Bozo Coolers

Here’s what happens when you sell the circus to Bozo the Clown: 

Austin, Texas-based Yeti was founded by brothers Roy and Ryan Seiders, two sportsmen who decided to make coolers for the luxury outdoor market rather than for mass discount retailers. Then they sold majority ownership of Yeti to Cortec Group Management Services, a private equity firm based in Hillary Clinton’s old Senatorial District in New York City.  They were going public with Yeti stock and quadruple their investment late last year. The last couple of weeks, the group has withdrawn that plan due to “market conditions”. You might say they’ve put it in the cooler.

They stuck their foot right up their market. That kind of condition.  Let me give you some free advice. If you own investments in them, get your assets out NOW.

Some of corporate America simply doesn’t have the backbone to stay out of divisive social issues. The issue here, in case you are living under a rock, is that Yeti has withdrawn its long-standing and deep-rooted sponsorship from the NRA and from the sportsmen that made it a success.  And slammed the cooler lid in their face.

Congratulations to Yeti’s competitors. Your greatest marketing campaign ever was just handed to you on a silver cooler. And as for Yeti, here’s some free PR advice from a person who spent his life in the business:

Make your products. Sell your products.

Service your products. And shut up.

Gun crimes are horrible. If I thought for one minute that legislated gun control would prevent gun crimes, I’d be for it. That won’t help.  That will make matters worse. That is against the very founding principles of America. And criminals don’t follow laws. Dear dummies: That’s why they are criminals.

I’m not a Yeti owner.  If you are, I know Yeti coolers are too expensive to throw away. If you’ve got one and can’t sell it in a garage sale, then cover up the logo with some duct tape, or maybe an NRA sticker. And never, ever buy another one of their cups or coolers.