There were questions about how the Trump brand would be affected since the day Donald J. Trump began his presidential campaign. Was all the attention good for business, a marketing adage President Trump could have learned during his time as a reality television star or would his stream of insults hurt viewership of ”The Apprentice” or sales of Ivanka Trump shoes?
The Trump brand in some instances, does not appear to have benefited from Mr. Trump’s presidency as major companies appear to be re-evaluating their relationships with it. Neiman Marcus had dropped Ivanka Trump’s jewelry line from its website, hinting at lackluster sales, it confirmed on Friday. And a move reported by the fashion news site Racked, Ivanka Trump’s brand had disappeared from Nordstrom.com a dat earlier.
However, the move by retailers to distance themselves from the Trump name has not made everyone happy. Some Twitter users were posting #BoycottNordstrom by Saturday.
Particularly by Trump’s recent executive order on immigration, protests over the president’s actions could hurt sales and this is something that companies also seem to be worried about.
GrabYourWallet.org is a campaign pushing for boycotts of Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom and other businesses associated with the Trump name and MillerCoors, a brewing company, contacted Shannon Coulter, a founder of the website on Friday.
”He wanted to talk about why they were on the list,” she said, adding, ”I think all the companies are paying close attention.”
Brands face more pressure to respond to consumer demands at a time when protests and boycotts can easily be organized online.
”Before he became president, I think that a lot of consumers were indifferent to the Trump brand,” said Chris Allieri, a marketing consultant with Mulberry & Astor. ”It’s going to be harder for people to ignore the connection,” he added.
After Peter Coors, a board member of its parent company, Molson Coors, lent his name to a fund-raiser for Mr. Trump in June, the MillerCoors name appeared on GrabYourWallet.org. While respecting the rights of its workers to support candidates in presidential races, MillerCoors said it did not support any candidate.
”Boycotting our brands only harms hard-working employees and their families and is counter to the positive progress that we should all be encouraging and delivering at a time when our nation seems so divided,” Marty Maloney, a spokesman, said.
”Retailers around the country are going to say, do we need the aggravation or not,” said Wendy Liebmann, chief executive at WSL Strategic Retail, a consulting firm. ”It’s hard to imagine that if a brand is really, really doing well, a retailer like a Nordstrom or Neiman Marcus would cut off their nose to spite their face.”
The company will keep expanding and that it had ”significant” year-over-year revenue growth in 2016, Rosemary K. Young, senior director of marketing for Ms. Trump’s brand, said in a statement.
After Trump called Mexican immigrants ”killers” and ”rapists,” the retailer Macy’s, which sells Ms. Trump’s clothing, handbags and shoes, dropped Mr. Trump’s clothing line early in his campaign and the company did not respond to requests for comment.
There is also pressure on companies to back away from ”The Apprentice” franchise, where an executive producer is Mr. Trump. Although the Japanese company seemed to backtrack somewhat within hours, Kawasaki said last month that it would pull its sponsorship.
The Honest Company had committed not to advertise for the rest of the season or next year and whose products will appear in an episode of ”The New Celebrity Apprentice,” Ms. Coulter said.
Mr. Allieri, who backed Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, said, ”If you’re looking for a good opportunity to advertise, I would look beyond ‘The Apprentice,’ because there’s not going to be an upside.”
A spokesman for Ms. Trump’s brand said, ”We are fortunate to have dedicated and engaged partners on our handbags and all of our product categories.”
(Adapted from CNBC)









