Whole Foods Healthcare Fallout?

Many progressive Whole Foods shoppers were shocked when CEO John Mackey wrote an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal that questioned the need for government-run health care. In the piece, headlined "The Whole Foods Alternative to ObamaCare," Mackey said health care is not a constitutionally guaranteed right, and argued that health is largely a matter of individual responsibility.

The piece caused a stir among healthcare advocates. Shoppers in Austin, Texas, and Berkeley, California, have picketed Whole Foods stores.  A “Boycott Whole Foods” Facebook group has almost 28,000 members.

Locally, the reaction has been mixed. Some customers, initially drawn to Whole Foods for its politics as much as its food, have questioned their loyalty to the store. Others haven't let it change their shopping habits.

Maplewood resident Mary Gallagher hadn’t forgotten the picketers protesting Whole Foods' labor practices in front of the Millburn Avenue store in all kinds of weather for months. Although that left a bad feeling for Gallagher, after a while she began to patronize the store.  The negativity rushed back with Mackey’s position piece on health care.

“I believed that Whole Foods shared my values,” she said.  “It certainly positioned itself as a concerned corporate citizen that cared about sustainability, local growers and health. Mackey can say what he wants, but I’m utterly appalled by his stance and would like to see his profits go down. As much as possible I’m taking my business to Kings and Shop Rite—and I can’t wait for Trader Joe's to open in Millburn.”

Other Maplewood shoppers shared Gallagher’s views but were not prepared to stop shopping at Whole Foods. Elizabeth Gallo, a mother of two, said  “I personally believe that the public option is necessary to ensure coverage for all Americans. But I am not going to shop less at Whole Foods because of Mackey's position. I shop there for items I can't find locally, and the service is really nice there—perhaps, in part, because I have cultivated relationships with employees."

I stopped by the Maplewood Farmer’s Market on Monday to see what some other residents interested in healthy eating thought about the Mackey controversy. Farmer's market shopper Denise Hardie wondered why there was such a controversy about a governmental health plan that hadn’t been finalized.

“There no proposal” she said. “We’re arguing about what it will be, but no one is telling us what it is. What’s the point of getting upset before we know the facts, he (Mackey) may be just be another hysterical person. I am not boycotting at this point. Maybe later when I know more.”

On the other hand, Lisa Basile said that she had been staying away from Whole Foods for quite a while. “The statement was not in keeping with my own beliefs, and said quite a lot about Whole Foods," she said.

I asked at the Whole Foods Customer Service desk if there was a local position on Mackey’s statement. I received a reply by e-mail from Michael Sinatra, Whole Foods’ Public Affairs & Public Relations Manager for the Northeast Region. His e-mail said “John Mackey’s Op/Ed piece on health care reform in the Wall Street Journal has evoked strong reactions from many people. We believe the headline had a lot to do with initial reactions. John titled the piece “Health Care Reform,” but an editor at the newspaper rewrote the headline to call it “Whole Foods Alternative to Obamacare,” which led to antagonistic feelings by many. John has posted the unedited piece to his personal blog on our Web site where people can read it as it was intended.

...we’d like to emphasize that John’s intent was to express his personal opinions—not those of Whole Food Market team members or our company as a whole. Whole Foods Market has no position on the issue of health care reform. We know there are many opinions on the health care debate, including inside our own company. We are hopeful that all sides can continue the conversation in a civil manner that will lead to positive change for all concerned, and we thank everyone who has shared their opinions with us.”

Although that is interesting, it didn’t answer my question, which was whether individual stores are seeing any kind of drop-off in sales due to the Mackey statement.

And as puzzling and inexplicable as the WSJ op/ed piece has been to many Whole Food shoppers who feel betrayed and fooled, my son Ted perhaps had the most interesting angle on the Whole Foods flap. He opined that since Whole Foods seemed to have the liberal/progressive shopper market segment sewed up, that maybe the WSJ piece was a signal to Republicans that now it was safe to come into the store.

Correction: the original version of this story contained a quote by a Whole Foods customer that has since been removed for accuracy. When the piece was edited, the quote was misattributed.