I ate only foods that have been boycotted by the alt-right and liberals — and it revealed an absurd truth about Trump's America
Kate Taylor5h34,270
Eating Papa John's pizza.Hollis Johnson
>Food brands have been hit hard by boycotts by the right and left.I decided to go on a boycott diet, eating only foods boycotted by the left one day, and only foods boycotted by the right the next.Liberals may be missing out on tastier food than conservatives — but there's much more to the story. >In a politically polarized country, what you eat can say a lot about what you believe.
>The past two years have seen an unending series of politically motivated boycotts and counterboycotts. People on the left ditched Papa John'safter the founder slammed NFL leadership, only for the right to start smashing Keurigs because the brand pulled advertising from Sean Hannity's Fox News show.
>With the boycotts adding up, it felt like you could craft an entire diet based on what certain people are refusing to eat.
>So, I decided to do just that.
>For one day, I would only eat items boycotted by the left and endorsed by the right. The next day, I would do the opposite, feasting on liberals' favorite foods, which conservatives refuse to touch.
>The experience would leave me feeling physically ill — and emotionally queasy.
I started the day off with a conservative favorite — Chick-fil-A.
Progressives arguably kicked off the modern era of politically motivated food boycotts in2012, after Chick-fil-A donated to anti-LGBT groups and its CEO voiced opposition to same-sex marriage.
If you look at Chick-fil-A's sales, the high-profile boycott was a failure. Just two years after the controversy, Chick-fil-A beat KFC to become the biggest chicken chain in the US in terms of sales.
Among Republicans, the chain still ranks No. 1 on Harris Poll's ranking of the reputations of the 100 most visible companies in the US. Across all consumers, the chain is ranked significantly lower, in the No. 17 slot.
Colton Rogers
Eating a Chick-fil-A breakfast sandwich, I'm forced to admit that Chick-fil-A's egg and sausage sandwich is superior to almost any other fast-food breakfast offering.
That might be one reason that boycotts of Chick-fil-A didn't actually hurt sales.
Conservatives doubled down to support the chain during the boycott. And, withhigh-quality foodand menu items that no other chain has managed to replicate, apolitical and more progressive customers may have been more inclined to turn a blind eye to executives' viewpoints.
Dylan Anderson
For lunch, I tried to partake in a more short-lived alt-right obsession: Wendy's.
Not every right-wing boycott starts withthe alt-right, a loosely allied group of white supremacists, men's-rights activists, and other far-right people. But with the social-media power of many alt-right personalities, they often play a role in starting or amplifying boycotts.
Wendy's was designated the"official burger of the Neo-Nazi Alt-Right movement"by a white-supremacist website after the brand's Twitter account tweeted, then deleted,an image of Pepe the Frog.Once a common meme, Pepe was declared a "hate symbol" by the Anti-Defamation League after being adopted as a symbol of people — primarily the alt-right — spreading racist and anti-Semitic messages.
However, when I showed up at Wendy's, the location was closed for renovation — which may have been for the best.Still, the Wendy's Pepe tweet is a convenient representation of how quickly things can go from light-hearted fun to straight-up hate speech on social media.
Brody Hill
With Wendy's closed, I decided it was time to wade into the pizza culture wars.
Papa John's founder and CEO John Schnatterslammed NFL leadershipin November over the ongoing controversy over players' protests during the national anthem.
Many on the lefttrashedPapa John's for Schnatter's comments, promising to boycott the chain. At the same time, people on the rightrallied around Papa John's as "America's pizza."
It was a dramatic time for the pizza chain. DiGiorno tweeted implying that Papa John's subpar sales were due to pizzatasting like "dog s---".Neo-nazis and the alt-rightcame out to support the chain. Finally, after two weeks, Papa John's tweeted that it hadn't meant to disparage the protests — and ended the tweetwith the middle-finger emoji.
Thomas Roberts
Keep posting, I want to see how the story ends.
Henry Edwards
>be land-whale >eat shitty food for a year >get an article published
Tons of brazilians are forced to eat each other to survive and no one bats an eye. Some economist makes an article after spending a year eating highly caloric food and she gets an article.
I have to disagree with the critics — Papa John's pizza does not taste like "dog s---."
It's actually pretty good!
If I'm picking a personal favorite out of the core three (Pizza Hut, Papa John's, Domino's), I'm going to go with Domino's because I like a puffy, almost artificial-tasting crust. But, Papa John's is perfectly fine, especially if you order the pan pizza. And, of course, the chain's cheesy bread is divine.
Luis Hill
Liberals are fucking retarded. A life filled with buzzwords and meaningless snarky "journalism".
Owen Stewart
My day eating like a committed alt-right boycotter wasn't that different from a typical day in my life — just with a bit more fast food. Hollis Johnson
For dinner, I drank a Coors Light and ate some pasta I had bought from Whole Foods. Both were predictably average, but I had plenty of choices to pick from.
Progressives' semi-official list of boycotted brands is a long one maintained byShannon Coulter. Coulter startedthe#GrabYourWallet boycottspreadsheet in October 2016 to encourage people to boycott companies that do business with Trump's family.
Landon Thompson
>tfw mainstream journalism has become a blog
Connor Russell
So, that means I had a lot of options to choose from. Hollis Johnson
Currently, there aremore than 70 brands on the Grab Your Wallet boycott list, primarilyretailers that sell Ivanka Trump's fashion line.
King's Hawaiian, See's Candies, Trident gum, and Welch's all made the "de-prioritized" protest list for advertising on "Celebrity Apprentice," a show that Trump is a producer on, but that is unlikely to return to air. Amazon — and therefore Whole Foods — made the list for advertising on Breitbart and carrying Trump products. MillerCoors and Yuengling made the list for having executives who support Trump or donated to his campaign.
Parker Edwards
Unfortunately, I found it hard to stomach the conservative diet — literally. Hollis Johnson
As previously stated, I quite enjoy eating Chick-fil-A and, to a lesser degree, Papa John's.
But, it would be a violation of journalistic ethics not to include the fact that my digestive system violently rebelled against my right-wing diet. As someone who wasmostly fine after eating 150 shrimp in one sitting,I can't quite say what went wrong — but something certainly did.
As I dealt with the indigestion, I contemplated food boycotts. For someone who supports same-sex marriage — like, for example, me — boycotting Chick-fil-A makes sense.
But, are boycotts worth it if they only help Chick-fil-A's sales? If the chain treats workers well, is it perhaps actuallymoreprogressive than other fast-food chains? Is is unethical to eat a chicken biscuit — or just naive to think most people would be willing to surrender their chicken in the first place?
Carter Bennett
You're not the only one, macaco.
Logan Ortiz
>Tons of brazilians are forced to eat each other to survive What are you talking about?
Wyatt Howard
so her point was what? she's a cow slob that believes in such things as 'boycotts' by the cult followings of corporations who are the same and both only care about the profit margin from their particular weapons sales.
who the fuck eats all that fast food, what a piece of shit, no wonder her brain is fucked up, eat a salad ya basic whore and while you're at it go to sweden for an unsolicited gang bang.
