Publications
Partners
Craig Bailie writes that Christians who decide to boycott Woolworths over its recent Pride Month campaign must do so for valid reasons and in a manner consistent with biblical values.
Recently, Mr Errol Naidoo, the Founder and CEO of Family Policy Institute, released a video in which he takes exception to Woolworths South Africa’s decision to celebrate Pride Month. In the video Mr Naidoo calls on Christians to boycott the retailer.
I agree that consumers, including Christian consumers, have the right, and in some instances, the moral obligation to boycott a commercial entity. I commend Mr Naidoo for raising awareness among Christians about this right.
It remains necessary, however, to ask some critical questions, partly to buffer the messaging in Mr Naidoo’s video and partly to challenge some of the rationale underlying Mr Naidoo’s call for Christians to boycott Woolworths.
I do so with the primary aim of helping Christians navigate this consumer relations space in a manner that serves the Christian witness. Christians who boycott Woolworths must do so for valid reasons and in a manner consistent with biblical values.
What is the source of the authority by which Christians can influence Woolworths?
Christians will do well to recognise that Woolworths is a privately owned, publicly listed commercial entity. Woolworths is, therefore, separate from and not part of the Church.
Therefore, whatever authority Christian customers have over Woolworths, they have not because they are Christians but because they are customers, because of the share of the Woolworths customer market they occupy, and because of the legislation that governs their relationship as customers with Woolworths as a retailer.
How should Christians use the consumer influence they have?
Where Christians believe they have a moral duty to exercise consumer influence over Woolworths in response to its Pride Month campaign, and they act to fulfil this duty, they also have an obligation to exercise this influence in a moral manner – in a way that affirms rather than detracts from their calling to be salt and light in the world.
The Church serves as salt and light in the world when it points people to God's Word, and importantly, when it does so in a manner that reflects God's character.
Is Woolworths excluding Christians?
Woolworths focusing its sales strategy on a specific social group that happens to embrace values contrary to those held by the retailer's Christian customers, is not the same as Woolworths setting out to exclude, alienate or be hostile towards its Christian customers.
Woolworths' Christian clientele might want to consider the following questions: Has Woolworths started charging Christians more for its products or has the retailer prevented Christians from buying its products altogether? Does Woolworths prevent people from entering its store because they are wearing Christian religious symbols and/or clothing that refers to or communicates something about the Christian faith?
Is Woolworths obliged to make Christians feel welcome?
Woolworths’ decision to launch a campaign that raises awareness about a designated social group and that may serve to help the same group feel more welcome in its stores does not entitle Christians or any other consumer group to the same.
In support of his argument that the retailer should make Christians feel more welcome, Mr Naidoo cites in his video the fact that "Woolworths makes 60% of their income over the Christmas period."
READ | Melanie Verwoerd: Pride campaign - Woolworths deserves to be congratulated, not boycotted
This line of thinking assumes wrongly, however, that all or any significant number of those who buy from Woolworths over the Christmas period, are Christian, and that, because of this, Woolworths owes its Christian customers something.
Does money paid for Woolworths products go to LGBTQIA+ support groups?
Mr Naidoo was being conservative with the truth when, during his video message he said that "Woolworths is funding LGBTQ support groups". He argued in his video that if Christians are supporting Woolworths with their finances, they "are indirectly supporting the war against the family, the war against innocent children, the war against religious freedoms."
While it is true that Woolworths is funding LGBTQIA+ groups, it is also true, based on a reading of the Woolworth’s website, that it is only doing so with the proceeds gained from the sale of Pride Month merchandise.
Are Christians in SA consistent on matters of faith or belief, in the context of consumer relations?
In late 2020, Andries and Coia de Villiers, the owners of Beloftebos wedding venue in South Africa's Western Cape, refused to accommodate a request to host the wedding reception of a same-sex couple. The owners declined the request to host the wedding reception on religious grounds.
More recently, in late 2022, Craig Quinton, the owner of Craig Marks Diamonds in Cape Town, declined a prospective client's request to make an engagement ring that she planned to give her same-sex partner. Like the de Villiers’, Mr Quinton cited religious beliefs for his decision.
If, according to Christians, Christian business owners have the right to choose who they serve and how, based on their beliefs, then, for the sake of consistency and to avoid Christian entitlement, Christians should insist that the same right be extended to Woolworths. In this instance, Woolworths has decided to serve the LGBTQIA+ community through the launch of a Pride Month campaign.
The right of a business to choose who it serves and how, does not deny the right of consumers, however, including Christians, to engage in the legitimate exercise of their consumer power and boycott a business for what they deem to be moral reasons. Again, however, and writing from a place of Christian concern, the reasons given for the boycott must be valid, and the way in which Christian consumers boycott is significant.
Are Christians taking care to avoid double standards?
Christians should be cautious about accusing Woolworths of forcing LGBTQIA+ ideology on its customers through the Pride Month campaign and because of the related merchandise and marketing.
In 2010, when Woolworths removed all Christian magazines from its stores, citing poor sales as the reason, Mr Naidoo successfully led Christians in a campaign against Woolworths to have the Christian magazines returned to the retailer's shelves. Was this campaign not a case of Christians forcing their worldview on Woolworths customers?
What about the children?
Children are the most impressionable and among the most vulnerable human beings.
While it may or may not be true that Woolworths is supporting a movement that, according to Mr Naidoo, is engaging in a "war against innocent children," it is not true that Woolworths' Pride Month initiative visibly includes and targets children.
Woolworths has confirmed in this media statement that "the campaign merchandise is exclusively adult wear, and kids are not featured in any of the displays or campaign material."
Nevertheless, because every campaign communicates a message, whether implicitly or explicitly, Christian parents who continue shopping at Woolworths during Pride Month will be wise to exercise discernment about whether they will take their children with them.
Should Christians boycott Woolworths for celebrating gay pride? I haven't answered this question, but I hope that I have offered Christians who do boycott Woolworths some insights that will encourage and better position them to do so in a manner that testifies to their Christian faith.
- Craig Bailie is the Founding Director of Bailie Leadership Consultancy. He writes in his personal capacity. An extended version of this article is available here.
Want to discuss hotly debated topics with someone from across the world? Sign up for our global dialogue programme and get matched for a conversation
*Want to respond to the columnist? Send your letter or article to opinions@news24.com with your name and town or province. You are welcome to also send a profile picture. We encourage a diversity of voices and views in our readers' submissions and reserve the right not to publish any and all submissions received.
Disclaimer: News24 encourages freedom of speech and the expression of diverse views. The views of columnists published on News24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of News24.
