Trump supporters launch boycotts of Pepsi, Oreos, and Netflix
Because if you don’t like Trump, they want you to fail.
By Zack Ford, November 15, 2016
While many in the country are protesting and condemning Donald Trump’s election as president, his supporters (including both the alt-right and other traditional conservatives) are trying to counter with their own demonstrations. At the top of their list of targets is PepsiCo, but it’s one of only many companies some are planning to boycott for criticizing Trump or otherwise working against what they believe to be his goals.
PepsiCo garnered their wrath last week when CEO Indra Nooyi talked about the election in an interview with the New York Times’ Andrew Ross Sorkin at a conference on Thursday. “They are all in mourning,” she said of her daughters and employees. “Our employees are all crying.
And the question that they’re asking, especially those who are not white: ‘Are we safe?’ Women are asking: ‘Are we safe?’ LGBT people are asking: ‘Are we safe?’ I never thought I’d have had to answer those questions.”
Nooyi went on to condemn the way Trump has spoken about women in a conversation that also addressed domestic violence issues in the NFL. There is no place for such language, she said, “not in locker rooms, not in football players’ homes, not in any place.”
These comments moved PepsiCo to the top of the boycott list, ousting GrubHub from that position. The food delivery service earned its boycott when CEO Matt Maloney sent a company-wide email the day after the election explaining to his employees that demeaning minorities, immigrants, and people with disabilities is behavior that has “no place at Grubhub,” regardless of whether it “worked for Mr. Trump.” Anybody who didn’t agree that the company should be an inclusive place was invited to submit their resignation. Maloney later clarified he wasn’t asking people to resign if they voted for Trump, only if they support “discriminatory activity or hateful commentary.”
There is an “official” list of the many companies for Trump supporters to boycott, maintained by Reddit user “WhiteChristianMan” in a channel called r/The_Donald, “the unofficial Donald Trump 2016 subreddit.” In addition to PepsiCo and GrubHub — WhiteChristianMan calls Maloney a “total cuck” — the list also includes:
- Macy’s, because it won’t be bringing back Trump’s clothing line.
- Amazon, because owner Jeff Bezos also owns the Washington Post, which investigated Trump’s life at length.
- Oreos (though oddly not parent company Nabisco), because as Trump mentioned multiple times on the campaign trail, the cookie company moved its factories to Mexico.
- The NFL, because Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans sat during the national anthem on Sunday in protest of Trump’s election (though he has since said he’d find another way to express his concerns).
- Netflix, because they believe its new documentary about the White Helmets, civilian first-responders who rescue people after attacks in the Syrian civil war, spreads propaganda for Al Qaeda.
- Ben & Jerry’s, for supporting the Black Lives Matter movement.
Though the Reddit list bears many trappings of the alt-right, it’s not only the alt-right embracing these boycotts. For example, the Family Research Council, a conservative evangelical anti-LGBT hate group, applauded the boycotts of PepsiCo and GrubHub, mocking the way their stocks dipped because of their CEOs’ comments about Trump’s divisive rhetoric. Tony Perkins, the group’s head, compared these boycotts to other social conservative boycotts FRC has participated in, such as of Target, Lands’ End, J.C. Penney, and Angie’s List — all of which were targeted for taking pro-LGBT or pro-choice positions.
Gizmodo points out that WhiteChristianMan’s list is incomplete. Back in July, a group of tech luminaries signed an open letter opposing Trump’s candidacy. That included Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit — where his list ironically lives — as well as execs from several other tech companies, including Facebook, Tumblr, Apple, Yelp, Twitter, YouTube, Tinder, Google, Wikipedia, and Instagram.
If Trump supporters truly end their usage of all products that have opposed Trump, they’ll be left with the companies WhiteChristianMan suggests they support, such as Yuengling beer, Hydrox Cookies, NASCAR, the WWE, Carl’s Jr./Hardee’s, Dominos Pizza, Chick-fil-A, and Home Depot.
They can also wear New Balance sneakers, but that might soon change. The company’s vice president of public affairs said that Trump’s victory was good for the country, but then Neo-Nazis declared New Balance the “official shoes of white people.” The company has since responded with comments about how it “does not tolerate bigotry or hate in any form” — basically the same sentiment that prompted boycotts of PepsiCo and Grubhub.
There have also been boycotts against Trump. Activist Shannon Coulter started the #GrabYourWallet boycott after the release of a 2005 recording of Trump talking about grabbing women “by the pussy.” Her list focuses on stores that do business with the Trump family or sell its products, and incidentally includes some of the same targets as WhiteChristianMan’s, including Amazon and Macy’s.
...................................................................................................................................................................
No comments:
Post a Comment