The political polarization in 2017 has created an increasingly divisive barrier that has reached celebrities with no experienced political voice such as Chrissy Teigen, to three star-rated coffee machines. It’s a tactic that the Left and Right have adopted to create a “bigger team” on either sides, which has done nothing but contribute to this disruptive nature that encompasses our society nowadays.
In the most recent case of brand politicization, the Keurig brand have pulled their commercials from the Fox News show “The Sean Hannity Show” which erupted in utter chaos which led to Hannity outrageously calling for his fellow conservative fans to destroy their perfectly fine coffee machines in protest. The reason Keurig pulled their commercials was over the controversy of Hannity having the Republican candidate Roy Moore, who is currently facing allegations of being in pursuance of underage girls in the late 1970’s and early 80’s when he was 32 years old, as a guest on his show. With the heavy social media response to Hannity’s cries, #BoycottKeurig was generated along with the handful of fans posting videos of themselves smashing their coffee machines in devotion to the hashtag.
In social and traditional media, irrelevant brands and celebrities have taken political stances on subjects on which they have no experience speaking up about. With Trump’s presidency, brands seem to be at the forefront of taking sides in recent debacles, such as Roy Moore’s latest scandal.
Let me make this statement clear: brands are separate from politics. Brands have no business being politicized or “choosing a team.” And Hannity recklessly whining about Keurig’s fair decision just to heinously stir controversy has been one of the latest examples of dragging brands with zero political affiliation into politics
It’s admirable that some organizations have used their platform to speak on important subjects, and Keurig’s ultimate decision is respectable and fair in every sense. But it’s figures such as Hannity that have turned the subject matter into such a “Left or Right” issue. It is not necessarily new that brands have chosen issues to speak on; it’s more so about the current climate that has forced more brands to be politically conscious in a fashion that is more about taking a side than speaking out on affairs that genuinely concern them. It has such an air of disingenuity surrounding it that makes the brand’s positions moot.
Photo: MIKE SEGAR / REUTERS
