Suppose you run a small business. Maybe a diner. Or a shop. Or a repair service.

And suppose you hold strong political and social views. You hate this candidate and love his opponent. You hate – or love – gun laws. You love – or hate – Planned Parenthood. You think climate change deniers are idiots – or heroes.

Question: Does it make business sense for you to ram your views down your customers’ throats?

This question is pertinent today. For large businesses it certainly is. Nike chooses to feature a rebel from the NFL in its ads. The guy who started the circus of kneeling during the national anthem.

Starbucks waded into the political and social fray. Certainly big media have. Not just in their opinion pages and segments. In their news coverage. The NY Times proclaimed that slanting its news was just fine in the last election campaign. Hundreds of newspapers have proclaimed, together, they are part of the political opposition to our current president.

Social media companies inflict their political and social biases on customers. By skewing their search engines. (This morning I Googled a controversial subject that has dominated the news lately. Every article it served up was on the liberal side of the fence. I gave up after about 50 articles.)

Many publicly traded companies declare their political allegiances. They openly send big contributions to candidates that share their views. This is different than lobbying for laws that will favor them. This is virtually campaigning for a party or candidates.

Does this make good business sense? After all, the companies’ politicking will probably alienate a lot of their customers. Or keep people from becoming such. Suddenly many folks will never buy a Nike product again. Many already boycott companies that boast of views they cannot stomach. Remember the Chick-fil-A brouhaha? Remember how ratings have fallen for the Academy Awards gala?

You would think the guys who run the big companies have thought these policies through. I wonder if they have. Especially when it comes to shareholders. Many companies have angered millions of shareholders. Shareholders who say “Stick to business. Conduct your politics outside of this business. Instead of using our money to express your views.”

Big media companies have not thought this through. Not in the business sense. The older major networks took strong political stances on the left. In news and opinion segments. They catered to roughly half the American news-viewing market. This left huge opportunities in the other half of the market. Rupert Murdoch could hardly believe his eyes. He ordered his FoxNews to step in and take advantage. Which left several networks fighting each other for mere slices of the other half.

This was and is strange behavior by these companies. Their executives would not do this with products like toothpaste and cars. They would not ignore half a market that has no competitors. In favor of a half that is crowded with competitors.

Traditional marketers do not distinguish customers as left or right, Democrat or Republican. They reckon customers are customers. Their receipts do not show for whom people voted. They don’t segregate their bank accounts into left, right and center money.

But maybe traditional marketing is out of vogue. If so, does the new marketing make good business sense? Thus far, it has not worked well for the NFL.

How would it come down in your favorite supermarket? Suppose it draped big political banners in all the aisles – VOTE FOR _________! Suppose it planted signs in the meat department: THIS MEAT IS DEAD. JUST LIKE ABORTED BABIES.

Would you frequent the restaurant that served up political brochures with its burgers? If you disagreed with the brochures, that is.

Call me a traditionalist. Views are views. Opinions are opinions. Free speech is free speech. And most business ought to be business. But what do I know?

Hey! I heard that.

PS: Come to Cooperstown to see Tales From The Empire. Moving plays about my family’s adventures in a rural hotel/saloon. One play each Friday night in Saptember. Fenimore House Art Museum. Info at FenimoreArt.org. Tickets at Eventbrite.com.

From Tom…as in Morgan.

Find Tom on Facebook. You can write to Tom at tomasinmorgan@yahoo.com.