The twitterverse is on fire today with calls to boycott Motel 6 (@motel6), the roach-motel chain whose Phoenix-area properties were revealed to be turning their undocumented guests in to ICE (presumably after taking those guests’ money). The company responded this morning with a terse two-sentence non-apology:
No statement of remorse. No offer of free legal representation for the affected customers (or even just refunds). No large donation to an immigrant rights group paid in penance for the company’s sins. Nope. Just a two-sentence nopology. Nothing to see here folks. And that’s all you’re likely to get, too, because while today’s boycott calls are certainly good-hearted, they’re completely misdirected. Motel 6 knows damn well that most of the folks now vowing never again to stay there have, in fact, never stayed there, and likely never would, with or without this current broohaha. So go fish, you SJWs.
We need to get a lot smarter about boycotts and other forms of voting with our wallets. Long gone are the days when you could just stop buying grapes and make a real impact on oppressed people’s lives. In today’s economy, where just about every familiar consumer brand is owned by a much larger holding company that you’ve never heard of, we need to strike at the head (the controlling company), not at the tail (the individual product). Because a fish rots from the head down.
And for Motel 6, that head is its parent, the holding company Blackstone Group (NYSE:BX). Blackstone owns Motel 6 lock, stock, and barrel. Motel 6 doesn’t take a dump without Blackstone executives’ blessing. Influence Blackstone, and you automatically influence Motel 6.
But I hear you say “I don’t do business with Blackstone. How can I possibly threaten it with anything?” Hey, glad you asked. Here are some ways. One of them is something that practically everyone can do...all you need is a Twitter or Facebook account. Another is something that quite a few folks can do. And a third is for the few alone.
1. What quite a few of us can do: Call for boycotts...and boycott... Blackstone’s other consumer-facing assets, including:
2. Re-tweet tweets calling for #1, above. Why? Not merely to spread the word, but perhaps even more importantly because enough RTs will light up the Bloomberg terminals of every stock trader in America, signaling trouble brewing for Blackstone’s stock (which, in turn, creates trouble for it). Here’s the head of our own tweet thread on the subject (y’all go right ahead and RT it if you’d like):
3. Look into whether or not you’re actually an unwitting investor in Blackstone. Perhaps you hold shares in a mutual fund that in turn holds shares in Blackstone. Or perhaps your state employees’ retirement funds are invested in or managed by Blackstone. Look into it. Find out. And comment here (below) to let us know what you learn. And if it turns out you’re an unwitting investor in Blackstone, complain to your mutual fund or state employees retirement fund.
So what’s the point of all this? Nothing more nor less than to visit the sins of the son upon the father. Motel 6’s treachery was enabled by Blackstone. Make it hurt. If we do, we’ll win more than just a nopology for the undocumented folks Motel 6 screwed. And we’ll put other holding companies, with similar properties, on notice that this is not OK, and they can’t hide behind their corporate structures and blame these things on some rogue night clerk in a Phoenix flophouse.
You own this, Blackstone. Literally. Make it right. Where’s your corporate policy on cooperation with ICE? What restitution and aid will you have Motel 6 provide to its victims? Where’s your investigation of all Motel 6 (and other) properties across the U.S. in order to understand the full scope of this treachery and shut it down?
Disclosure: the author holds no positions, either long or short, in any of the publicly traded companies discussed here.