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They say money and family don’t mix. Ivanka Trump may learn the hard way.
With the election season wrapping up and recent polls showing presidential hopeful Donald Trump trailing farther in the polls, it may be time for Ivanka to jump ship on support for her father’s political career.
Since her father’s crude “locker room” remarks, the businesswoman’s fashion and retail empire has taken a hit.
For nearly a decade, Ivanka has built her retail brand which includes clothing, shoes, accessories and jewelry and can be found in department stores like Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s. Her brand also includes a website with a mission to empower “Women Who Work.”
In contrast, her father’s campaign has been smeared with racism, xenophobia and misogyny connected to several past rape allegations. Ivanka has addressed her father’s comments about groping women, calling them “clearly inappropriate and offensive.”
Ivanka and Trump are likely reaching different audiences, but it’s hard to separate father and daughter when Ivanka has been a mouthpiece for the Trump campaign. Because of this, young professional women, much of whom are Ivanka’s target customers, have called on one another to take their business elsewhere. The #GrabYourWallet campaign started by brand strategist Shannon Coulter asks shoppers to boycott Ivanka’s products because of her support of her father’s presidency and his sexist views.
Although Ivanka responded to her father’s comments, boycott participants are not satisfied. They have not only created a buzz of more than 119 million impressions on Twitter and additional hashtags including #fashionnotfacism and #boycottIvanka, but they’ve also called on major retailers including Nordstrom to pull Ivanka’s products from their stores.
The fashion mogul seems optimistic about the future of her brand. In response to the boycott, Ivanka told ABC News, “The beauty of America is people can do what they like, but I’d prefer to talk to the millions — the tens of millions — of American women who are inspired by the brand and the message that I’ve created.”
Though retailers have yet to cut ties with the brand, Ecommerce shopping tool ShopRunner reports a 40 percent decrease in interest in the Ivanka Trump brand. She may have to continue speaking out against her father’s sexism and distance herself from his views in order to keep shoppers interested. Time will tell how her connections to her father’s campaign will hurt her financially.
