If Nike just dared somebody to one-up their dumbest political campaign of all time, Levi Strauss just asked us to hold their beer.
The president of Levi Strauss & Co. – a company that makes jeans, to remind – announced Tuesday he's launching a company-wide effort against guns and gun violence, including partnering with anti-gun groups and giving their workers paid leave for anti-gun activism.
In an op-ed for Fortune, Levi Strauss CEO Chip Bergh announced his company is launching an anti-gun fund and donating more than $1 million to non-profits and youth movements “working to end gun violence in America,” adding his company has already banned guns in their own stores, offices and manufacturing facilities. The company also announced they’re now partnering with Everytown for Gun Safety, a non-profit, anti-gun (not just anti-gun violence, but pointedly anti-gun) group known for peddling fake statistics about school gun violence and mass shootings.
If that weren't enough, Levi Strauss is also urging their employees to use company-paid time to “get involved” in anti-gun crusades.
“In addition, we’re encouraging employees who are concerned about gun violence to get involved. Levi Strauss & Co. provides employees five hours a month (60 hours a year) in paid volunteer time and we recently expanded this to include political activism. We’re encouraging our employees to use their time to make an impact,” Bergh said.
The NRA quickly fired back -- no pun intended -- calling the 160-year-old jeans 'n overalls company out on Twitter for "singling out pro-2A customers."
Bergh added he anticipates he’ll get threats of violence over his decision, but claims that “these personal attacks pale in comparison to the threats that activists and survivors from Parkland, Sandy Hook, and daily incidents of gun violence face every time they speak up on this issue.”
Interestingly, Bergh didn’t make note of the avalanche of daily threats made against gun owners, Second Amendment supporters, NRA members or their spokespeople like Dana Loesch (whose copious online threats have targeted not only her, but her husband and young children, as well).
He also failed to mention the thousands of lives that are saved each year through the defensive use of firearms, which would be threatened if anti-Second Amendment groups like Everytown get their way and strip law-abiding citizens of their guns.
But then, I wouldn’t expect a company whose primary concern is the stitching on a folded seam to be experts on the ins-and-outs of firearms, gun legislation or crime statistics. Which is why I’d prefer if they just stuck to what they know: making jeans.
(Cover Photo: Mike Mozart)