Hobby Lobby controversy is strangely common. The privately-held US retailer has been entangled in a spider web of controversies due to its conservative Christian operational approaches. From denying birth control coverage for its employees due to religious beliefs to antisemitic comments and even smuggling looted antiques from Iraq, the company is no stranger to getting itself into trouble with the public.
Our experts at Business2Community will explain all the Hobby Lobby controversies, detailing what happened and what we can learn from them. These scandals serve as valuable business resources for entrepreneurs like you to create and implement policies that align with your values and those of your target consumer, helping you navigate public relations better.
Hobby Lobby Controversy – Key Facts
- Hobby Lobby President Steve Green apologized after a Hobby Lobby store worker was accused of making antisemitic comments against a Jewish customer in 2013.
- In 2014, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Hobby Lobby denying birth control access to its employees on religious belief grounds.
- Hobby Lobby was fined $3 million for smuggling thousands of artifacts from Iraq for the Museum of the Bible in 2018.
The Story of the Hobby Lobby Controversy
Founded by David Green and his wife Barbara Green in 1972 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Hobby Lobby is a private arts retailer with over 46,000 employees and 1,000 craft stores across the country, making it the biggest private company in the world in its field. The Green family is known to hold strong conservative Christian opinions, which are reflected in the company values.
Over the years, the company’s conservative approaches have led to several crises and debates about its questionable ethics. To avoid making the same mistakes, here is everything you need to know about the Hobby Lobby controversies.
Hobby Lobby Banned Birth Control Access For Its Employees
The biggest Hobby Lobby controversy in recent years happened in June 2014 when the US Supreme Court ruled that companies meeting certain criteria would be allowed to deny birth control coverage for their employees if it goes against their religious beliefs, in the Burwell vs Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. case.
The arts and crafts retailer and other corporations would no longer have to cover any form of birth control in their health insurance packages. At the time in the US, birth control pills cost around $25 per month and an intrauterine device could cost up to $900 for insertion.
The high-profile case came after Hobby Lobby, a strong advocate for pro-life beliefs, challenged the provision of birth control access and emergency contraceptives required by the state in their basic health care coverage because it violated their religious beliefs.
In a 2013 company statement, published by Business Insider, company CEO David Green said:
The Health and Human Services “preventative services” mandate forces businesses to provide the “morning-after” and the “week-after” pills in our health insurance plans. These abortion-causing drugs go against our faith.
Therefore, Hobby Lobby took the matter to the Supreme Court, where the latter ruled in its favor. In a company statement to the Supreme Court, Hobby Lobby said that it “is committed to…Honoring the Lord in all we do by operating… in a manner consistent with Biblical principles.”
The ruling sent shock across the legal community, fearing how other companies may use it to take back more basic human rights granted to employees in the name of religious beliefs. NGOs also criticized the move as it undermined basic workers’ welfare.
Hobby Lobby Smuggled Thousands of Artifacts From Iraq
In 2010, Hobby Lobby purchased 5,500 Iraqi antiquities valued at $1.6 million. The US has placed tough import rules on Iraqi cultural property since the 1990s. In order to bypass this rule, the arts and crafts store giant decided to smuggle these artifacts by using fake documentation.
Many of these ancient artifacts lacked credible documentation and were masked as clay tiles and ceramic tiles imported from Turkey and Israel, where the import rules to the US were more lenient. US customs agents confiscated the wrongly labeled artifacts and began an 8-year-long legal process against Hobby Lobby.
These artifacts were originally sent to Oklahoma City, where Hobby Lobby’s headquarters are. It was believed that the items would then have been placed in the Museum of the Bible in Washington D.C. The Museum of the Bible is run by Hobby Lobby’s founder David Green and his family. The authorities did not state whether the Green family or Hobby Lobby’s management was aware of the illegal import process at the time.
The incident caused widespread protests against looted artifacts from the Middle East, with many citing concerns about the origins of these art items and whether they originated from a black market sale. Hobby Lobby was in hot water as suspicions of its role in this series of illegal activities rose.
A Hobby Lobby Store Employee Made Antisemitic Remarks to a Jewish Customer
In the fall of 2013, a blog post written by political blogger Ken Berwitz in Marlboro, New Jersey, went viral after he accused Hobby Lobby’s staff of discriminatory behaviors against Jewish people. Berwitz said a Jewish woman went to a Hobby Lobby store in New Jersey and asked one of the employees if the store sold cards for Jewish holidays. The employee reportedly told the woman, “We don’t cater to you people.”
The blogger continued by saying that he was told by the Hobby Lobby office that its craft stores would not carry any Jewish-themed items “because Mr. Green is the owner of the company, he’s a Christian, and those are his values.”
The antisemitic comments ignited anger in the Jewish community as well as the Anti-Defamation League, which criticized the company for its insensitive remarks.
The Consequences of the Hobby Lobby Controversy
Hobby Lobby’s conservative beliefs and questionable operational strategies have put the brand in hot water on several occasions. Following these controversies, the brand received an enormous amount of criticism as well as federal fines for its unethical practices.
Not only did these controversies damage its reputation, but they also encouraged angry customers to look elsewhere for responsible brands that represent modern-day values.
Experts Feared More Discriminatory Acts Justified by Religious Beliefs
The Supreme Court case regarding birth control shocked the country. As Planned Parenthood, a New York-based non-profit organization, pointed out after the ruling the Supreme Court set a new precedent. For the first time, the Supreme Court allowed a company to deny birth control coverage due to religious beliefs, endangering employees’ basic welfare.
With more than 28,000 employees within its organization, the decision would adversely impact its workers’ quality of life.
The NGO also noted that other companies may also deny people access to various basic health care plans on the grounds of religious preferences.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the now-deceased Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, shared the same concerns. She expressed fear over more discriminatory acts that would follow, granting more corporations the opportunity to assert legal rights over individuals.
As it turned out, the experts’ worries were valid. Soon after the ruling on birth control coverage, Hobby Lobby tried to take it further by pushing for a religious exemption that would allow the company to not hire LGBT+ employees legally. Although Hobby Lobby wasn’t successful in this crusade, it’s far from the only major controversy between conservatives and the LGBT+ community. Bud Light and Target both had their own unique controversies within this vein.
ICE Seized 3,800 Ancient Artifacts From Hobby Lobby
Since Hobby Lobby purchased illegal artifacts from Iraq in 2010, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) has tried to rectify the issue by starting an 8-year-long legal process.
Initially, Hobby Lobby president Steve Green said that the company “should have exercised more oversight and carefully questioned how the acquisitions were handled” through a press release. It tried to pin the smuggling activities on its inexperience in the business.
However, the claim was soon bashed by the DOJ, which believed the items brought in were filled with red flags, something a long-standing antiquities dealer like Hobby Lobby should have picked up on.
Eventually, in 2018, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) returned 3,800 artifacts to the Iraq Museum. The artifacts seized included cuneiform tablets, cylinder seals, and clay bullae. In addition, Hobby Lobby consented to pay $3 million in fines to the federal government for its unlawful act.
Following the ruling, U.S. Attorney Richard P. Donoghue said, “We are proud to have played a role in removing these pieces of Iraq’s history from the black market of illegally obtained antiquities and restoring them to the Iraqi people.”
Hobby Lobby President Steve Green Apologized for the Antisemitic Comments
As negative emotions towards the crafts retailer ran high following the antisemitic comments made by a Hobby Lobby worker in a New Jersey store, President Steve Green issued a formal apology on October 4, 2013.
In the statement, Green said, “We sincerely apologize for any employee comments that may have offended anyone, especially our Jewish customers and friends. Comments like these do not reflect the feelings of our family or Hobby Lobby.” It continued by saying, “Our family has a deep respect for the Jewish faith and those who hold its traditions dear” and that the company would re-evaluate its holiday items for the future.
Although the statement did not specify whether or not the brand would include Jewish holiday items, the Anti-Defamation League accepted Green’s apology, adding that Hobby Lobby’s representatives worked directly with the organization to discuss remedies and understood the consequences of these antisemitic comments.
What Can We Learn From the Hobby Lobby Controversy?
Hobby Lobby has been embroiled in various controversies in recent years due to its outdated conservative strategies that no longer reflect many American’s values, not to mention its bizarre antiquities crimes. Not only was the company accused of violating basic human rights by rejecting birth control services for its employees and making racist comments, but it also violated federal laws by illegally smuggling artifacts into the country.
As the largest private arts retailer in the world, these controversies could easily have been avoided if it had invested the resources to study the current market expectations of its customers and build and protect a better brand image.
Consumers are becoming more ethically conscious about the values businesses stand for and running a responsible and inclusive brand is important in order to secure a sustainable income stream. You need to protect your employees and your customers’ interests when formulating new strategies and implementing policies.
The Hobby Lobby controversy serves as a valuable lesson about things to avoid in this field. When you can obey the rules and function as an ethically conscious company, you will be able to attract new customers around the world and grow your influence and profits.