Keurig – the company that invented the pod-based Coffee maker – recently withdrew its ads from the programs of a popular Fox News commentator. And conservative-right viewers have responded by posting videos of people ‘killing’ Keurigs – smashing machines and Coffee Pods with all sorts of ‘tools’…
Time Magazine put together this YouTube video showing one early adopter of
the ‘Keurig Smash Challenge’ and providing the skinny on the story…
The company pulled its ads from the Sean Hannity-hosted programming after Hannity broadcast a sympathetic interview with disgraced Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore last weekend. Moore has been accused of sexually abusing a number of women, even some teenage girls.
Well! You should have heard the outcry…
Not only did right-wing conservatives start an online bashing campaign against Keurig, they also let loose at employees. So in tense and harsh was the backlash that Keurig CEO Bob Gamgort sent an apology to all Keurig employees. It read, in part:
“This gave the appearance of ‘taking sides’ in an emotionally charged debate that escalated on Twitter and beyond over the weekend, which was not our intent. Clearly, this is an unacceptable situation that requires an overhaul of our issues response and external communications policies and the introduction of safeguards to ensure this never happen again … The nature of social media and the internet news environment is that stories like this explode, and generally do not disappear quickly.”
Washington Post reporter Eric Wemple was leaked a copy of the full memo.
Gamgort went on to say that the decision to announce the company’s pulling of the ads on Twitter was clearly a bad one and was ‘done outside of company protocols’. Even so, would the pulling of Keurig ads from Hannity’s programming not have made itself clear to everyone watching simply by the absence of the ads? Did the folks who were outraged by the pulling of the ads have to be hit over the head with a Twitter post to get the message? I don’t know. But I wonder…
And how dumb is it to smash a Coffee maker you paid maybe (US)$100 for, just because you support a media outlet that supports sexual abuse? You could just as easily give it away to some liberal in your neighbourhood for Christmas.
Push-back from ‘Liberals’…
I guess it was inevitable that the injured left would push back on Twitter against the right-wing outburst. This thread, preserved at Amazon.com, will give you a feel for the back-and-forth – ugly stuff from conservatives and mostly-good-natured taunts back from the left.
Late Breaking NEWS!
Volvo has also pulled its ads from Fox News. Who will be next?
Why did I tag this post with the category ‘Kitchen Safety’?
Because it’s never a good idea to take golf clubs or other weapons of destruction to counter-top appliances. Remember my motto: “It’s all fun and games until somebody spills their coffee…”
~ Maggie J.