Conviction to the Extreme

As part of my Strategic Brand Concepts class, I read Conviction a white paper written by Kelly O'Keefe. A brand's conviction is defined by O'Keefe as "an internal conviction about how to run a business based on [the company's] own values, not on the whims of the customers." Well, I discovered a brand who has taken conviction to the extreme.

Situation: While a grocery worker was on break a store manager requested help with
stopping a shoplifter

Conviction: Whole Foods Market enforced its policy that under no circumstances should
an employee ever physically touch a customer

Result: Grocery worker fired for stopping shoplifter

How far is too far to take a brand's conviction? Given the regional nature of the story, there may not be any major negative impact to the brand; however, does the brand really wants to risk that?