L.L. Bean: Take Us Off 'Grab Your Wallet' Trump Boycott

FREEPORT, ME — L.L. Bean, one of Maine's signature companies, is the target of a boycott over a founding family member's support for Donald Trump. The "Grab Your Wallet" campaign included L.L. Bean in its boycott list of nearly 40 companies. Amazon, Walmart, Sears, Macy's, Marshalls and Nordstrom are on the list.

Linda Bean, granddaughter of founder L.L. Bean, started a pro-Trump political action committee called Making America Great Again and individually donated $60,000 — well exceeding the $5,000 limit, according to the Associated Press.

"This pretty clearly meets my existing bar for adding a company to the ... boycott list," said Shannon Coulter, a founder of Grab Your Wallet, in a statement. She said she started the boycott effort in October after audio recordings were leaked of Trump making vulgar comments about women.

Shawn Gorman, the head of L.L.Bean's board, called the company's inclusion in the boycott "misguided." He emphasized the company itself does not make political contributions.

"We stay out of politics," Gorman said in a statement.

On Linda Bean's support for Trump, Gorman said, "Our owners, employees, and customers hold views and embrace causes that are individual and diverse."

Gorman requested the Grab Your Wallet campaign remove L.L. Bean from the boycott list.

"We were disappointed to learn that Grab Your Wallet is advocating a boycott against L.L.Bean solely because Linda Bean, who is only one of 50+ family members involved with the business, personally supported Donald Trump for president," Gorman said.

Linda Bean is a member of L.L. Bean's board and owns a company called Linda Bean's Lobster Dreams. She ran for U.S. Congress in 1988 and 1992.

L.L. Bean is headquartered in Freeport.

Grab Your Wallet Campaign

Photo: m01229 via Flickr