Regretsy

At Etsy, biology is banned but hate-hexes from rent-a-witches are responsible business practice.

Dear friends,

I’m writing to update you on our engagement with Etsy, the online marketplace that connects buyers with independent sellers of handmade goods, vintage items, and—apparently—curses.

Recently, Jezebel published a piece proudly announcing that they had purchased three hexes against Charlie Kirk via Etsy, including one invoking “Daemonic Black Magick” designed to “make everyone hate him” and “reshape his world.” The article has since been removed, but not before it made clear that Etsy was the retail channel for this spiritual consumerism. Kirk was assassinated shortly thereafter while speaking publicly.

Best case scenario, this is a scam. Worst case scenario, it is a threat. Etsy, for its part, seems to have no problem hosting vendors who sell commoditized karma as a service—so long as the target is politically unfashionable. Paraphrasing and updating P.T. Barnum, “There’s a sucker born again, and again, and again every minute.”

Our engagement with Etsy began in 2023, when I raised concerns at their annual board meeting about ideological bias in enforcement of seller policies. I followed up with written correspondence, pointing out the suspension of a vendor who sold coffee mugs stating “gender is biological,” while Etsy continued to host merchandise that celebrates church burnings and threatens violence over the trans issue.

From my July 4, 2023 email to Etsy:

“I understand that you cancelled a vendor relationship with Colin Wright. Wright sold merchandise which questioned recent social trends which seek to distinguish between biological sex and gender. In other words, he took a position which is unpopular among trans-activists.”

“A search for ‘anti-trans’ merchandise brings forth no anti-trans merchandise at all, but rather pro-trans products—including the ‘Satan respects pronouns’ t-shirt sold by the designer with whom Target formerly had an ill-fated and brand-destructive partnership.”

“There is a wide array of anti-religious content, some of which is threatening in nature (for instance a call to protect trans-youth with the image of a dagger).”

“The merchandise is clearly hateful, insulting, and actually incites violence, calling the reader to ‘Burn Down Your Local Church’.”

“Whatever your seller policies are, they are either inherently biased, or vague and interpreted in a biased way.”

In today’s follow-up email, I reminded Etsy:

“It’s been more than two years, and I have not received any answers to these questions. Whenever we file shareholder proposals with companies, the question we hear most often is ‘Why did you go through the process of filing a proposal instead of just talking to us?’ At which point I share unaddressed correspondence such as this.”

“Now the issue of bias and of uneven application of hate speech is bubbling up even more with the revelation that Etsy provided the platform to sell a hex against the late Charlie Kirk to ‘get everyone to hate you.’ Am I to understand that selling a mug which says ‘Gender is biological’ is banned, while selling curses against political enemies is not?”

“I believe that these hexes and curses are ineffectual superstitious nonsense, sold to gullible people, in which case they appear to be fraudulent. Or perhaps I’m wrong and they are actually effective, which means they are actively harming people, in which case they seem to constitute hate and intimidation. Either way, it’s hard to justify selling such ‘products’ but banning others.”

“The main point is whether Etsy is congruent with its statements about not being biased, and if not, whether such bias is consistent with brand value and reputation.”

“Would you be willing to discuss becoming truly viewpoint neutral with us on this important matter?”

Etsy’s brand positioning as a whimsical bazaar for handcrafted goods now includes a sideline in ideological curses. It’s a transformation from bazaar to bizarre—and whether this is a lapse in judgment or a deliberate policy is unclear. What is clear is that the company’s enforcement of its own standards is, at best, inconsistent—and at worst, ideologically weaponized.

We will continue to press for clarity and accountability. I’ll keep you updated as this develops. Oh, and for the record, we’re not worried about being hexed - we say our prayers every morning. We are worried about the witch’s brew of charlatans, superstitious rubes, occultism, mental illness, and extremist politics which has a way of boiling over into real world violence. We can’t stamp it out everywhere, but we can try to make sure that the companies we own don’t magically turn themselves into yet another tainted brand.

Jerry Bowyer is President of Bowyer Research.