Ivanka Trump is focusing on the positive.
The Republican Presidential nominee’s eldest daughter appeared with her father, siblings and stepmother Melania on “Good Morning America” on Thursday to address how Donald Trump‘s controversial White House run is affecting her eponymous clothing and accessories line.
“The beauty of America is that people can do what they like, but I prefer to talk to the millions — tens of millions — of American women who are inspired by the brand and the message I’ve created,” Ivanka Trump said during the sit-down interview with GMA host George Stephanopoulos. “My advocacy of women [and] trying to empower them in all aspects of their life started long before this Presidential campaign did. I’ve never politicized that message. People are seeking to politicize it because they disagree with the policies of my father — there’s nothing I can do to change that.”
Donald Trump’s businesses have been hit by allegations of unethical practices throughout his campaign. Meanwhile, boycotts of all things Trump have trickled down to Ivanka’s businesses.
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Just this week, a boycott of the Ivanka Trump Collection gained momentum on social media as the organizers’ hashtag, #grabyourwallet — a reference to the Republican candidate’s sexual comments on a 2005 tape — trended on Twitter.
Those using the #grabyourwallet hastag called for a boycott of stores that carry Ivanka Trump’s line, including Macy’s, Nordstrom, Lord & Taylor, TJ Maxx, Marshalls and Zappos.
Earlier this month, Ivanka Trump’s shoe line also came under fire after a series of reports accused her of using manufacturing factories that engage in unethical labor practices. In an exclusive statement to Footwear News last week, Ivanka Trump’s footwear business partner, Marc Fisher Footwear, denied the allegations.
Reports have delivered conflicting evidence regarding the impact of the Trump campaign on various Trump family businesses.
This week, New York-based market research firm Brand Keys said it found that 100 percent of the categories for which the company has tracked the Donald Trump brand have been negatively affected by the 2005 tape, in which Trump made sexually charged comments about women. But in a followup survey focusing on Ivanka Trump’s line, Brand Keys found that damage to her brand was insignificant compared to her father’s.
The survey, which polled 950 millennial female shoppers, found that 83 percent were positively disposed toward Ivanka Trump’s lines of clothing or shoes despite her involvement in her father’s Presidential campaign.
The study also found that more than half (51 percent) of female millenials surveyed are still “extremely” or “very” willing to keep the Ivanka Trump brand on their shopping lists, with 18 percent saying that in light of Ivanka Trump’s involvement with the Trump Presidential campaign, they were still “extremely likely” to consider buying her line, and 33 percent were “very likely” to consider it, while 32 percent said they were “somewhat likely” to give the line a try. Just 11 percent said they were “not very likely” to buy the products. Meanwhile, a mere 6 percent said they were “not at all likely” to purchase Ivanka Trump merchandise.
