Customers of Ben & Jerry’s are calling for a Bud Light-style boycott targeting the ice cream brand following tweets made by the brand that blasted the U.S. as existing “on stolen land.”
On Independence Day, the company’s official Twitter account asked customers to “return” indigenous land and suggested beginning with Mount Rushmore. This statement sparked outrage on social media because of its timing.
On its Twitter account, Ben & Jerry’s wrote that to celebrate the 4th of July, it was “high time we recognize that the U.S. exists on stolen Indigenous land,” adding that the county should “commit to returning it.”
The company then linked to its blog post.
The post began by reminiscing that July Fourth is a time for parades, “some tasty barbecue, and a stirring fireworks display?” before elaborating that now was the time to commit to returning to the land.
As soon as the tweet was published, others on Twitter expressed their displeasure, and some even called for a boycott of the brand.
Jeremy Redfern, press secretary for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, tweeted in response to post that the U.S. doesn’t exist on stolen land.
Singer-songwriter John Rich wrote to make the ice cream maker “Bud Light again.”
Another user claimed that the company clearly hates the country and was “Long overdue for the Bud Light treatment,” adding that consumers wouldn’t buy their product.
Another user also expressed looking forward “to the virtue signaling Ben & Jerry’s” returning the land its factory was on to the “Abenaki and Mohican Native Americans that have lived in Vermont for 10,000 years.”
