those that most Americans have with cats and dogs. Dozens of people have told me how The Merc’s increasing emphasis on promoting consumption of animals and their bodily excretions is so unwelcoming to them that they rarely shop at The Merc anymore.
How many people would be outraged if you started advertising dog and cat meat? Would you call their attempts to raise awareness of such an injustice “judgmental?”
Imagine if you will, walking into The Merc and seeing a large picture of a Labrador retriever puppy that was dead, its hair removed and its anal cavity stuffed full of bread crumbs and herbs. Imagine getting weekly emails from the Merc, that although filled with information you DID want to read, you had to scroll through disturbing images of dead cats, with their severed heads removed and cooked to a golden brown. Would that make The Merc feel welcoming and upbeat to you? If you went to the café and looked for something to read, but the only things available reinforced this perspective, would that feel welcoming and upbeat?
To be told that the Feast Lawrence News is not appropriate for the café, when every periodical you provide is filled with blatant violence against animals – and give no thought about how unwelcoming THOSE are for some, is inconsistent. Why is the minority disregarded, while actively censoring/shredding honest information that could help others decide for themselves which products support values they already hold – about not unnecessarily causing harm to other beings, or about selecting products with the lowest carbon, and water footprints, so we don’t hasten the disappearance of island nations, or increase drought? Why does your policy respect only one perspective?
It is one thing for The Merc to claim that selling meat, dairy and eggs is being driven by customer demand. It is another entirely for the Merc to selectively enable only distribution of information that will welcome the majority while deeply offending the minority – when they are peaceful and seeking only to inform. The Merc would be more welcoming if it allowed all perspectives that are not violent or hateful.
I respectfully request that you reconsider, and provide space for the Feast Lawrence News in the Merc’s café. This would be most consistent with coop principals, and give customers an alternative to publications which offend those waking up from the culturally taught desensitization to injustice, that makes it hard to recognize violence right in front of us.
Sincerely,
JoAnn Farb
_____________________________________________________________________________________
From:
marketingmanager
Sent:
Thu 12/10/15 11:13 AM
To:
JoAnn F
JoAnn,
Our café’s publication policy is not based on perspective, but about—as stated in my original email below—an established advertising relationship. Should that policy change, I will contact you first.
Thank you for your time and for sharing your thoughts.
xxxxxxxxx
Marketing Manager
