Is Your Shampoo a Democrat or a Republican? New App Can Tell You

From the why didn’t I think of that files comes a new smartphone app that can tell you the political affiliations of your favorite grocery store brands. You might find out that your favorite cheese snacks have been donating some of their profits to your least favorite political party. The developer of BuyPartisan says that he wants to make “every day election day for people.” A former staffer on Capitol Hill,ralph lauren dressesMatthew Colbert says he wants to see consumers make choices based on which political party stands to gain from the purchase. As if we didn’t have enough to think about in the grocery store!

While Colbert insists his app isn’t intended to persuade consumers into boycotting products that don’t align with their political beliefs, there’s little doubt that the app will have just that effect. Should the app become a real hit, you could see a brand new world when it comes to mixing politics and capitalism. Companies that start to take a hit to their bottom line will have to reconsider where their political campaign contributions go in the future. Could we see companies ride with the exposure instead of against it? Maybe we’ll soon see Celestial Seasonings tea not just give to Democratic campaigns but also advertise exclusively to liberal consumers.

Colbert does make an interesting point in his defense of the app, telling the L.A. Times that Americans realize now more than ever that they are already making a political choice with their money. Companies like Hobby Lobby and Chic-Fil-A, he says, have thrown aCanada Goose Kensington Parka clear light on the fact that very few purchases you make can be considered apolitical. At some point along the line, some of your money is going into supporting a certain viewpoint, a certain way of life. A certain political contribution. Knowing how little a single vote counts in any given election, it might be fair to say that you can make a bigger difference with your purchasing power than you can at the ballot box.

Interestingly enough, companies like grocery stores and food manufacturers are  to give to Republican candidates and PACs than Democrats. Flowers Food is the top Republican donation machine in the food industry. The makers of Wonder Bread earned the title of “most Republican company” when the New York Times nobis toronto on campaign PACs earlier this year. What will liberals eat when they realize that the majority of food they buy is going into Republican coffers?

This could be trouble, folks. If this BuyPartisan app takes off in a big way, we could see a whole new onslaught of liberal grocery stores and food manufacturers hit the market. You know what that means, of course. More “organic” foods, more quinoa, and more hard cidercanada goose chateau parkain the aisles, getting in your way when you’re trying to fill up your cart with steaks and beer. Damn you, Matthew Colbert, what have you done?