Kempner’s Unofficial Business
I’ve been a reporter or editor since gas was about a dollar a gallon and “Hands Across America” was a thing. I’ve spent lots of time covering government, the environment and, for most of my career, business. But I don’t daydream about fiscal policy and corporate earnings. What I love about business is the strategy and the people and the journeys that those people take. I like irony and surprise and nuance. I’ve interviewed soldiers, oystermen, football stars, chicken plant workers, Fortune 500 CEOs, suburban activists and entrepreneurs dreaming big dreams. How cool is that? I’ve teared up in interviews, laughed inappropriately, been yelled at and snookered. I do like an adventure. Let’s see where this one goes.
Think of a legal product you consider absolutely heinous and personally offensive.
Now consider: what would you think of a company you do business with if it sold or transported that product?
I was pondering the question after hearing about the very different stances two of metro Atlanta’s biggest companies are taking on an issue that’s hot right now.
Delta Air Lines said this week it will no longer transport lion, leopard, elephant, rhinoceros and buffalo “trophies” – basically a euphemism for heads and such — as freight. It previously allowed them with appropriate documentation to U.S. customs officials, so long as the animal wasn’t a protected species. Some other big U.S. airlines have the broader limits in place.
But over at UPS, spokeswoman Susan Rosenberg said that while the delivery giant won’t transport endangered animals or other illegal material, it doesn’t ban other taxidermy.
“There are many items shipped in international commerce that may spark controversy,” she said in an emailed statement. “The views on what is appropriate for shipment are as varied as the audiences that hold these views.”
The statement said, “We avoid making judgments on the appropriateness of the contents.”
I called Rosenberg and asked her if there is anything UPS won’t transport for social reasons that is nonetheless legal and not limited by regulations.
“There’s nothing that comes to mind,” she told me.
All this has me thinking about the complexity of where – if anywhere – we think the line should be drawn on what businesses handle.
The subject of hunting “trophies” (what an odd word for animal parts: “Yay! You got first place in the stalk and kill round!”) is hot in the wake of the saga of the Minnesota dentist who hunted and killed Cecil the lion. The lion apparently had been lured out of a Zimbabwe nature reserve, shot first with a bow and arrow and, some 40 hours later, killed with a rifle.
The lion’s head was cut off, and he was skinned.
All this has put new pressure on big game hunting. An online campaign to get airlines to stop handling trophies had already been underway, and Delta faced new pressure.
I don’t get it
I confess I don’t get why people like sticking an animal head on a wall. I don’t hunt, but neither do I condemn it. Enjoy being in nature on a hunt? OK. Eat the meat of what you kill? Sure. Stick the decapitated head on a wall above the big screen? Really?
But I also had a twinge of worry when I heard about Delta’s new Do Not Fly list. Businesses clearly are free to decide what to sell. But how much do I want businesses to take such stands? What are my expectations of the social stances of a business otherwise focused on getting passengers from point A to point B or selling hardware or doling out consumer loans?
It’s becoming an increasingly important question because social media has sped up just how quickly companies act to avoid a protest tsunami.
We had this come up recently with Confederate flags. In the wake of the South Carolina church shootings, a number of retailers and flag manufacturers dropped such flags. They got praise and some condemnation. I wrote about one local flag maker who stopped making the flags long before the hoopla. He told me he just didn't feel good about creating such flags.
Lots of companies have avoided selling certain legal products, such as retailers avoiding sales of alcohol or booze. Heck, Chick-fil-A won’t even sell you a chicken sandwich on Sundays, when its stores are closed. There also are campaigns to push airlines to ban carrying live dolphins as well as the fins of dead sharks.
Drawing the line
So where do you draw the line for businesses and activities you’d rather they didn’t facilitate in any way? Porn? Condoms? Booze, cigarettes, morning-after pills, Confederate flags, T-shirts with racially charged messages?
Edward Queen is a professional ethics guy. He’s on the faculty at Emory University’s Center for Ethics and he teaches ethics courses for college students and business people.
He said he isn’t surprised Delta and UPS would have different stances on the “trophy” issue. Delta’s biggest business is transporting people. UPS’s is transporting things.
Delta, Queen suggests, has to be particularly aggressive about the concerns of its passengers versus the cargo it carries.
“Delta owes a duty to protect its people who fly on the airlines and anything that causes damage to that is a distraction.”
“Businesses trade in their reputation alongside anything else they trade in,” Queen said. “I think they are always struggling to some extent with … the pressures put on them by (customers and shareholders).”
I think customers are increasingly struggling with that, too. I know I am.
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