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Just fired this off to General Mills, emphasizing that the boycott is about to become global...
Subject: Sinclair Situation -- Silence is for a day is not an appropriate response
Dear Ms Foster,
My family has been a consumer of your products for over two generations. We also hold your stock in our financial portfolios. Sadly, we are about to part ways.
In a few days, the Sinclair Broadcasting Group (a network in which your company advertises) will air a very calumnious film that maliciously and knowingly distorts the record of presidential candidate John Kerry. The film, “Stolen Honor” will be force-fed to Sinclair’s 62 stations and its affiliates under the guise of “news” to avoid any in-depth scrutiny by the FCC. This film is neither news nor fact. Whether you personally are a Bush supporter or a Kerry supporter, I’m sure that you would agree that forcing stations to air such denigrating propaganda on the eve of an election has only one purpose in mind.
If the FCC is no longer willing or able to uphold the principles of fairness, then we the people (the conscientious viewers and advertisers) are left with a “neighbor watch” type approach to ensure good conduct and integrity over the air waves. To that end, a grass roots boycott of potentially tsunamic proportions is gathering momentum over the internet. Its reach will extend beyond the US borders – and it already has with my Canadian family. The 2004 elections are important not only to Americans but to most non-Americans as well. While my Canadian family is in the top 1% income bracket, we never forget how we came to be so fortunate and thus take our citizen responsibilities very seriously – honesty, integrity and good judgment. We have been most loyal patrons of General Mills products, not just because the products are great but more importantly because we support your company’s belief in ethics and integrity – “We recognize and respect the cultures, customs and practices of our consumers and customers in nations around the world.” This consumer does recognize and respect fairness. We also recognize deceit and complicity.
My question then is this: Will General Mills honor its core values or sit on the sidelines in silence complicit with the Sinclair deed?
We do recognize that the dynamics of this situation are fluid. That said, neither silence nor a tepid position (such as not advertising during the program) is an appropriate response in this situation.
In the words of Martin Luther King, Junior: “We will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.“ Respectfully, if GMs sits in silence, we will honor our core values and thus discontinue our relationship (stocks and products) with our friend – General Mills
There is no need to respond to this letter, as anything short of severing the General Mills/Sinclair relationship permanently and publicly shall be treated as an act of complicity with the Sinclair disgrace.
Canadians indeed are simple, but we are not simple minded.
With respect,
XXXX Canada
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