Buying a product for a company doesn’t necessarily mean support for its goals.

Once money leaves a customer’s hands and he receives the product he paid for, it belongs to the leaders of the company to do with as they want.

Many people choose not to buy a product or service if they know the company supports a cause they don’t agree with. By doing this they are restricting their options as a consumer based on unrelated concerns.

It is not the customer’s responsibility or privilege to police what the company does with its profits.

For example, Girl Scouts saw a boycott of their cookies this year when it was discovered that the organization allowed a transgendered child – a boy living as a girl – to join a troop in Colorado.

This summer, many people withdrew their business from Toms Shoes because Blake Mycoskie spoke at an event sponsored by Focus on the Family, a socially conservative non-profit.

But is it true that your support is tied to your money? No.

The customer got her money’s worth the moment she decided the product would satisfy her needs.

Customers who think they have a say in the business practices of a company because they do business there are trying to insert themselves too far into the practices of the company. The company’s obligation to the customer’s wishes end with the product.

The price of a box of cookies or pair of shoes does include control over the moral decision-making or political leanings of the company.

And this is only considering the what knowledge we do have about the company members involved. Just imagine what goes on and doesn’t end up common knowledge to the public. It is unreasonable to even expect a customer to keep up with all the charities, political candidates and social movements a company supports.

If a customer thinks their support accompanies their money and feels it is necessary to only buy products when they support the company’s ideals, they would need to keep up with all the goings on of every company they buy things from. This would mean food, clothes and the tons of little things they buy every day.

It is unreasonable to expect people to investigate, become informed and act on that information. They would end up without any clothing, possessions or music if they were somehow able to keep up with all the information.

Customers can’t judge the worth of a company by the charities it supports, and a company shouldn’t find it necessary to please its customers through the causes it supports. The only thing a company owes its customers is a quality product.