Weeks after President Donald Trump called for a boycott of Goodyear Tires, talk of a different kind of boycott is trending.
This time, the calls for a consumer boycott are over a pro-Trump display at arts and crafts store Hobby Lobby.
Hashtag #BoycottHobbyLobby started trending after Twitter user Kari Brekke shared a photo on Twitter Sunday of a display of decorative letters arranged to read “USA Vote Trump” and the caption “In a Hobby Lobby.” As of 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, the tweet was liked more than 46,500 times and retweeted 12,100 times.
It is unclear whether the display was designed by a Hobby Lobby employee or a shopper. Hobby Lobby did not respond to USA TODAY’s request for comment.
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Brekke told Business Insider that she did not take the photo but pulled it from a public post shared in a national Facebook group for the Lincoln Project.
USA TODAY reached out to the Lincoln Project to assess the origin of the photograph.
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Eric Schiffer, chairman of the Los Angeles-based firm Reputation Management Consultants, told USA TODAY that the trending hashtag “creates a reckless war with customers on the left who want to see Biden in the White House and Trump dressed in orange in shackles.”
“The virtual boycott is possible but unlikely to last long unless Hobby Lobby doubles down,” Schiffer said, adding “the damage for some shoppers will be done and those Trump haters will buy their yarn with others.”
Hobby Lobby is no stranger to controversy or boycotts.
In 2014, Hobby Lobby won a Supreme Court case that allowed them to deny their employees access to birth control, saying it conflicted with religious beliefs.
In April, the chain was reportedly keeping some of its stores open in defiance of state shelter-in-place orders while some locations were being forced to close amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hobby Lobby’s founder and CEO David Green sent a letter to all employees dated March 19, the Christian Post reported.
“While we do not know for certain what the future holds, or how long this disruption will last, we can all rest in knowing that God is in control,” Green wrote. “To help ensure our company remains strong and prepared to prosper once again when this passes, we may all have to ‘tighten our belts’ over the near future.”
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Follow USA TODAY reporter Kelly Tyko on Twitter: @KellyTyko
