Boycott of Fulltone: Guitar Center and Reverb stop selling their pedals
Guitar Center and Reverb announced a boycott of Fulltone, they will stop selling and marketing their effects pedals, after the controversial statements of its owner and founder Mike Fuller in relation to the anti-racist protests “Black Life Matter” in the United States.
Fulltone boycotted by musical instrument stores
Following the firing of John Cruz from Fender for a controversial meme the master builder posted on his personal Facebook account. Controversies and reprisals against attitudes critical of marches and protests in the United States against police violence against blacks continue.
Fulltone, the famous company that makes guitar effects pedals, has been criticized and boycotted recently. This comes after company founder and owner Mike Fuller made offensive comments on social media about looting that took place during protests in Minneapolis over police brutality and the murder of George Floyd.
The criticisms have been made from all sides, from the Guitar Center and Reverb stores, also artists and even by the fans of the Fulltone brand themselves.
Fuller’s statements against looting
“How is this night 4 of looting with 100% impunity? The mayor and the governor don’t give a shit about small businesses, and it’s never been so clear. He wrote in a Facebook post that was later removed on June 2.
He later added a comment: “Oh, I feel better, and I blushed some curious guys who were raised to pee sitting up. Now I will remove it.
Boycott of Fulltone fans themselves
A group of Fulltone fans on Facebook repudiated Fuller’s expressions in an email in which he responded to a user who expressed rejection of his expressions. The complaint sent by the brand user directly to Fulltone’s sales email address, accused the designer and founder of the brand of considering “business showcases more important than police brutality” and threatened to stop using their products. Fulltone pedals and leaving a negative review in response to Fuller’s alleged comments.
In the group of fans, what would be the answer to the user by Mike was published:
“I beg you to sell your pedals because you don’t really deserve them. In reality, you are so racist that you think that the good people who protest are the same as the organized criminal gangsters who are looting ‘shop windows’.
Those ‘showcases’ are the lives of good hard working people and their livelihoods. If I see you with a Fulltone pedal I’ll tag it and break into your house and steal it, because it’s my way of free expression to do it, okay?”
The author would be Mike Fuller
The screenshot of this email was posted on the Fulltone Pedals Facebook group, prompting significant criticism. Most strikingly, the strong condemnation of Fuller’s alleged comments came from the administrator of one of the largest Fulltone fan pages on Facebook. The group has more than 14,000 followers, almost double the official Fulltone page.
Reverb.com statement against Mike Fuller
Reverb -Reverb.com-, the large online music instrument sales site, announced that it will suspend sales of new Fulltone products as of July 1. Regarding the brand’s used pedals, their sale will continue and the proceeds from their fee or commission will be donated to a racial justice organization.
Recent comments and behavior from Mike Fuller violate our established brand values and the principles in our Community Rules for Sellers and Buyers. We have prohibitions against any type of racial discrimination, hate speech and any threat or encouragement to violence.
Reverb.com
Guitar Center statement against Fulltone
Guitar Center is another store that also reported that they stopped working with Fulltone. The company tweeted on June 5 that they were no longer doing business with Fulltone and are moving quickly to remove all Fulltone products from their stores and websites.
Mike Fuller later claimed that he cut ties with Guitar Center in March, which is more than three months ago.
I see some inaccurate news headlines from various online magazines that require clarification:
Mike fuller
I terminated the distribution agreement -Dealership agreement- with Guitar Center and Musician’s Friend’s on March 23, 2020 at 12:39 pm and they recognized it at that time.
Boycott of Fulltone by artists
But the matter is not limited to distributors or commercial stores to the street and online of musical equipment. Also it covers artists like Jason Isbell, Mark Hoppus of Blink-182, pop-rock duo Savoir Adore, Lelia Broussard of Jupiter Winter and Amy Ray of Indigo Girls. These musicians have expressed plans to boycott Fulltone in the future on their social media accounts and promoted the hashtag #boycottfulltone.
Also, Broussard proposes to repaint the pedals. He proposes to cover the mark with the emblem phrase of the marches “Black lives matter” as part of the Boycott of Fulltone:
“Does any graphic artist out there want to help us repaint these pedals with Black Lives Matter – ‘Black Lives Matter‘ – so we can donate the pedals somewhere without doing anything to promote this junk brand?”
Lelia Broussard from Jupiter Winter
Apologies from Mike Fuller on Facebook
Fuller posted an apology that he later deleted on Facebook. However, in guitarriego.com we have what was said and we transcribe it below:
“I want to address a couple of things that I posted recently that have upset a group of people. I made a comment a couple of days ago that the mayor and the governor were cowards for allowing looting.
“The rest of that sentiment that was not shared is ‘… they were arresting the good people who protested and allowing professional teams to loot with impunity.’ Adding this does not improve what was said, but I do believe that no one should destroy someone else’s property… I can’t understand it.
«I will now end by saying that I apologize to anyone who has offended. And I believe that anyone who abuses or harms another person should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. That includes the police, and you shouldn’t talk about this subject anymore unless you’re doing something positive, which is not the case right now.
Mike fuller
What do you think about the boycott? Do you agree with Guitar Center and Reverb? Leave us a comment below.
