Just when you thought the Paula Deen stories were over. Just when you thought we could move on to Comic-Con, Trayvon Martin, and the Royal Baby. Just when you thought we had hit the low-water mark and Paula Deen was holed up in her plantation, licking her wounds, planning to fight another day … here comes another day – at least if Paula’s backers have anything to say about it.
A company called Butter For Paula has launched a campaign that they hope will turn poor Paula’s fortunes around. Since the whole “n-word” scandal that brought Paula down was about public perception anyway, and since that all seemed to hit with such speed that her fans never really had much of a chance to chime in, Butter For Paula asks Deen fans to speak up now. They ask them to vote with their butter.
The premise is outlined on the organization’s website.
For over 13 years, millions of Americans have invited Paula Deen into their homes, and shared meals with her through her television shows, cookbooks, grocery and kitchen items, and home furnishings.
These corporations have cut ties with Paula, and no longer broadcast her television shows, or carry her products. We have the power to demand that her status be reinstated, and it’s easier than you think.
Major corporations have been moved to action by social protests for decades. When you mail an empty butter wrapper to these corporations, you’re sending a very clear message, telling them that you expect them to reverse their decisions, and restock Paula Deen products. The customer’s voice is the most powerful form of communication with a corporation, especially when the customer’s voice represents millions of fans placing a few butter wrappers in the mail.
The organization feels that they have a shot at turning things around. They cite a statement by Vice President Eric Hoffman at Hoffman Media, publishers of Cooking With Paula magazine when he said, “Readers said if we dropped the magazine they would cancel subscriptions to other magazines we publish.”
The website asks that supporters mail a clean, empty butter wrapper to each of the corporations they list on their site, along with a letter conveying disappointment in their decision to drop Paula Deen.
Companies listed include Scripps Network (which handles Food Network), Kmart Corp., JC Penney Corp., Wal-Mart Corp., QVC, Walgreen, Novo Nordisk, and several others that dropped Deen in the heat of the scandal.