Boycott ‘Budwiser’: Trump Fans Can’t Spell Name Of The Beer They’re Boycotting
The Boycott ‘Budwiser’ campaign is in full effect among Donald Trump supporters — and not earning good marks for spelling.
After the beermaker’s controversial Super Bowl advertisement that was seen as a dig at Donald Trump’s hardline immigration policies, supporters of the president launched a campaign to boycott the beer (details of the boycott itself can be found here). But they apparently didn’t bother to learn how it’s actually spelled — Budweiser — and so the hashtag #BoycottBudwiser spread across the internet and became one of the top trends on Twitter on Monday.
The misspelling caught the attention of the internet, and the Boycott Budwiser campaign earned plenty of ridicule from the internet.
you can't boycott something you can't spell. #boycottbudwiser pic.twitter.com/nMyangxRAH
— Sean Bolton (@iamseanbolton) February 6, 2017
It’s unclear how the #BoycottBudwiser campaign started, or if it was serious from the beginning rather than a mockery of the ill-formed boycott campaign. As Mashable noted in its report on the Boycott Budwiser efforts, Trump supporters have been known for disjointed boycott efforts with unclear targets.
“For example the 2016 boycott of a Star Wars movie, in which angry Twitter users falsely claimed there were anti-Trump lines in the film, did little to hurt the film. While, the proposed boycott of smash hit musical Hamilton after the Broadway cast read a post-performance open letter to then-VP-elect Mike Pence had the same impact on the bottom line: zilch.”
In the past, opponents have been known to hijack Twitter trends, so there’s a chance that Boycott Budwiser was a joke from the beginning.
The misspelled Boycott Budwiser campaign might not be too surprising for anyone who has been following the campaign closely. Back in late 2015, a report from the writing-enhancement website Grammarly found that Trump supporters were the most likely to make spelling mistakes online.
The report looked at comments on candidates official Facebook pages, finding that Trump’s supporters had the biggest struggles with spelling.
“His supporters registered a whopping average of 12.6 mistakes per 100 words, putting the Republican front-runner dead last among the 19 campaigns,” noted a report from Politico, noting that Democratic candidate Lincoln Chafee’s supporters were the best at 3.1 mistakes per every 100 words.
The report was used as fodder for Trump critics, but at the time the 2016 primaries hadn’t even started and Trump’s unlikely campaign to the White House was just taking shape.
The latest bit of fodder against Trump’s supporters is being picked up among opponents. The anti-Trump contingent seemed to take a bit of glee in the Boycott Budwiser campaign, using the spelling gaffe to point out some other embarrassing spelling moments from Trump supporters.
#boycottbudwiser #Teabonics Somethings never change. pic.twitter.com/Gatchj38hq
— ?? Gregor Anghel (@Gremlinbroom) February 6, 2017
Others noted that the campaign to #boycottbudwiser missed the mark of the ad, which showed the beermaker’s founder legally immigrating to the United States before starting the popular company. Trump has taken a hard stance against illegal immigration, but legal immigration — especially from European countries — isn’t a target right now. The commercial showed the story of Anheuser-Busch co-founder Adolphus Busch immigrating to the United States, facing opposition from anti-immigration crowds in New York, and eventually finding his way to St. Louis, where he helped found the beermaker.
Despite the mocking of the misspelling, the Boycott Budwiser campaign is still going strong online, with the #boycottbudwiser trend soaring to the top of Twitter by Monday evening. Though if you actually click on the hashtag, nearly all of the top results are actually mocking the spelling error.
[Featured Image by Matt Cardy/Getty Images]
