Rebuilding Rob

,

No More Breadcrumbs: The Brands I’ve Left Behind

Published by

rebuilding rob

on

A conceptual digital graphic featuring a bold red fist logo on the right. On the left, a blurred background shows a professional wrestling ring and the Star Trek delta symbol. A "No Entry" sign is overlaid in the center, symbolizing a firm boundary.

As WordPress continues to recycle old prompts, I pulled another prompt from The Coffee Monsterz Co to respond to today

Is there a business you stopped buying from recently?

The time I spent in college—my late teens and early 20s—really galvanized me politically. That era also got me involved in a lot of social causes. I must confess it was X1 who first turned me on to the idea of using my dollar to support businesses that align with my values. It’s a practice I still follow to this day.

Exactly one year ago today, I responded to this same prompt and talked about the fact that I’ve effectively stopped shopping at Target altogether. I still haven’t looked back.

However, there are a few other businesses I likely would have mentioned at the same time. As I continue to boycott them for the same reasons, I’ll list a few of them now.

WWE – world wrestling entertainment

This is a tough one because I started watching professional wrestling in 1984 when I was about nine or ten years old. I’ve always known that wrestling appeals to a more conservative fan base, and I was able to look past that for the most part.

I stuck with the company through some of its darkest times: the steroid scandal and the death of Owen Hart. I was even grateful when they finally severed ties with Vince McMahon after the Janelle Grant lawsuit.

But when Linda McMahon donated roughly $9 million to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, it was the beginning of the end. I remember seeing a photo of the McMahon family in the Oval Office with Trump, and it was just too “cringe” for me. I realized that even if I wasn’t buying t-shirts or tickets to live events, I was still supporting the product just by watching.

The last straw came recently with reports that ticket prices are escalating out of control. It’s reaching a point where the average nuclear family—the very people Vince built his business on—can no longer afford this form of live entertainment. Adding to that, WWE’s new parent company, TKO, has done everything possible to maximize profits through massive new TV deals for Raw, SmackDown, and their Premium Live Events. It was a bridge I could no longer cross.

I do a lot of streaming and subscribe to about half a dozen services, but I’ve drawn a hard line at both Apple TV and ESPN+.

Paramount/Skydance/CBS

This is another difficult one for me. Star Trek might very well be my favorite intellectual property in all of popular culture. However, the CEO of Skydance—the new parent company of CBS/Paramount—is a vocal Trump supporter.

It comes as no surprise that shortly after Trump was elected President, CBS announced they would be buying out Stephen Colbert’s contract, effectively ending The Late Show. If you’ve watched the show even once, you know Colbert is extremely critical of Donald Trump. It might be a coincidence that a pro-Trump CEO is firing a critic of the President, but I don’t think so.

CBS can go back to being the “television network for people over 70” as far as I’m concerned. They are a far cry from the network that gave me my favorite sitcom, How I Met Your Mother.

Paramount also recently announced they were pulling the plug on Starfleet Academy. Showrunner Alex Kurtzman is basically “loading the barrel” to ensure he gets another season and a half out of Strange New Worlds, but as of now, there are no new Star Trek projects in development for the first time in over a decade. I figure 2027 will be the perfect time to drop Paramount+ for good.

A panoramic, extreme-widescreen banner (image_16.png), strictly visual and text-free, adapting the scene from image_15.png. The setting is a grand, dimly lit scholarly library with tall bookshelves, a large wooden desk, and a globe, matching the environment from image_15.png. The perspective is a very wide shot of the complete classical marble bust resembling Lady Liberty (as seen in image_15.png), resting on the desk. The bust clearly shows the heart-shaped cavity cut into its chest, revealing the complex, glowing brass clockwork mechanism and the 1776 sprocket, radiating that warm, internal golden light. In the right half of the panoramic frame, a significant portion of the male historian's hand (with the gold wedding band and the specific watch from image_15.png) enters in profile. The hand holds the delicate tweezers (also seen in image_15.png). The tweezers extend from the far right across the wide space, with their tips making precise contact with one of the smallest gears inside the statue's heart, mid-adjustment, bridging the immense horizontal distance. The background library dissolves into soft, deep shadows, emphasizing the focused work. There is no text overlay, titles, or watermarks. The lighting is moody and warm, highlighting the contrast between the worn marble and the intricate, glowing internal machinery, matching the 'dark academia' tone of image_15.png and image_2.png.

Coming Tomorrow: The 250-Year Clock

Speaking of boundaries and big-picture thinking, tomorrow marks the release of Episode 8 of the podcast: “The 250-Year Clock: Finding Hope at the Breaking Point.” If you’ve ever felt like the world is moving at a pace that’s impossible to keep up with, or if you’re looking for a way to ground yourself when everything feels like it’s hitting a “breaking point,” this is the conversation for you. Look for it on Spotify and all major platforms tomorrow morning.

Today’s post is inspired by the WordPress Daily Prompt. While I’ve taken the topic in my own direction for the Road to 1,000 Days, you can find more responses to today’s prompt HERE.

Thanks for stopping by Rebuilding Rob. Be sure to like 👍, comment and subscribe below. It’s greatly appreciated! Also, feel free to follow me on social media and check out my recent posts!

AI art created with Google Gemini

The article “No More Breadcrumbs: The Brands I’ve Left Behind” first appeared in Rebuilding Rob.

An iconic red fist and forearm thrusting upward in a gesture of strength. Centered black text below reads "REBUILDING ROB" and "BUILDING A MORE PERFECT MAN."

Leave a comment

Previous Post