Corporate Partners Back Away From NRA

Credit: Photograph by Aaron M. Sprecher/Bloomberg, Illustration Composite by Ad Age

The National Rifle Association often finds itself on the defensive in the wake of mass shootings. But the NRA is feeling more heat than ever in the wake of last week's massacre at a Florida high school as some corporate partners back away from the organization, reports AdAge.

Rental car giant Enterprise, insurer MetLife, online security firm Symantec and home security provider SimpliSafe are among the companies that have ended discount programs for NRA members in the wake of the assault on Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that left 17 dead. The relatively quick responses from corporations that are normally careful to avoid politics suggest that the Feb. 14 shooting has induced a public backlash against the NRA that's unlike previous incidents.

Tim Calkins, a marketing professor at Northwestern University, cited the role of the students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School who survived the shooting. On social media, cable TV appearances and in public protests, the students have called for new gun control measures. "We've got a group of students that are incredibly engaged and the teachers are engaged and everybody is rallying around them," Calkins says. "There's been basically no mourning period here. It's just been action right from the incident."

He compared the corporate response to the tipping point reached in recent years when mainstream brands began declaring their support for same-sex marriage after years of tiptoeing around the issue. "When it starts to tip, it tends to tip quickly," he says.

The companies are acting as support for gun control grows. A Quinnipiac University National Poll released this week shows that 66 percent of U.S. voters support stricter gun laws, the highest level of support ever measured by the poll. In 2015, 47 percent of respondents supported stricter measures.