NRA sponsors are dropping like tin ducks at a carnival shooting gallery.
First National Bank of Omaha, one of the nation’s largest privately held banks, and rental car company Enterprise, which also owns Alamo and National, have ended partnerships with the National Rifle Association. On Thursday, First National Bank tweeted that “customer feedback has caused us to review our relationship with the NRA” and, as a result, that it would not renew its contract for an NRA-branded Visa credit card.
Two national hotel chains are also clarifying that they’re not involved with the NRA. Wyndham Hotels — which owns Ramada, Days Inn and Super 8, among others — and Best Western also clarified to customers that it didn’t have a relationship with the NRA, after some on Twitter called it out for working with the NRA. Both hotels chains at one time offered discounts to NRA members.
NPR reports that brands — ranging from insurance companies to rental cars — all announced their decisions on Twitter, many in direct response to tweets demanding change coalesced under the trending hashtag #BoycottNRA. On Friday, Symantec, the cybersecurity company, announced via Twitter it has halted its NRA discount program. About an hour later, the insurance company MetLife followed suit, tweeting, “We value all our customers but have decided to end our discount program with the NRA.”
Corporations are built for survival. When they feel the winds going in one direction, the corporation will go in that direction. And right now, there’s a major backlash against the NRA … brands are listening.
FedEx which discounts from 18 percent to 26 percent on domestic and international shipping. A page on the NRA website describing FedEx offers has been removed, but the shipping company has not made a statement about any change in its relationship with the gun-rights group.
GunsDown, an anti-gun group, has been petitioning FedEx to end its affiliation with the NRA for over a year.
How to urge FedEx to break ties with the NRA
1. Email FedEx execs FWSmith@fedex.com djbronczek@fedex.com abgraf@fedex.com
2. Tweet at FedEx president @j_bronczek
3. Tweet at FedEx Comms head @RajViews
4. Call FedEx 901-369-3600