Donald Trump Association Hurting Popularity Of Macy’s?

The partnership between Donald Trump and Macy’s may be affecting the popularity of the famous department store chain. That’s what some pundits are concluding after a new YouGov Brandindex survey revealed a drop in the store’s popularity, most notably with young women.

To date, 675,000 people have signed a petition at SignOn.org urging Macy’s to sever ties with Trump, who made a number of controversial statements following the re-election of President Barack Obama on November 6.

Macy’s appear to have stood by their man, but could be paying the price for that decision. According to the Brandindex survey, women became far less likely to recommend Macy’s to their friends immediately after the Macy’s-Trump partnership. At the same time, other brands such as JCPenney performed better than usual, as shown in the graph below.

Of course, this decline in the popularity of Macy’s could be down to myriad factors, though the timing is curious to say the least.

Donald Trump has long been infamous for making statements many people see as extreme. Long before he called for revolution after Obama’s victory, the businessman was known as the leader of the so-called “birther” movement, had repeatedly demanded President Obama release documents proving he was an American, and described global climate change as “a concept created by and for the Chinese to make US manufacturing non-competitive.”

Going further back, Trump has offered to expose his genitals to a woman and, in 1991, told Esquire magazine:

“It doesn’t really matter what [the media] write as long as you’ve got a young and beautiful piece of [expletive].”