YETI Faces Backlash Over Social Partnerships After Canceling Conservative Group's Mug Order

YETI, the well-known manufacturer of high-end coolers and drinkware, is facing criticism after canceling a custom order placed by the Clare Boothe Luce Center for Conservative Women. The nonprofit organization, which mentors and educates young conservative women, attempted to reorder branded mugs with their logo, only to be told that the request violated YETI's policies.

Kimberly Begg, the president of the organization, said they had successfully ordered the same product before. However, this time, YETI rejected the order, stating that the phrase "Conservative Women" was deemed political.

"We wanted to include our logo on the mugs. This is something that we have done successfully before," Begg explained. "We have shared these mugs with our speakers, who absolutely love them. But the name of our organization is the Clare Boothe Luce Center for Conservative Women, so we wanted to include 'conservative women' on the mugs. And YETI came back and said, nope, can't do it. The word 'conservative' is political, and so we cannot fulfill your order."

Begg also says the company initially processed the order, accepted payment, and then later canceled it, citing their neutrality policy.

YETI has defended its decision, stating that they have a longstanding policy of not customizing products with political affiliations. The company explained that its stance is meant to maintain neutrality and avoid content that could be considered political, obscene, vulgar, profane, discriminatory, defamatory, or hateful.

"Starting with our first customized Rambler® Drinkware in 2015, we've used our best efforts to create and adhere to a policy that prevents customizing products aligned with any political affiliations or organizations in addition to content that could be considered obscene, vulgar, profane, discriminatory, defamatory, or hateful. We regret that due to a mistake, this policy was not followed with the previous online order from the Clare Boothe Luce Center."

However, Begg and her organization argue that YETI's decision is hypocritical. She pointed out that the company publicly supports causes such as diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and partnerships with LGBTQ organizations.

"It was shocking to us after this claim of neutrality to go on their website and see that they not only do business with far-left radical organizations, but they're also actually actively partnering," Begg said. She pointed to a specific case of an LGBTQ organization that takes children on overnight hiking trips. "So it's an LGBTQ organization that does overnight trips with kids."

She also emphasized that her organization is legally classified as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, meaning it is nonpolitical under federal law. "By law, we are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, which means we are a nonpolitical organization," Begg said. "So how could YETI consider an organization that has all-American values to be political, but not an organization that pushes an LGBTQ agenda on kids?"

The Clare Boothe Luce Center has since taken its frustration public, including putting up a billboard in Times Square calling out YETI's decision. The controversy has sparked strong reactions, with many conservatives criticizing YETI's stance and others defending the company's right to enforce its policies.

"We are overwhelmed by the amount of support that we are receiving," Begg said. "Do you know that we have heard from more than 115 companies that want to support us, that they actually want to fulfill our mug order? And we've heard from eight companies that want to fulfill our order for free."

The organization is now using the incident to rally conservative supporters and bring attention to what it calls the marginalization of right-leaning values in corporate America.

"This is about conservatives being tired of being silenced. We're tired of being marginalized," Begg said. "And we want to be respected by corporations and by people in society who have accepted this narrative that there's tolerance for far-left extremist ideas, but not tolerance for patriotic Americans."

YETI has not yet indicated any plans to reverse its decision, maintaining that its branding policy will remain in place. Meanwhile, the Clare Boothe Luce Center is moving forward with alternative vendors and leveraging the controversy to further its outreach efforts.

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