WAG Politics in the gym

[Deleted member 18037]

I would like to know how anyone thinks because Coach Chow says he supports Jeb Bush, as in willing to vote for him, means the proceeds from his gym are going to support Jeb.

The guy said, I am or will vote for him. It doesn't mean I am giving him tons of your (gymmies) cash.

 

[NH~GymMom]

I would like to know how anyone thinks because Coach Chow says he supports Jeb Bush, as in willing to vote for him, means the proceeds from his gym are going to support Jeb.

The guy said, I am or will vote for him. It doesn't mean I am giving him tons of your (gymmies) cash.

Nobody said that he is definitely doing that, but in many cases, when someone brings their business into support of a cause or politician that business is monetarily supporting the cause/politician as well.

I don't actually think Chow is in this case (and I actually went through Jeb's donations to see if he was before I posted), but I still think my points are valid. He risks alienating some of his clients by doing this. And if someone does re-think their relationship with the gym because of this, it does not mean they need to "re-evaluate their life."

Do I think this is going to affect his bottom line? Nope. But it is a risk, and he may lose some people. I'm sure he knew that when he made the choice to make the ad and it was a risk he was willing to take because he felt strongly enough to endorse Jeb. I have no doubt he is not losing sleep over what people think of his decision.

 

[cadybearsmommy]

I would like to know how anyone thinks because Coach Chow says he supports Jeb Bush, as in willing to vote for him, means the proceeds from his gym are going to support Jeb.

The guy said, I am or will vote for him. It doesn't mean I am giving him tons of your (gymmies) cash.

That would have never occurred to me. If anything I would have thought that Jeb or his campaign made some contribution or donation to the gym instead. Especially since the commercial states it was paid for by Jeb's campaign.

 

[Gymmommy71]

I've been thinking how I would feel if my DDs gym did this for a while. I guess if it were for a candidate who's views I disagreed with and I got an email that said were doing a commercial for so and so, we'd appreciate you signing a release, but if you don't want to that's okay... I admit, that I would feel a little pressured/obligated to go along w/ the crowd. I would probably be doing a lot of "what are you going to do about this?" to other parents I knew and I'd be having my DD do the same (I know, I know...that's awful, but it's probably what I'd do ). I might even go so far as to sign it provided it was just her in the background and not featured to the point where she was highly identifiable (would probably ask the gym about that to get more info). If it was a candidate I liked, I probably would just sign it w/ a lot less inquiry to what others are doing provided my DD wanted to do it.

However, if my kid showed up in such a commerical w/o my knowledge/consent I'd be quite angry - angry enough to leave a gym I was otherwise happy with, probably not, but angry enough to complain about it and expect an apology. That would be true regardless of if I agreed w/ the views of the candidate or not. It would almost be like taking the gymnasts to a church service w/o asking permission - it's just wrong to not consult the parents on such sensitive things first.

A reason behind why I'd probably sign the release is that I just remember being a kid and not knowing much about politics at all - it really wouldn't upset me if I found out today that I was in an ad for a political candidate when I was 10-12 who's views then are against my views now (I can think of examples of this, but don't want to give them for fear of dating myself more than giving out my politics - Haha) - I'd actually think it was kind of funny. A lot of people don't grow up to have the same political views as their parents either - so my parents, especially my dad, definitely would have put me in the wrong commercials back when I was a kid . Not really a big deal, and I'm sure most of those kids think it's fun to be in a commercial that is running on TV - like even if you like Coke and hate Pepsi, it would still be pretty cool to be in a Pepsi commercial? Okay - maybe not the same thing, but to a 10 year old it kind of is.

 

[profmom]

I just think it's wrong to assume that kids don't know or care about politics. All three of mine, including the 12 year old, have watched several of the Democratic and Republican presidential debates and did so in the two previous elections. While they know and are comfortable with the fact that many of their friends and their friends' parents hold different political viewpoints, I think it would be somewhat awkward for them to have a political commercial filmed at their gym using their friends and teammates in support of a candidate whom they opposed.

One of the nice things about gym is that it helps me to build significant friendships with people who hold very different political beliefs than I do. In so many other walks of life, we tend only to associate with those whose political beliefs we share.

Chow's gym is a private for-profit business, so of course he can donate to any political candidate he supports. As I've said before, I think the most likely scenario is that no money changed hands between Bush and Chow's; the note in the commercial refers to the cost of producing and airing the ad. I think, in fact, it would be kind of weird to be willing to go to all the trouble of organizing an ad filming at your business if you had no intention of supporting the candidate or his PAC directly, but different folks may have different views on this.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

i do not approve of this message...YIKES

 

[twinmomma]

I would like to know how anyone thinks because Coach Chow says he supports Jeb Bush, as in willing to vote for him, means the proceeds from his gym are going to support Jeb.

The guy said, I am or will vote for him. It doesn't mean I am giving him tons of your (gymmies) cash.

It's not hard to find out. I actually found political donations in the name of a now defunct gym in our area. It was part of our decision not to send DD there. Often I think they do the donations in the name of the business because the business needs the deduction.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

It's not hard to find out. I actually found political donations in the name of a now defunct gym in our area. It was part of our decision not to send DD there. Often I think they do the donations in the name of the business because the business needs the deduction.

Oh I get you can find out. But does anyone really know how much for Coach Chow at this point? Seem a lot of assuming happening at the moment.

 

[Musicmama]

I wouldn't want my children to be in a political ad for a candidate I disagreed with and I'd think long and hard about it before agreeing to put them in an ad for a candidate I did agree with. I'd also get their thoughts about the issue before agreeing to it.

I guess my main concern with something like this in general would be image. That seems shallow when I say it, but if I'm completely honest, I'd be more than a little unhappy if I disagreed vehemently with Politician X and my kid's gym suddenly became known as "the gym that supports Politician X" - does that make sense? I really don't like being dragged into other people's politics by close association.

Granted, I doubt Chow is going to have a huge problem with image due to politics since he's already well-known for other things, but a regular gym (like ours) might end up with image issues.