Why thousands of angry Australians are planning to throw their Blackmores vitamins in the trash while calling for a boycott of the company: ‘I’m voting NO’
- Calls grow to boycott vitamin company Blackmores
- Companies have been involved in the Voz al Parlamento vote
Blackmores has found herself at the center of a political firestorm with calls to boycott the Australian vitamin company flooding Twitter.
The controversy erupted after major shareholder Marcus Blackmore, whose father founded the vitamin giant, publicly declared he would vote ‘no’ in the Indigenous Voice referendum to Parliament.
His announcement sent the hashtag ‘BoycottBlackmores’ to the top of Twitter’s trending list, as people vowed to avoid the company’s products or argued why it shouldn’t matter.
Blackmore said he would support indigenous Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s ‘vote no’ campaign, funded by the conservative group Advance.
‘If Jacinta tells me that I should vote no, I vote no. Obviously she knows a lot more about Aboriginal issues than I do,” she told The Australian Financial Review last week.
‘Neither the prime minister nor anyone has convinced me that I should vote yes. It is not unlike business. If you’re not good at selling, hire a salesperson.
Blackmore’s main shareholder said he would vote no for the Indigenous Voice to Parliament. The company says his views do not represent the business.
The boycott hashtag trended on Twitter on Saturday and sparked a lively debate.
Mr. Blackmore said he would support Senator Price’s campaign against Indigenous Voice for Parliament.
As of the end of 2020, Marcus Blackmore (photo) does not work at the company, which was founded by his father Maurice.
The business mogul, whose father founded the vitamin company, reportedly donated $35,000 to Advance and more than $70,000 to Coalition in the last fiscal year.
A Blackmores Group spokesman said Blackmore’s views did not represent those of the company and that he had not worked or been a director at the vitamin giant for more than two years.
“His views are completely independent of Blackmores Group,” the spokesman said.
“Blackmores is committed to supporting the health and well-being of all people and values and celebrates diversity, inclusion and equality for employees, customers, partners and the community.”
A ‘vote yes’ campaign for the Voice was also launched, supported by a $5 million grant from the Paul Ramsay Foundation.
Senator Jacinta Price’s ‘no’ campaign is urging Australians to vote against changes she has called ‘dangerous’, ‘divisive’, ‘useless’ and ‘expensive’.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton has not revealed the Liberal Party’s position on the voice and has repeatedly raised concerns about the amount of detail.
Albanese said the comments by opposition MPs were intended to create confusion and complexity when the principle of constitutional recognition was clear.
‘Do we recognize Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in our constitution and consult them on matters that affect them? That’s what the referendum is about,’ he said.
The Yes and No campaigns have been launched ahead of this year’s referendum.
Some argued that trying to silence the views of another person with whom they disagreed was undemocratic.
In fiscal 2021, Blackmores Group earned total revenue of $281 million for its Australian and New Zealand operations.
Indigenous activist Noel Pearson said the vote was a crucial moment for reconciliation.
“We will be crying over this issue for another 200 years if we don’t do it this year,” he told Sky News.
‘Constitutional recognition is about the words of the constitution… that allow indigenous voices to speak in parliament, to speak to the government, about policies and laws that affect people.’