Lands’ End learned the hard way the dangers of getting involved in politically charged debates—particularly those that can be seen as a proxy war over abortion, as is certainly the case with the current brouhaha over Gloria Steinem. Now company executives are realizing that perhaps the only thing worse than implicitly insulting the political beliefs of an important segment of your customer base is insulting the political beliefs of an additional important segment of your customers. Lands’ End needs to hope this P.R. nightmare fades fast. And, in the future, they should stick to offering affordable fashions and monogrammed beach bags, and steer clear of the culture wars.
The only thing that could possibly make professional culture warriors more loathsome would be a sense of “the customer is always right!” entitlement. Naturally, then, boycott culture has stepped up to provide that. The rest of the world has to become a proxy battleground for the superpowers, i.e. the monomaniacal shitheads who live to scream at each other about politics.