Abigail Wuest formed Goods Unite Us in part as a way “to offset the impact of the Citizens United case.”
The “Buy Local” movement has been alive and well in communities like Madison for what seems like forever.
But far fewer consumers are attuned to buying — or rather not buying — from companies who don’t share their political views.
That’s where a new Madison-based startup called Goods Unite Us comes In.
The online marketplace tracks national companies based on campaign contributions to Republican candidates. It then steers users to purchase everyday items via Amazon from brands cleared as GOP-free by the Goods Unite Us staff.
Launched by former Dane County Supv. Abigail Wuest, Goods Unite Us is billed as the only service of its kind in the U.S. that helps left-leaning consumers vote with their credit cards.
“Some of this came in response to the election last year but I’d been thinking for a long time about how to offset the impact of the Citizens United case,” says Wuest, referring to the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court ruling opening the gates to unregulated corporate political donations.
Goods Unite Us uses public records to vet the companies listed on the website. It only features items from companies whose executives or senior staff have donated exclusively to Democratic or progressive candidates — or those who have haven’t made any political donations all.
The site went live in May and currently carries over 20,000 products from household goods to designer fashion. Actual sales are made via a link to Amazon, with Goods Unite Us receiving a small percentage in return.
The Goods Unite Us site has a list of some 85 “featured brands” ranging from Adidas, Apple and Lysol to Calvin Klein, Reebok and Van Heusen. It also allows shoppers to browse by type of product such as electronics and computers, beauty and health or sports and outdoor.
And like any online shopping site, it offers plenty of specials to entice bargain seekers — like 48 rolls of Seventh Generation toilet tissue marked down to $23.95 or a dozen TaylorMade golf balls for $24.99.
Among the early users is environmental advocate Lloyd Eagan, a retired state Department of Natural Resources manager who currently chairs the Clean Lakes Alliance. Eagan has used Goods Unite Us to purchase books for her grandkids and likes what she sees.
“I’m not a huge online shopper but it’s nice to buy with a clear conscience,” she says.
The Goods Unite Us site doesn’t name specific brands to boycott or avoid. Instead it offers a quiz designed to get users to subscribe to an electronic newsletter where they can receive more information on GOP-backing companies.
“Amazon would get mad at us if we had the list on the home page and besides we want people to get the newsletter,” says Madison attorney Brian Potts, one of four cofounders of Goods Unite Us.
Goods Unite Us did share its GOP-backing firms list with Isthmus, however, and it shows many usual liberal targets like gunmaker Smith & Wesson and energy giant ExxonMobil. Several firms with Wisconsin ties are also on the list, including Ashley Furniture and Koch Industries, makers of Angel Soft toilet paper and Dixie cups.
CEO Wuest is no stranger to political action. Her parents were long involved in the fight in Sauk County to clean up and reclaim the Badger Army Ammunition Plant, among other causes.
“I guess this kind of thing is in my blood,” says Wuest, 38, who holds a degree from Vermont Law School and lives with husband Potts and their two children in Shorewood Hills.
Wuest, who also works half-time for the Wisconsin Department of Justice, served on the Dane County Board representing the Cross Plains area for 18 months but had to resign in September 2015 when the family moved into town to be closer to work and school.
Wuest argues that so much money is already flowing to Republican causes — much of it via corporations who are, in effect, using their customer’s dollars to influence public policy — that liberal-minded consumers need a way to counter that.
“It can seem like the deck is really stacked against us these days when you look at things like gerrymandering and voter ID,” she says.
Sales over the first few months have totaled just $5,000 but Potts expects that figure to grow quickly as more people outside the Madison area start to catch wind of the site. Getting into markets like Boston or San Francisco could prove a game changer, he says.
“That’s $5,000 headed to $5 billion,” jokes Potts, a partner at the Madison office of Perkins Coie.
Still, the idea of Goods Unite Us isn’t to generate a big return for its owners as much as it is to help consumers avoid bankrolling corporations that don’t share their values. To that end, 50 percent of any profits will be donated back to Democratic or progressive causes.
“We know there are a lot of progressives out there and we spend a lot of money, too,” says Wuest. “It’s nice to know whether you’re throwing it into the wrong pockets.”
