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As we reported in the digest Saturday, Austin-based YETI, makers of premium coolers that run about the price of a house payment, has decided to drop its sponsorship of Friends of the NRA banquets around the country. But the thing is, in a free market, there’s almost always someone to step in and fill a void left by a company that chooses to drop a particular market segment.

Or, as redstate.com put it,

The punchline to this bad joke of a decision is that by rejecting the NRA, Yeti essentially turned its nose up to the idea of the gun rights the NRA heavily promotes and defends. Many in middle America tend to look at the NRA as a heavily defended wall that keeps the gun control wolves in the hills.

And YETI, without rhyme or reason, turned its back on it. That’s not going to sit well with Americans.

As we pointed out, there’s no shortage of companies out there that make similar products (think ORCA, Pelican, Grizzly…) that will be all too willing to step in to serve YETI’s soon-to-be-former customers.

Enter Houston-based RTIC Coolers.

courtesy Facebook

Gun control is a losing issue for anyone who gets too close to it. Yes, there are those who would be so absurd as to strip all gun rights away from the populace thinking it will solve our problems — you can ask London how well that’s working — but for the most part, America wants to keep its gun rights right where they are. This was Yeti’s customer base.

Keyword “was.” Now it’s probably Rtic Cooler’s, as their marketing team seems to fully understand who their customers are, and what they like. Also, their Twitter banner is just better, but I digress.

In response to Yeti’s decision to toss it and leave it, Rtic pulled up quick to retrieve it and made it a point to let their customers know that they’re not pushing away their values by posting a picture of the 2nd Amendment on their Facebook page.

If you’re losing track of which companies have decided they’d rather not be associated with the NRA and their icky members, Fortune is out with a handy updated list today.

 

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102 COMMENTS

  1. Gee, I donated my NRA YETI to a wounded veterans organization for them to use as a fundraiser. I’m glad that was last year. I’m afraid it wouldn’t raise enough money now to pay for tickets.

    It’s almost as if YETI told Dick’s to hold their tumbler and watch YETI trash their brand even faster than Dick’s!

    Yep, my wife’s bought her last YETI. So have I.

    I go out of my way not to spend money with companies who disparage my 2A rights.

    John

    • Why would anyone what to sponsor anything with the NRA if the response of the NRA is to attack you if you later drop their sponsorship? Well if it the NRA’s plan to burn bridges, they really need to keep this up.

        • Not at all. It clearly says the NRA is lying and YETI fully supports the 2nd Amendment. There’s no reading between the lines necessary. Why anyone would believe anything the NRA says at first blush is beyond me.

        • JWTaylor,

          Instant solution: A YETI tumbler, with an AR15 on it. If they do that, all is forgiven, instantly.

          LOL

        • They will even print NRA on the coolers, they are just not giving them a discount. So now NRA discounts are require to prove you are pro 2nd amendment? Yes the NRA supports the 2nd (mostly) but they are NOT the 2nd

        • I will right now be on Yeti’s side if they print an AR15 on a tumbler with a bump stock.

          No NRA tumbler required! They don’t need to cater to the NRA at all! Just print a tumbler with an AR15 with bump stock.

        • No, Anonymous – what Rtic needs to market now is a rail-mounted cup holder for their tumblers.
          Admit it, y’all… you’d buy one… You know you would.
          🤠

      • Go join the flock , baaah waaa, waaa , Fuck yeti and their kind !! I refuse to purchase merchandise from any un American , constitution hating , Leftards that want to take my rights from me. This NRA hate shit needs to cease. If you don’t like our American freedoms , move to a country where there are no right’s. How do you like me now ? Not that I give a shit.

    • I don’t have an opinion on Yeti. I have to believe the NRA as the abominable ones mean NOTHING to me. Oh and I am the NRA. My last cooler came from a garage sale. Pizz off your main clientele-👌👌👌

    • I’m betting it’s a lot less back peddling and a lot more truth. I’m likely to believe Yeti over the NRA any day.
      The NRA even says in their statement that they have no idea why Yeti dropped the discount program, yet the NRA still went on to say that Yeti doesn’t support hunting programs and assumed a whole lot, much of it likely incorrect.
      Yeti needs to sue them for libel with a quickness.

      • Don’t you realize, this is 5d chess to keep anyone from wanting to have anything to do with the NRA so they can play the martyr card over a 30% discount.

        I know that made sense somehow.

        • Damn it! Just when I thought I could understand 4D chess they bring up 5D chess.
          What’s next, six minute abs?

        • Why spend 6 minutes sculpting your abs when my patent pending system will do it in 5! For just 12 easy payments of $199.99! Illegal in Louisiana, results may vary, side effects are anal leakage, hot-dog fingers, and VX gas like flatulence.

      • Yeti needs to sue them for libel with a quickness.

        I hope not. I was hoping my membership dues could go towards defending and furthering gun rights. Not paying for lawsuits.

        • Good for you. The NRA stands absolutely no chance of getting dues from me.
          They just went after a private company that has been highly supportive of the Second Amendment for years.
          Yeti has done a lot more in the last 10 years to get young people excited to hunt and shoot than the NRA has.

        • Do tell. HOW exactly did they do that JWT?

          Everything about Yeti screams prog. Beginning with located in AUSTINistnan.

        • “Yeti has done a lot more in the last 10 years to get young people excited to hunt and shoot than the NRA has.”
          That has to be the most ignorant, hyperbolic nonsensical und insupportable statement ever posted on any site that claims to be pro-Second Amendment and dedicated to the individual’s right to keep and bear arms. NRA has always spent more time and money as the world’s largest firearms safety and training organization than all of the other “groups” (pro or anti) combined. They also sponsor youth shooting programs, new shooter mentorship programs (often and usually carried out by the state affiliate organizations), women’s programs in safety, competition and hunting, and more things advocating the safe handling, storage, usage and promotion of shooting than any other group that claims to do likewise.

          They may not get any dues money from you but I doubt they’d need it and the organization will continue to navigate the MSM-generated/propigated maze of deceit, deception, and outright lies to try to pry firearms from the hands of Americans at any price- and do it even for you, the non-member so you can continue to come on the net and trash them.

          So, LISTEN UP, EVERYBODY: Don’t send any money or support to NRA to continue to work for your guarantee of God’s-provided 2nd Amendment and other US Constitutional rights and liberties- send it to YETI! John W Taylor has decreed it.

          Holy crap…

  2. “In response to Yeti’s decision to toss it and leave it, Rtic pulled up quick to retrieve it…”

    HAHA! Nice.

    I like. Big. GUNS, and I cannot lie!

    • Ditto. It never crossed my mind, NRA endorsed or not. I have to believe this sort of gear appeals more to the kind of nimrod that is more interested in appearance. That $6 sryrofoam one will keep your crap cold for tailgating…

      • That’s what I thought until I went on a week long white water rafting trip. Every single guide there used a Yeti cooler (this was before there were many alternatives.) A week later the Yeti coolers still had ice in them. No one else’s did. These kinds of coolers are worth every penny when you need to keep meat cold for days, and keep the critters out of them as well.

        • Yup. My RTIC coolers keeps ice for the deer hunts and the elk drop camp for a week.
          My cheapo Coleman’s only get used for day trips.

        • And I’ll still lay major money on the notion, more likely fact, that 98% of YETI coolers are purchased and used by persons who never venture into the wilds for more than an afternoon per year, use the thing only for a couple hours and want to “look” the part. If that wasn’t the case, who would care if the logo wasn’t embazoned largely on the outside?

          Years ago I gave up being a billboard for someone else unless they paid me to advertise their product. Under Armor, Nike, Polio, Columbia, all the other products with large labels on the outside? Not me. Exceptions, perhaps, are NRA and more recently, MAGA, since it’s a good way to start a “conversation”, one way or the other.

    • They do work. It’s not necessary for one evening beer event, but 8-10 hour fishing off shore, or hunting to pack your kill and keep it fresh when ice supply is short is the main reason.

    • Like everything it depends on your use for it.

      If you camp, actually camp (no pansy RV shit), 50 weekends a year like I used to then they’re a great investment. If you hunt and fish a lot and know its gonna spend a lot of time getting moved or dinged up in a pickup or on a boat, also worth it.

      Occasionally tailgating to maintain a beer gut, not so worth the investment.

      • Note: I was referring to the Rtic cooler, not the Yeti. The Yeti was always horribly overpriced and lost to Rtic in testing.

    • I was taught to use salt and newspaper on ice chests “back in the day”. Still use it on decent coleman chests and everything stays frozen for a week……knowledge, who knew it could save me from spending $300 on a flippin ice chest.

  3. Dicks sporting goods carries Yeti, but apparently not RTIC. Anyone know if there may be a correlation there? How big of a reseller is Dicks for Yeti.. and could they have persuaded this? Seems like too stupid of a decision to be made on their own.

  4. I’m purposely going to go out and buy a RTIC cooler and fill it with black rifle coffee now. AND… use the Sean Hannity discount. One hours worth of activity that will enrage liberals far and wide.

    • You greatly overestimate how much anybody cares about you or what you do with your time and money. Have fun with your little spite shopping trip.

      • Obviously you do, Libbie. So enjoy being mad. Still mad about not being able to link Trump and Hannity both to Russia? When it was your beloved Hillary making shady uranium one deals with Putin, meanwhile obama was dropping plane loads of cash off to the Iranians in the middle of the night, so he could fund Iran’s nuclear program.

  5. I’m calling total bullshit on the NRA over this one. In their original statement, the NRA says ” YETI has declined to do business with The NRA Foundation saying they no longer wish to be an NRA vendor, and refused to say why.”

    So they don’t know why, and yet the NRA goes on to assume it has everything to do with guns and the 2nd Amendment.

    One does not equal the other. At all. This is nothing other than the NRA seeing a chance, yet again, to scare potential donors into more cash, as well as likely hoping to get another brand to pony up for a money making discount program for the NRA.

    The message from the NRA came out on Friday night, and Monday morning, the very next business day, Yeti has already released that it “ended a wide range of legacy vendor programs.”

    Welcome to running a for-profit company. This has everything to do with long term vendor pricing and discount programs, and nothing to do with guns.

    Yeti’s response is more unequivocal than what I’ve been hearing from the NRA: “We believe in the 2nd Amendment and the Constitution of the United States.”

    • What other “legacy vendor programs” did Yeti end? If it wasn’t just the NRA, they need to name names.

      • They already have. The Quail Coalition and Safari Club International are two of them.

        When did people of the gun turn into such victims?

    • After airlines, rental car agencies and other companies cut ties with the National Rifle Association, popular cooler maker Yeti has joined the list.

      https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/04/23/yeti-cuts-ties-nra-foundation-lobbyist-says-sparking-cries-boycott-cooler-company/541986002/

      YETI can make a statement at any time. Where is that statement?

      Cut ties without a statement? Sounds a lot like Anti-2A establishments that have recently done the same.

      • Yeti hasn’t made a statement at all, they could reverse this onto the NRA’s lap at any time. Make a tweet/facebook post/whatever saying “there has been some confusion on our decision to cease sponsorship of the NRA” and say the decision was because they found video of NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre saying the NRA supported existing law banning certain types of firearm while posting the relevant clip from his interview on Face the Nation.

        THAT would be fun.

        • “Yeti hasn’t made a statement at all,”

          Yes they did. It is even listed in these comments. It is on their Facebook, their Twitter, their Instagram. I posted the full text below.

    • I emailed them and the response I got was similar, but I tend to read between the lines, and for all support of “hunters and the outdoor community” I felt there was an underlying “but not those scary black rifles” in there.
      My take, they are talking out both ends to try to appeal to both sides. The NRA isn’t the only one thinking about profit in this equation. Just sounded too mealy-mouthed for me.
      Not that I was in the market in the first place. A co-worker tried to get me into them talking about how his $45 coozy would keep a beer warm for 45 minutes in August. I laughed and said who the hell takes 45 minutes to drink a beer…

    • There’s an easy solution to this. Either side can release the communications that were sent and or received.

      Of course if there’s a response to this comment, I have nearly a zero chance of seeing it, anyone can come in here and use the same user name as I do without any impediment and nobody can easily see my posting history to be able to determine if I’m some kind of a troll or not. Absolutely nothing you would want in a comment syste can be found in this one.

    • There’s an easy solution to this. Either side can release the communications that were sent and or received.

      Of course if there’s a response to this comment, I have nearly a zero chance of seeing it, anyone can come in here and use the same user name as I do without any impediment and nobody can easily see my posting history to be able to determine if I’m some kind of a troll or not. Absolutely nothing you would want in a comment system can be found in this one.

    • You do understand that the NRA Foundation is The Friends of NRA arm of the organization, correct?? As non-members might not realize, the Foundation is a nonprofit and provides grant funding for a raft of events, range programs, research, etc., and being a nonprofit, must be completely non-partisan and non-political. There is never a political nature nor push at any FNRA dinner or event. Money donated to the Foundation itself is also tax deductible.

      I, for one, could care less about any corporation choosing to “support” NRA. Delta, Enterprise, Hertz, United, ad nauseum all pull their member discount programs from NRA members and March, 2020 becomes an all-time fundraising record month for the organization. And that was without an exponential increase in the number of mailings from NRA solicitiing donations.

      NRA “is” its dedicated members, not some faceless building or bunch of old, angry men in some cigar smoke filled room across the river from DC.

  6. The problem I see that Yeti is based in Austin, TX. I think they made a bad choice just being in Austin. But they really drop the ball by alienating the gun community by dropping support to the NRA. Brilliant move on the CEO.

    • Yeti is “based in Austin” because the the family that started it is from the little town of Dripping Springs, about 40 minutes west of Austin. Back then the population of the town was about 600 people. That’s not really much of an employee base and Austin is the nearest city. I grew up with the founders. I still fish with a fishing pole their dad gave me. Gun racks and trucks, hunting every weekend, those kind of people.

  7. Here’s Yeti’s full statement:

    A few weeks ago, YETI notified the NRA Foundation, as well as a number of other organizations, that we were eliminating a group of outdated discounting programs. When we notified the NRA Foundation and the other organizations of this change, YETI explained that we were offering them an alternative customization program broadly available to consumers and organizations, including the NRA Foundation. These facts directly contradict the inaccurate statement the NRA-ILA distributed on April 20.

    Further, the NRA-ILA stated in that same public communication that “[YETI has] declined to continue helping America’s young people enjoy outdoor recreational activities.” Nothing is further from the truth. YETI was founded more than 10 years ago with a passion for the outdoors, and over the course of our history we have actively and enthusiastically supported hunters, anglers and the broader outdoor community. We have been devoted to and will continue to directly support causes tied to our passion for the outdoors, including by working with many organizations that promote conservation and management of wildlife resources and habitat restoration. From our website to our film footage and from our social media posts to our ambassadors, YETI has always prominently featured hunters pursuing their passions. Moreover, YETI is unwavering in our belief in and commitment to the Constitution of the United States and its Second Amendment.

    • Sorry jw, still ain’t buying it, despite your cheerleading. Statements are statements and actions are actions. In the current climate with more businesses shunning us weekly, even if this was just routine shuffling of who they sponsor, they should have realized the optics and thought better. Nah, smells like virtue signaling to me.

      And we get it, the NRA may have spun it for their advantage, that’s capitalism, deal with it. I’m not going to claim I agree with everything, or even most of what they do, but you do realize only us hardcore 2a’s understand that. The image the media has created of them, or I should say Us, as the boogeyman is enough for me to “support” them as that is what will get the antis panties most wadded.
      So Yeti dropping them is just businesses to them, but is seen as another win by the antis.
      Defend that all you like.

    • Stupid long winded public affairs response. Post a photo of your CEO shooing an AR15 with a bump stock, and we might believe you

      • You want a company that has been slandered to post a photo of them with a product that the NRA has helped put out of business, and then give proceeds to the company that slandered both of them?

        • If Yeti was publicly slandered by the NRA then they can file suit. If what Yeti claims is true, it should be an easy case for them to win.

          If Yeti doesn’t, then they are full of shit.

    • You are buying into the victim mentality. Yeti did no such thing. The NRA is making this up for their own advantage.

      • Well JW Taylor, I think your own bias against the NRA is showing. Either way, it was not a good time to drop the NRA as a sponsor, because it does look like virtue signaling by YETI towards the leftist anti-gunners.

        I also looked at the stock market for YETI stock. It has a significant drop today. Is it because of this whole kerfluffle?

        • I’m sure it is. Which is exactly why they need to sue the shit out of the NRA.
          By the way, I’m a former NRA member and a certified NRA instructor. I say former, because I never will be again.

        • It looks like your own bias is clouding your judgement ThomasR. YETI isn’t a publicly traded company, how could their stock be suffering? Read the facts and form a informed opinion, or just keep shooting from the hip.

        • chad: while you are correct that yeti isn’t publicly traded, YET, they do have a pending IPO, which means they were probably told to do this by the bank handling it or they would be dropped. IPOs are one of the prime ways that corporations are kept in line. They can be offered as a legal bribe, withdrawn at any time for no reason, and are generally worth millions, IF a bank thinks they can be sold(or they want to offer some organization a bribe that’s legal).
          Are you old enough to remember how good google was, up until their IPO?

        • Some new information has come to light. According to the NRA’s spokesman, yetis upcoming IPO has already been canceled. As I stated earlier, IPO’s are a great way for banks to keep companies in line. If they now reinstate it, after yeti did their bidding, that will be confirmation that the fix was in all along.
          “Hammer concluded her statement by noting, “Whether this is due to the recent cancellation of the IPO from their New York City owners is a question only they can answer.””
          http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/04/24/former-nra-president-doubles-yeti-demanded-nra-cease-using-cooler-company-logo/
          Note that I don’t support the NRA either. I’ve been on this site being anti NRA for years. But that doesn’t automatically put yeti in the right. Obviously, corporations exist to make as much money as possible. A great many of them do this without regard for honor or ethics. In my view, both yeti AND the NRA are guilty of this.

      • Your comments like this one and the one that says Yeti has done more for youth sports shooting than the NRA has both concern me and demonstrate a lack of knowledge on your part. You are damaging your brand quite badly.

  8. ^ correct, Yeti changed an out dated discount policy for another, their statements say they still are pro 2A. NRA simply started a shit storm, for no reason .

    • No the reason is the same as the NRA has done time and time again. They play the victim card in order to get increased donations, all the while doing nothing for the Second Amendment.

      • I second. I’m old enough to remember all the times the NRA stabbed me in the back(not back to 1934 tho. I’m not THAT old).
        Never trust a traitor. If they did it once, they’ll do it again…

  9. I always considered Yeti product to be over priced/over branded crap. The lasted fad for millennials and offendials. My 10 plus year old igloo coolers work just as well and didn’t cost nearly as much. Why would anybody pay 20+ dollars for a damn mug.

    • I have a stainless thermomug I’ve been using since about 1989. Still keeps coffee hot till noon. No reason for another. If memory serves it was about 4 bucks…
      I also have two Alladin thermoses that use big corks for a stopper. They stay hot twice as long as the modern, ‘improved’, ones. The problem with today is; almost everything made just sucks. I pay more and buy old stuff that works.

  10. Regardless of whether this was a purposeful “distancing ourselves from the NRA” moment or if they were truthfully just “cleaning up their discount program”…it was a PR/marketing screw up of epic proportions.

    Even if the NRA didn’t whine and moan about it, the mainstream press would have eventually run with “look! even Yeti hates the NRA” headlines. And they would be in the same PR nightmare they find themselves in today with sportsmen. Someone should have told the accountants that RIGHT NOW was not the time to do this.

    • THIS, x1000. Are they blowing smoke up our arses, or are they just that stupid? I don’t care either way. The media and general public just see one more company distancing themselves from the NRA, and thus, people of the gun.

      And NO, we aren’t being “victims” for being pissed off about that.

    • No they wouldn’t, they wouldn’t even known about it since Yeti offered the NRA other promotions. You didn’t see the other organizations, like Safari Club International put out a whining little tweet about it. Only the NRA did that.

  11. If there’s one thing you can count on, it’s human greed. If one guy(or org) is making money from an association with another, others will be out there looking on with envy. When the first one wimps out and screws it up, the other will be happy to move right in, as appears to have happened here.
    Good Luck RTIC, and I never jumped on the Yeti bandwagon in the first place, so I have no dog in this race.

  12. Wow…so stupid to alienate outdoors-men when you sell that kind of product. Screw them and Dick’s (no pun intended!).

  13. Sounds like YETI will join the ranks of DICK’s stores and other sporting goods stores when YETI products begin to sit on the shelves unsold. Piss me off, Pay the consequences !!!!

    BTW, the shifting around of product on semi empty store shelves (HELLO Dick’s !!!) to make them appear full is called “faceing”. Just some useless tourist information from the ex retail guy………………………………

  14. I understand what YETI was trying to do. They probably had several discount programs to various organisations and wanted to consolidate them to simplify their accounting. The problem YETI had is timing. Dropping their discount programs now to replace them, insured bad press and the reaction their potential customers had. Their accounting change has probably been months in the making and everything was flowing along on auto pilot. The letters went out and the NRA, already under attack from other corporate sponsors, decided that a little whining could get them a better if not comparable deal from a Yeti competitor. It worked. YETI took a big hit before it could react. Quite honestly they may not recover the market share they’ve already lost. I’m already a RTIC customer due to YETI prices, but I’ve got a hunch that RTIC is getting ready to get some competition in that regard.

    By the way, did you know that RTIC makes an outstanding rifle case?

  15. Rather than all the he-said/she-said BS, here’s the latest story straight from NRA as of 2/25/2018. Again, notice that we’re talking about the NRA Foundation here, not NRA itself, nor NRA-ILA or any of the political wings within. The foundation raises money for much of the work JWT claims Yeti has done better. So:

    “If it wasn’t bad enough that YETI dropped The NRA Foundation as a client, now they’re calling us liars because we informed our members and friends of their actions.

    The NRA Foundation has over 1,100 “Friends of NRA Committees” around the country. These committees host banquets and auctions that are attended by hundreds of thousands of guests each year. These events raise funds to support charitable causes and programs. The NRA Foundation supports the needs of youth programs for education, safety and training, as well as law enforcement needs, shooting ranges and conservation programs.

    For many years we have purchased coolers from YETI for our auctions. We have auctioned off many thousands of YETI coolers each year. YETI recently dropped The NRA Foundation as a client. Not only would they not take our orders for more coolers, they forced us to cancel orders already in the system that they said they would not fill.

    Three days after we notified you of YETI’s decision to drop The NRA Foundation, YETI issued their prepared statement in which they admit they dropped us but claim they simply eliminated the discount program and dropped other (unnamed) organizations as well. That’s news to us.

    Perhaps the people writing YETI’s damage control statements are not talking to the people who enforced YETI’s decisions and refused our orders. We had even offered the YETI Roadie in one of our sponsorship levels for 2018 – which we’ve had to cancel.

    We told you the truth.

    YETI’s attempts at damage control is to say our statement is not accurate. Shame on you again YETI. You know you made a mistake. A big one. Now you must live with your mistake.”

    I beleive this may have been posted by Dan earlier but the link has disappeared from my access.

  16. Who the hell buys that way over priced yet crap anyway? Never heard of RCTIC before but they are my new buddies now!!

  17. I know this is an old thread, but, I contacted yeti right after it happened. Customer service was nice at first, but then said they were not authorized to respond to customer requests. I just mentioned that I had 2 Yeti products and was involved in youth sports and large numbers of parents truly wanted to know if they were anti-NRA. I explained that the official release and response by the NRA had in fact called Yeti owners “liars”. Funny, I just asked them to deny or that the owners were Anti-NRA or Anti-Gun. They then wrote back and told they were not allowed to respond and could not say whether Yeti lied or not. Nor could they say whether Yeti was against the Second Amendment. All they had to say was, Yeti supports the 2nd, but they said they were not authorized to say yes or no. Its just like when a person is accused of child molestation and takes the 5th Amendment. No difference. And contrary to what another uniformed person said, Yeti does not support any of the shooting sports like FHA, national shooting sports foundation, Olympic shooting, Youth Hunter Clinics, youth shooter or hunter safety or anything like that. They advertise with a few of the national hunting shows but do not support anything like 3 gun, cowboy action or anything involving handguns. So, to prove I am wrong, please send me links. And I tow my jeep behind my RV across the nation with a cooler on the back. If you see me, honk 5 times……so I will know you read this. I will never spend another dime on Yeti nor will I ever set foot in Dicks again. Duh>

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