Publix is really a good grocery store. In my area, it is generally well stocked. It also has an exceptional deli and responsive pharmacy. However, there is a situation that was mishandled much to the detriment of Publix reputation.
Recently, a couple of supporters of gender dysphorics, aka transgenders, went to a Publix grocery store in Florida. They asked the baker to give them a sheet cake with the words “Trans People Deserve Joy”. This created a real conundrum for the baker and eventually the company itself.
The baker realized that “Trans People Deserve Joy” could be controversial and possibly violate corporate policy. The baker refused to write out the message in frosting on the sheet cake. The baker, however, did come up with a compromise where the lower half of the cake had the letters “People Deserve Joy” and the upper half was left blank. The baker also gave the customers some of the frosting to use as they wished. The customers subsequently contacted Publix corporate headquarters with a complaint, and Publix corporate disagreed with their baker’s decision.
First, in disagreeing with the baker, Publix corporate undercut their employee. Instead of praising the baker for a solution that supported both the somewhat ambiguous corporate policy and the needs of the customer, they embarrassed their employee and took a culturally significant stance. (Frankly, attacking your own employees under the circumstances is not a good business practice. Publix corporate should apologize to the baker as well as the customer.)
Second, in disagreeing with the baker, Publix corporate entered the culture wars. If a message on a sheet cake is “Trans People Deserve Joy”, then the opposite message could be appropriate under situations where trans people were not deserving of joy – the shooting at the Nashville Christian school is an example. Further, if a customer message must be placed on a sheet cake by a Publix baker then honoring the likes of Putin might not be out of bounds – although I suspect that Publix corporate would support any baker who refused to put such a message on a sheet cake.
Entering the culture war on the “woke” side is not without substantial risk. Anheuser-Busch, Disney, Target, and others are experiencing a significant customer backlash because they chose to ignore the interests of the “non-woke” majority. Publix beware.
Note: Publix did apologize to the customer. Also, in an email, Publix stated the following “Our policy indicates that our associates may write statements that are not copyrighted or trademarked, support a charitable cause, are factual and considered to have a positive connotation.” (Any reasonably good attorney could drive a truck through that statement.)
