Inside the Weird World of Niche Conservative Businesses
"The country is that divided," said one business owner. "We kind of want to be with our own people. We want to stick together."
What does it mean to be a conservative wireless network? Or a conservative dating app? What about a cookie company that makes Donald Trump–themed gingerbread men? As mainstream corporations have embraced progressive political positions in recent years, some conservatives are responding by providing a politicized consumer experience of their own.
"People are seeing a shift in corporate America having a lot of influence on politics," said Chrissi Bretz, the director of outreach at Public Sq., a database of conservative-oriented businesses. "We're seeing large corporations spending money on agendas."
In interviews with Reason, right-wing business owners at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) consistently framed their companies as reactions to mainstream corporations—and mainstream culture—which they characterized as hostile to conservative interests.
"Right now, there's a lot of parts of the country, especially on mainstream dating apps, where we feel like it's a hostile environment for us. We want our own place where it's easy to connect, where we know everyone there is kind of like us," said John McEntee, co-founder of The Right Stuff, a conservative dating app. "The left dominates culture and industry…. So you could say, 'Well, what's the left-wing dating app?' Well, it's Tinder."
"You shop your values," said Magda Khalifa, founder of Triangle Fragrance, a perfume company. "And if we just keep giving money to brands that do not represent our values—faith, family, freedom, all the things that have made America great—well, our country is going to evolve."
It seems that, for any service, there is an explicitly right-wing alternative that is gaining popularity among strident conservatives. Instead of Google, conservatives can use Tusk, a "Freedom-First" web browser and search engine. Truth Social famously appeared in 2021 as a refuge for conservative commentators who had been deplatformed by Twitter moderators. Patriot Mobile, a "Christian conservative" wireless provider, was founded a decade ago—but one company representative told Reason that their customer base has tripled since 2020.
"People really are considering purchasing with a purpose over convenience," said Bretz. "They really want to spend their money in accordance with their values."
Some pushed back against the idea that their businesses appeal only to committed conservatives. "Most of my customers know that I'm a Trump fan, but they come in anyway because they love the cookies," said Beth Veneto, who owns Ginger Betty's, a bakery that crafts elaborate Trump-themed cookies and gingerbread men. "And I have conversations with them. We can agree to disagree."
While they may seem niche—even bizarre—these conservative businesses are meeting the demands of our increasingly polarizing political climate. If Republicans and Democrats are less likely than ever to live in the same communities, go to the same colleges, or consider dating each other, then it seems inevitable that should want to shop at different stores and use different internet platforms. Polarization, as it turns out, can be highly profitable.
"The country is that divided," said McEntee. "We kind of want to be with our own people. We want to stick together. We want to help each other. And that's what I think all these businesses are trying to do."
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Beth Veneto, who owns Ginger Betty’s, a bakery that crafts elaborate Trump-themed cookies and gingerbread men.
If she refuses to bake a Biden gingerbread man…
simple fixes: hair icing to white … and she’d have to do something about the googly eyes because the example ones portray a soul
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Sooo..,Are the royalties from Mr. And Mrs Smith not so good?
Inside the Weird World of Niche Marxist Universities
Honestly, please, Emma dear, why this article? Is it that slow a day?
live-blogging the cpac experience.
With a vertical ID!
“Niche”, OK. But which of those businesses is supposed to be bizarre?
Anyway, can you blame them when it seems like every major corporation and many small businesses have gone all in on the woke bullshit and lefty virtue signaling?
But which of those businesses is supposed to be bizarre?
The only time she uses the word ‘bizarre’ is in reference to the fact that she stated: Conservative businesses happily serve non-conservative customers. Whether Emma is a naive Zoomer or fucking the goat satirically or earnestly, I can’t say. Given the length of time that Emma’s been with Reason and Reason’s generally utterly backwards interpretations Good Faith (with notable examples like ‘Corporations kicking people they don’t like off their platform are Good Samaritans in need of protection.’ and ‘Republican support for free speech and Federalism that works against them are really just self-serving, lying douchebags.’), I’m inclined to the ‘earnest’ interpretation.
Edit: If you think about “Conservative businesses happily serve non-conservative customers” with virtually anything other than an *Exclusive* Progressive mindset, it’s highly Libertarian and utterly banal, “Restaurants that serve Pepsi happily serve their product to Coke-drinkers.”, “Stores that sell Nike products will happily serve customers wearing Adidas-brand clothing.”…
>>Progressive Mindset
emma’s garage band.
I must really not get the progressive mindset then. It never even occurred to me that a business happily serving all comers might seem bizarre to anyone.
It never even occurred to me that a business happily serving all comers might seem bizarre to anyone.
Uh, it wouldn’t be the first time someone has said or had to defend themselves or someone else for expressing the plainly simple idea that “Republicans buy sneakers too.”
“I must really not get the progressive mindset”
Your posts make that extremely clear.
If you have a vertical ID, then it may seem a little odd.
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In interviews with Reason, right-wing business owners at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) consistently framed their companies as reactions to mainstream corporations—and mainstream culture—which they characterized as hostile to conservative interests.
Why characterize this obviously true fact as an assertion from the right? This doesn’t happen in reverse. It’s one example of how Reason libertarians are biased against the right even though they pretend to be balanced.
This doesn’t happen in reverse.
Yes-huh! Ronnie D. excluded Disney from the conservative handout business!
You seem to think “this” has something to do with conservative niche businesses rather than Reason’s compulsive need to reassure readers they don’t accept obviously true facts when they are asserted by conservatives.
Probably coulda used a sarc tag but, you seem to think I’m portraying government handouts, or the revoking thereof, as legitimate business in earnest.
Don’t tag it.
The best parody is borderline poe’s law. Because, if a statement THAT ridiculous can be taken as if you really meant it, it’s more proof the real political/journalistic climate you’re sending up is just that nutty.
Agreed. I refuse to flag my sarcastic or “ironic” (gen-x alert) messages because it draws all the “new guys” out of the woodwork which is always fun.
>>The best parody is borderline poe’s law.
yes. always.
There’s that ammo company that wouldn’t sell to anyone who voted for Biden. A lot of conservatives actually didn’t like that they did that. I understand from the business’s perspective that they don’t want to sell to people who vote against the company’s interests.
This article is just like the rest of Reason’s stuff on the culture war. It ignores or downplays how aggressive and pervasive the left is in the culture war while attacking the right for reacting.
I don’t like the idea of choosing what businesses I interact with on an ideological basis. However, it is undeniable that most large businesses specifically cater to insane leftist dogma even when it doesn’t relate to their products. The divide is too much a case of one side being willing to live and let live and the other being absolutely totalitarian. I want to be able to buy stuff without politics being shoved in my face. It’s why I hate the conservative options as well (though I’m generally sympathetic to conservative principles.)
I’ve never heard of that browser/search engine, but Google is ridiculously biased politically and it is worthless when searching anything politically contentious.
I just wonder if Tusk uses Fleetwood Mac’s song in it’s advertisement.
😉
Sounds like market forces at work to me.
Sorry so many deplorables from flyover country invaded your thriving cosmopolitan metropolis, Emma. You must feel so icky.
She didn’t say anything derogatory about them. Maybe you are the one who is a bit sensitive.
Only if you do not consider terms like ‘weird’ or ‘bizarre’ to be derogatory.
“Weird” or “bizarre” is pretty lightweight stuff, especially in a story that talks about “Donald Trump–themed gingerbread men”. It would only offend an especially fragile MAGA snowflake.
It might be lightweight but it is still derogatory. Weird and bizarre are not compliments, and are in the title of the article.
Snowflakes are our friends
They descend when winter comes
Making white blankets
This from the guy who flips out over anyone being critical of articles in the comments.
hmmm do i detect a goalpost move?
You get angry being called a bird or a sea lion.
pretty sure every single gun store is a ‘niche conservative business’ at this point too
“Weird World of Niche Conservative Businesses… Ginger Betty’s, a bakery that crafts elaborate Trump-themed cookies and gingerbread men”
Meanwhile, amongst the non-niche, unweird, totally normal businesses:
ManTranswoman chosen for Hershey’s International Women’s Day campaignHershey’s identifies as chocolate in the same way that dude identifies as a woman.
Hey now! Hershey’s is better than Palmer’s, which is mostly hydrogenated oil with enough cocoa to give flavor.
They should have put its picture on the hersheys chocolate
with almonds chocolate bar … because – you know … it has nuts.
I smell affinity fraud. It’s inevitable.
I was watching a “free with advertising” program on Amazon Prime. There were like 4 or 5 ads for dating apps that were all obviously rebranding of the same software.
No you don’t, Shrike.
Otherwise you’d have to acknowledge “affinity fraud” for every commercial website’s Pride Month banner, and every company’s Pride packaging and “Green” boasts. And I bet you’re not willing to do that.
I’m not shrike, Fuck off, you cracker POS.
You are too stupid to understand the point. I am not saying that affinity fraud is part of this, only it is an utterly predictable consequence that someone will commit it, just as there’s affinity fraud in other groups. It’s ripe for it. Arguably all the mega churches and preachers are examples of affinity fraud.
Calm down shrike.
Still not shrike, you cracker POS.
“I am not saying that affinity fraud is part of this”
You sure as fuck implied it, Shrike, when you said “I smell affinity fraud”.
Seriously, who do you think you’re tricking here?
Not shrike, you cracker POS.
“Implied” is carrying a lot of weight here. Still, now that you should be absolutely sure about what I intended to say, do you think that there won’t be any affinity fraud? Or do you actually know anything about human nature?
And if we just keep giving money to brands that do not represent our values—faith, family, freedom, all the things that have made America great—well, our country is going to evolve.
But conservative brands suck.
Your music is shitty (Lee Greenwood and Ted Nugent), your movies suck, your stupid fucking colleges suck (Hillsdale, Liberty, and Bob Jones University), your web browsers suck, your web sites suck, your news stations/media sucks, — it’s like conservatives are inept. In fact Hayek did say that conservatives are dull-minded and slow.
Maybe you can squeeze out a good cookie though.
Typical leftard personal attacks….
Because that’s what Nazi’s do….. (hint; hint – Those horrible Jews!)
Hey Shrike, did you know Harvard and Yale were, and still technically are, Divinity schools? Did you know musicians like Bono and Bob Dylan are Evangelical Christians?
Probably not, because you’re a fucking cartoon character who’s watched too much Jimmy Kimmel and has developed a cartoon outlook on the world.
Okay, Ted Nugent sucks. Didn’t use to, but the more he goes right the more he goes hate, as if he doesn’t understand the difference. Not a family values singer, no way. And Lee Greenwood is a one hit wonder, it’s just that his one hit is patriot pablum.
And don’t diss on Hillsdale! Great college, still has some libertarian roots, they just need to get past their latest xenophobic stage which I blame entirely on their current president.
All that said, I do wish firms would get back to being politically neutral. Employees can do what they want out of office, but the firm itself should be there for the purpose of making/selling goods and services.
national divorce is growing acceptance nicely. And fu Hersey..never again..and as a chocolateholic…and a loyal Hersey customer…never again…
Right-wingers — our nation’s vestigial bigots, superstitious slack-jaws, and disaffected culture war losers — are being painted into increasingly desolate, economically inadequate, poorly educated corners of America.
They attend and operate shitty, backwater religious schools. They live in declining towns with dying industries. They consume slack-jaw entertainment and lying, delusional media. They see street pills, sketchy disability claims, televangelists, bigotry, guns, tobacco (those assholes still smoke, believe it or not), faith healers, more bigotry, cheap tallboys, more guns, and Donald Trump as solutions to their self-inflicted problems and deplorable lives.
If they want to buy bigot chicken, Jesus cupcakes, and wingnut mobile telephones as they await replacement, that’s their call.
Hmmm….. I wonder if the FBI and the DHS is going to send these companies $3M to make Trump cookies like they did Twitter?
I don’t think of myself as very conservative but, were I single, I might well try out a conservative dating app for the simple reason I would be less likely to end up dating man-hating nutcases, and the ladies are probably better looking too.
People on the left create businesses that cater to those like-minded and produce ads for that business letting people know who they are catering to. “How stunning and brave!”, exclaims the media.
A person on the political right creates a business that caters to those who align with their beliefs and produces advertising letting their customers know of their existence. “How weird”, responds the media. “Why would someone do such a thing?”
You may want to get your food taster on the case, Rev. Artie. McEntee’s people may also be spitting in your food.
🙂
Carry On, Klinger! And don’t get your flourishing cape caught in the wheels of the snack cart.
🙂
First, I don’t buy much food in West Virginia, Alabama, Idaho, west Texas, or Oklahoma . . . I blame my education.
And you should.
Everyone knows you don’t buy much food ‘cos restaurants don’t take food stamps, Artie.
We all seen you going ‘out to eat’ by suckin’ on the rust holes in the dumpster down behind the Mickey Dee’s.
And you keep doin’ it –even though the place has been closed for a decade or so. All that’s in that dumpster is a festering soup of mold and bum crap.
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I wish I had the capital or know how to run a credit card or credit card clearing company.
I would open up a conservative credit card.
Where we give 1%of profits to youth shooting sports.
To encourage young people to get into recreational shooting.
I think the tens of millions of gun people would sign up for this over the liberal credit cards that are tracking gun purchases.
I see a huge business opportunity for conservative banks, sneakers, even candy.
Literally half the population supports conservative values.
This is the time to really make some money by marketing to conservatives
I had a credit card that donated my “cash back” points to a second amendment advocacy organization. I don’t think you need to start a credit card company to do this, just start one of those kinds of programs with an existing company.
Granted, HR departments are indeed being taken over by the “Left”, however there is a difference between a company being socially aware and being “taken over by the Left”.
Companies large and small don’t want to be associated with racist pricks, or conspiracy nuts, or anyone generally antagonistic to the clients. So dumping Scott Adams is fine, dumping Alex Jones is fine, dumping anyone yelling at the customers for wearing a Biden pin is fine.
Companies should be politically neutral, indeed, but boorish behavior does not need to be tolerated.
What happened relative recently is that some big companies, particularly in the media, did get involved politically. The line is a fuzzy one however, and the Woke crowd definitely used it as a wedge to get in to corporate board rooms so they could push an agenda.
But the answer is NOT the equal and opposite. We don’t need balance by having explicitly political companies on the right. The correct stance is political neutrality. The purpose of a firm is not to push a political agenda, but to produce and/or sell a good or service. The correction is to get back to that stance rather than further splitting culture into two.
I don’t give a shit who my grocer voted for, but I will switch grocers if he paints his store with posters of Biden, or of Trump. Fuck that.
Mainstream Democrats are racist pricks.
What happened relative recently is that some big companies, particularly in the media, did get involved politically.
You mean Woke infiltrators got onto the board of Memories Pizza and tried to shut them down for not catering gay weddings? Or do you mean Gibson’s bakery shouldn’t have to tolerate boorish behavior that you and your BOAF SIDEZ! ilk obviously lie, cheat, and steal on behalf and in defense of?