Bachman’s Floral has an item on its website, explaining to visitors that the company has no connection to Congresswoman Michele Bachmann. But the notice is not to be construed as a political statement of any kind, the Bachman’s folks say.
The similar names have caused much confusion, company officials say, and they’re receiving many calls and emails about it, with most coming from people who do not support Bachmann, said flower company spokesperson Sarah Pitts.
The dissociation notice is to answer the question before people call, she said.
“We pay the people in our call center to take flower orders, not to address political questions,” she said.
Pitts didn’t have a tally on the number of calls and emails they’ve received about whether the two are related somehow, but said it’s been “quite a lot,” and whenever Bachmann is in the news, the calls increase.
About 10 days ago, the notice was placed on the website, linking from the home page.
“We posted it for people who are confused and want to know about the association, or lack thereof,” Pitts said.
It seems to have helped. With Bachmann’s recent exposure in the national news, with the recent Republican debate and today’s presidential announcement, calls and email to Bachman’s didn’t increase as much as the company expected.
Of the callers, some are curious about whether the congresswoman is associated with the firm. She’s not. Never has been. Most calls, though, are anti-Bachmann.
“More often than not, the callers are not supportive of Michele, and don’t want their business with us to support the candidate,” Pitts said.
Although the names are spelled differently, to be fair to those callers who might seem spelling-impaired, there have been many instances where her name is misspelled in the media with only one ‘n.’
So, for the foreseeable future — through the Republican primaries and maybe beyond, said Pitts — Bachman’s plans to keep the Bachmann notice on its website.
