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Whole Foods CEO John Mackey loves him some blogging. He has used it to tout his company’s virtues and defend his business tactics. But following an op-ed he wrote on health-care reform that appeared in traditional media outlet the Wall Street Journal last week, he struck a nerve with a number of his web-savvy customers, who were quick to turn others on the internet against him, according to the Washington Post.

A Facebook group named Boycott Whole Foods was launched a few days ago and has nearly 14,000 members. The furor has prompted the company to create a forum on its website to discuss the issue. There are more than 10,000 posts, the WP points out.

Additionally, Mackey has taken to his blog on the company’s site to set the record straight. In an entry on Friday, he blamed the Journal’s editors for slapping a misleading headline on the column and said the views were strictly his own and not of Whole Foods. He posted the unedited version of the op-ed as well. As of Wednesday afternoon, there were more than 1,900 responses.

If any executive should know the power of blogging and social media, it’s Mackey.

In 2007, Mackey ran afoul of regulators, in part because of his online activities. You see, Mackey liked to post in online financial discussion boards, praising his company, while bashing competitors, including Wild Oats. And when he did so, he did so under a pseudonym. Well, when his company acquired Wild Oats and the Federal Trade Commission challenged it over antitrust concerns, the regulatory agency dug up some of those anonymous posts. That led to a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation as well. It turned out what Mackey did wasn't illegal, but it didn’t make for good press. Online or traditional.

Comments (2)

	1. 08-20-2009 17:42
	At least this appears to have generated a fairly healthy debate on the topic. There's nothing wrong with Mackey airing his views on the subject - and there's nothing wrong with his customers voicing their concerns to the contrary. The company should be lauded for embracing the debate rather than trying to run away from it. I noticed there were more than 14,000 posts by this afternoon. Registered

Mel Duvall

	2. 08-23-2009 11:55
	Healthy debate, especially on this topic, is welcome and both sides have the right to voice their views. However, it seems a tad naïve for Mackey not to think that his personal comments on this issue would not reflect on his company, especially given that the brand is built on a passionate socially conscious demographic segment. So, regardless of the merits of his opinion or his inherent right to free speech, the prominent voicing of his opinion poses a threat to his brand and as a result I wouldn't be particularly happy if I was a shareholder. It's similar to the phenomenon in recent years of paying to go to a concert and being forced to hear the artist's political rants during the show; while the artist is entitled to an opinion, they're being paid first and foremost to do a job and not for their opinions. Registered

Fred Kauber

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