Donald Trump told his Twitter followers to “buy L.L. Bean” on Thursday, after thanking a member of the family that runs the apparel maker for her support. It may not be the last time he pitches a product or company, since there’s nothing stopping him from doing so.

The reason: Trump, who takes office as president on Jan. 20, isn’t bound by the same ethics laws as executive branch appointees. Executive branch employees aren’t allowed to use their positions to endorse products, as this Office of Government Ethics document explains. But presidents are not considered employees, as Jordan Libowitz of the group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington says.

Trump “is exempted from a lot, including this one,” says Libowitz, the group’s communications director.

Here’s Trump’s tweet, in which he also included the Twitter handle of Linda Bean’s personal company. She is a board member at the company that bears her family name.

Trump’s urging consumers to buy from L.L. Bean comes as the group Grab Your Wallet advocates a boycott against the company due to Ms. Bean’s financial support of Trump. L.L. Bean said in a statement last weekend that the company doesn’t endorse candidates and called on Grab Your Wallet to reverse its position.

The Associated Press reported last week that Bean’s donation to a political action committee supporting Trump exceeded the Federal Election Commission limit.

Bean said Thursday morning on Fox Business that the boycott was a form of bullying against her and the company.

Not being considered an employee affects Trump in at least one other way, as MarketWatch has previously reported. It means he does not have to put his businesses and investments in a blind trust.

Lisa Gilbert of the group Public Citizen told MarketWatch that blasting out endorsements without thinking about the impact would be “irresponsible” of Trump. And the president-elect’s L.L. Bean tweet raised concern about “crony capitalism” from another Washington ethics watcher.

The L.L. Bean tweet was hardly the first time Trump has singled out a company for praise — or scorn. On Monday, he thanked Fiat Chrysler FCAU, +0.39% for its investments in U.S. plants, though he didn’t urge buying the company’s cars.

“He certainly likes to tweet about companies and talk about companies, saying they’re good or bad in his speeches,” Libowitz said. “There’s nothing legally to prevent him from doing that.”