August 19, 2009 08:36 PM UTC

So That's Why You Preferred Wild Oats?

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• by: Colorado Pols

As the Boulder Daily Camera reports:

Whole Foods, the largest natural foods grocer in Boulder County, is doing damage control and apologizing to its customers amid growing calls for boycotts against its CEO’s views on health care.

John Mackey, Whole Foods’ founder and chief executive officer, caused a stir after he wrote a guest opinion in the Wall Street Journal against a “massive new health-care entitlement” that will “move us much closer to a government takeover of our health-care system.”

The stance and his eight suggested reforms – including removing legal obstacles to making high-deductible plans and health savings accounts more available and for tax forms to allow for voluntary donations to help the uninsured – didn’t sit too well with Boulder resident Judd Golden and thousands of others nationwide.

“I’ve been a stockholder … I’ve been a zealous and enthusiastic supporter,” said Golden, 59, who is chairman of the Boulder County chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. “But this, to me, seemed like it went over the edge to the extent of failing to be perceptive of who his customer base is.”

…In a letter to customers, Tom Rich, the Pearl Street Whole Foods store’s team leader, apologized on behalf of Whole Foods for Mackey’s words offending some customers, community members and employees.

The letter also included clarifications, such as: Mackey’s opinion was in favor of health care reform; the piece’s headline was changed by the newspaper’s editors from “Health care reform” to “Whole Foods alternative to Obamacare;” and Whole Foods has no official position on the issue.

It’s not the first time that Whole Foods CEO John Mackey has “gone rogue” in ways that Whole Foods has disclaimed as a corporation–remember Mackey getting caught essentially sock-puppeting against local competitor Wild Oats as his company prepared to take it over. That supposedly was Mackey “acting on his own” too…though it serviced Whole Foods’ aims pretty directly.

This is really supposed to be any different? We note the article casts some doubt on the efficacy of corporate boycotts to effect changes–but Whole Foods has a little different niche, and as a result customer base, than other corporations. Isn’t it possible they are more exposed to liberal backlash because of who they are than, say, Exxon?