PropertyValue
?:author
?:datePublished
  • 2016-12-07 (xsd:date)
?:headline
  • Harry & David Says Company is 'Neutral' on Racism, Neo-Nazis? (en)
?:inLanguage
?:itemReviewed
?:mentions
?:reviewBody
  • On 5 December 2016, new to Twitter user @benthere536 shared a purported letter from the company Harry & David about its stance on issues of racism: The Twitter account only seemed to have been activated after the 8 November 2016 election, and the account's tweets primarily engaged with companies its operator accused of placing ads with the media outlet Breitbart. The account's user appeared to take the view that Breitbart is a hub of neo-Nazism and racism. However, while Breitbart is an openly politically conservative web site, classification of it as definitively anti-Semitic or racist is subjective. In a November 2016 Los Angeles Times profile, company executives firmly rejected that characterization, saying that several senior-level employees (as well as the late Andrew Breitbart, its founder) are Jewish: The user responsible for the spread of the e-mail shared a second screenshot: The letter, which was addressed to a customer service inbox (not a company public relations account), read: It remains possible that the e-mail was answered by a low-level employee uninvolved in Harry & David's management or advertising initiatives. It is also likely that if that were the case, the employee was not trained in fielding requests, and meant to say that the company was politically neutral. In any event, no versions of the claim included proof that Harry & David ever advertised on Breitbart. We contacted Harry & David for comment. A company representative was initially puzzled by our questions, and told us that their advertising initiatives were limited and that the company has never had a relationship with Breitbart. The representative also told us that Harry & David is not neutral about the issue white supremacy or neo-Nazism, but said that no advertisements for their brand ran on the site. The authenticity of the e-mail screenshot remains unclear. It originated with an account younger than a month old, tweeting to near exclusion about companies advertising with Breitbart. A Harry & David representative authorized to speak on the matter explained that the company had never had an advertising relationship with Breitbart, and did little advertising to begin with. A final possibility is that an unauthorized or third-party advertisement for Harry & David appeared on Breitbart, a situation over which the company has little control. (en)
?:reviewRating
rdf:type
?:url