UK Company Faces Leftist Boycott Because Conservative Said He Liked Its Tea
I was in London last May and tried Yorkshire Tea on several occasions. It’s not terribly good, which is problematic because — as I’m sure you know — the British don’t do food or drink well, and tea is usually the one highlight.
I didn’t go out of my way to try it, mind you — my wife has family there, it was their choice of tea and I’ll take my caffeine any way I can get it.
That said, it wasn’t the way I’d prefer it, and if the Sons of Liberty had thrown a few crates of it into Boston Harbor, I think the Brits just would have shrugged and history would have turned out a bit differently.
That said, Britons apparently have some attachment to the brown stuff and the Corbynites are absolutely furious that a conservative likes it.
According to The Guardian, curators of the Yorkshire Tea Twitter account had a “rough weekend” after a member of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Cabinet tweeted himself enjoying a bit of their product.
Tory Member of Parliament Rishi Sunak is the chancellor of the exchequer — an office similar to finance minister in other nations and the secretary of the treasury in the United States. He’s also a fan of Yorkshire Tea, as he displayed here in a tweet from Feb. 21:
Quick Budget prep break making tea for the team. Nothing like a good Yorkshire brew. pic.twitter.com/zhoQM9Ksho
— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) February 21, 2020
“Nothing like a good Yorkshire brew.” Let’s hope.
Anyway, Sunak is a member of Johnson’s government, which is exceptionally unpopular with the kind of person who frowns reflexively when the avocado for his or her toast isn’t fair trade. Therefore, such people took it out on … Yorkshire Tea, because the company clearly can control who drinks its product.
That’s me boycotting this brand then. Not because it uses imported tea but because of the Tory scum that forms whenever you make a cup.https://t.co/SpWhl1JlzG
— John Player No6 (@JohnPlayerNo6_1) February 21, 2020
How much are @YorkshireTea sponsoring you by? £100k? You’re a millionaire, you don’t need the money. I can’t believe that they are using you to endorse their products. I’m never going to buy Yorkshire Tea again. Companies should not show political bias. Back to PG Tips & Tetleys.
— Citizen Jones (@JonesCitizen) February 21, 2020
Well, that’s no more Yorkshire tea for me.
Can’t believe that they would endorse a political advert.#yorkshiretea@YorkshireTea— #ripbbc (@theryderathome) February 23, 2020
Here’s the thing, though: Yorkshire Tea obviously wouldn’t be paying any politician for an advertisement. This is common sense; why would a brand risk alienating its customers this way?
Just picture House Speaker Nancy Pelosi taking a sip of a Sam Adams on her Instagram as part of a paid advert. Who’s going to drink a Sam Adams because Nancy Pelosi did? Maybe Leslie Knope, but she’s a fictional character. Who would be alienated by the fact Sam Adams paid Nancy Pelosi to drink their beer? Half of politically aware America. This isn’t even touching on the massive ethics violations such an arrangement would incur.
Logic dictates, therefore, that Yorkshire Tea didn’t pay for this. Instead, it was just another one of those staged photographs where a member of Britain’s elite tries to convince the voters that “I’m just a commoner who enjoys a cuppa.”
Logic never wins, which means Yorkshire Tea spent the weekend explaining itself.
First, later Friday: “Nothing to do with us — people of all political stripes like our brew,” it tweeted.
Nothing to do with us – people of all political stripes like our brew.
Plus there’s no way we’d intentionally stick ourselves in a Twitter storm on a Friday afternoon. It’s nearly hometime!
— Yorkshire Tea (@YorkshireTea) February 21, 2020
“However, that message seems not to have been enough to silence detractors, as on Monday the curator of Yorkshire Tea’s Twitter account posted a thread saying they had faced a ‘rough weekend’ of angry comments, and calling for a degree of perspective and greater civility online,” The Guardian reported.
Good luck with those last two.
“On Friday, the chancellor shared a photo of our tea. Politicians do that sometimes (Jeremy Corbyn did it in 2017),” the Twitter account said. “We weren’t asked or involved — and we said so the same day. Lots of people got angry with us all the same.
“For some, our tea just being drunk by someone they don’t like means it’s forever tainted, and they’ve made sure we know it.”
We’ve spent the last three days answering furious accusations and boycott calls. For some, our tea just being drunk by someone they don’t like means it’s forever tainted, and they’ve made sure we know it.
— Yorkshire Tea (@YorkshireTea) February 24, 2020
The curator of the Yorkshire Tea account said it was “pretty shocking to see the determination some have had to drag us into a political mudfight.”
“Speaking directly now, as the person who’s been answering these tweets, I know it could have been much worse. It’s easier to be on the receiving end of this as a brand than as an individual. There’s more emotional distance and I’ve had a team to support me when it got a bit much.”
Speaking directly now, as the person who’s been answering these tweets, I know it could have been much worse. It’s easier to be on the receiving end of this as a brand than as an individual. There’s more emotional distance and I’ve had a team to support me when it got a bit much.
— Yorkshire Tea (@YorkshireTea) February 24, 2020
“But for anyone about to vent their rage online, even to a company – please remember there’s a human on the other end of it, and try to be kind.”
But for anyone about to vent their rage online, even to a company – please remember there’s a human on the other end of it, and try to be kind.
— Yorkshire Tea (@YorkshireTea) February 24, 2020
They may as well have asked for the entire populace of Israel and Palestine to hug it out with one another and all sing “One Tin Soldier” in unison, with Bibi Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas leading the chorus from atop the Temple Mount. Except that would have meant acknowledging Israel’s existence, which would have led to another Yorkshire Tea boycott.
@YorkshireTea you may not endorse Racist and Bigoted MPs, particularly those without scruples, but you could publicly object to this unauthorised endorsement…
— Mal…??#FBPE #RejoinEU #SODEM #ReclaimOur⭐️ (@MalTwitastic) February 24, 2020
Its a shame your whole marketing position destroyed by a Govt everyone hates. You MUST issue and instruction to @BorisJohnson telling him never to let this happen again with any member of his vile Govt or @Conservatives MPs. They are toxic.
— Anthony Mortlock (@AnthonyMortlock) February 25, 2020
Being endorsed by the @Conservatives is not a good look.
Thankfully, other teas are available.#AvoidYorkshireTea#BoycottYorkshireTea
— Am I the only one? (@aitoo001) February 24, 2020
Granted, the tweets above were made by people without the capacity to understand anything about politics except their own rage — but that’s what this whole thing was always about. When it comes to these online cancelations, the individuals who howl the loudest are always those who understand the least, and yet we still listen to them.
The logic that led to these tweets is beyond risible, yet these people had their ramblings covered by the British media.
Rishi Sunak isn’t a fringe figure from some far-right party. He’s a member of Boris Johnson’s Cabinet.
If you don’t like him, don’t follow his Twitter account. Berating the company that makes the tea he apparently enjoys — no matter how iffy that tea might be — is a sign of a moral or mental defect of some sort, one grave enough to disqualify you from participation in any serious discussion about politics anywhere.
And that, apparently, is why social media got invented.
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