Publix is sticking by its refusal to put “MAGA” on a customer’s cake, even though the reason they give is highly suspect.
Management at the Publix Super Market at Crossings at Wildlight say they refused to provide the lettering on the cake as the customer requested because MAGA is a trademark.
MAGA is an acronym for “Make America Great Again” which is a trademark owned by the Donald Trump for President campaign.
The letters MAGA are a trademark owned by ClearOne Inc., a video conferencing company, according to an online database examined by Eye on Jacksonville.
Publix, a company with a great American history, seems so wrapped up in the “woke” philosophy rejected by Trump that it is making a blatant political statement instead of treating its customers fairly.
This is the second time this particular store has denied local resident, Lisa Bonfrancesco, a cake with MAGA on it. There have been a number of reasons given for the refusal to meet this customer’s request, including the trademark claim.
In November when the first cake was requested by Bonfrancesco to celebrate the holidays and her support of the newly elected American president she said she was told that the term MAGA was too divisive, and the store would not honor her request.
The word “divisive” means to cause disagreement or hostility between people, but Bonfrancesco was purchasing the cake for an event she was hosting in her home with family who are all Trump supporters. So, does Publix have the right to determine what Bonfrancesco brings into her home to share with family?
Additionally, Bonfrancesco was only given information about the refusal to complete the custom-designed cake the day before she was to pick it up for her event and this gave her no time to make arrangements to order another cake. After picking up the first cake, that cost $43, she had to scrape off the “Publix” design and redo the message herself. To Publix’s credit, Bonfrancesco did say that she did not have to scrape anything off the second cake. “The second time, they actually left room for me to write MAGA,” she said. “They even supplied me the icing to use for writing it.”
Upset by this situation, Bonfrancesco and others began to question various Publix employees, including staff at the corporate headquarters. They were told this decision was a corporate policy.
The first response received from corporate was, “At Publix, we care about our customers and work hard to create a pleasant shopping experience. This includes treating all customers with dignity and respect. While we are often asked to create specialty cakes with free-hand designs, the manager in charge, in each store, may decline requests including questionable images and/or verbiage. It is our mission to do our very best to satisfy all Publix customers; however, in today’s complex world, this is not always an easy task. We apologize for not exceeding your expectations with the answer you were hoping to receive.”
An interesting response for a company that has a corporate responsibility statement on its website that reads: Our goal is to meet today’s needs without compromising what is essential for tomorrow. This means taking care of people and minimizing the impact to our planet. Sustainability is represented in how we value our associates, serve our customers, enhance customers, enhance our ties to our communities, conserve natural resources, and ensure economic stewardship for our stockholders.
Among other interactions with Publix employees, it was revealed that the store might honor such a request for the writing of MAGA on a cake if the store manager gave approval. When contacted, an assistant manager at the Wildlight store said, “All we will say is that we will not do this (put MAGA on a cake) because it is trademarked.”
As stated previously, MAGA an acronym for “Make America Great Again,” which is trademarked. It was trademarked in November 2012. The owner of the trademark is Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. However, since the initials are not trademarked by Trump, he is not likely to challenge Publix for using the initials. Bonfrancesco added, “It would be different if Publix was marketing/promoting the MAGA cake. Only me and the bakery would be able to see it, since a full-page receipt covers the cake window.” It likely comes as no surprise that Bonfrancesco declared. “I will not be giving their bakery any more business.”
When contacted by Eye, Donald Trump’s communications director, Steven Cheung, offered this comment. “It is disturbing to hear anyone would deny a request by a customer to personalize an item to memorialize the greatest political movement in American history. MAGA is for all Americans and promoting the movement should not be a controversial take.”
On Nov. 3, 63.9 percent of the voters that turned out for the presidential election resulted in Donald Trump receiving 312 Electoral College votes. In addition to the Electoral College, Trump also won the popular vote making him only the second Republican to win the popular vote since 1988. With that kind of support, can a message associated with the 47th president of the United States, bring about hostility?
Could the Kamala Harris slogan, “We’re not going back,” which the management at the Wildlight Publix admitted would have been allowed to appear on one of its cakes, be considered “questionable” and “divisive.” Not according to this management staff that considers that slogan “more vague.”
This all seems so political when this country needs to come together to support the values that have made America great. It might be interesting to note that without those values, Publix founder, George Jenkins, would likely not have been able to create the company of his dreams.
Jenkins worked as a stock clerk for Piggly Wiggly (the first self-service grocery store) from 1926-1930. When the store he worked for was bought out by a corporation he contacted corporate wanting to share some ideas he had for the business, but he was turned down for that meeting because the CEO was busy playing golf. Jenkins left the store with the dream of creating a place where all ideas from associates and others were welcome. When Jenkins decided to open his own grocery store, he adopted the name “Publix” from a struggling New York-based movie theater company (with 19 opulently decorated movie houses in Florida) called Publix Theatres Corporation.
Jenkins opened the first Publix Food Store in Winter Haven in September 1930. In 1935 he opened a second market, the Economy Food Store also located in Winter Haven. Despite the Great Depression, his stores were financially successful. In 1940 he opened the nation’s first supermarket. After his death he was given the coveted Horatio Alger Award.
Today, the chain operates 1,391 stores throughout the Southern United States and is the largest employee-owned company in America. The largest number of stores (874) are in Florida. Other states including Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and Kentucky are also home to Publix stores.
The first stand-alone Publix Super Market in Winter Haven is now a thrift store.
Today the façade of its stores look very different. (Pictured below – Publix Super Market at Crossings at Wildlight)
