Is Trump Tricking People Into an L.L. Bean Boycott?
Business

Is Trump Tricking People Into an L.L. Bean Boycott?

Written by R. S. Benedict on January 13, 2017
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Once again, Donald Trump’s Twitter account has stirred up trouble. This time, the victim is clothier LL Bean, which is now the target of a boycott. But is this what Trump wanted?

Twitter Drama

Our story begins with a tweet.

Linda Bean, whom Trump thanks in the tweet, is a member of the family that owns L.L. Bean. She’s also a staunch Republican who donated $60,000 (well over legal limits) to Donald Trump’s campaign.

Presumably, Trump’s tweet was intended to thank her for this donation and to drum up some business for her lobster vacation business (which is apparently a thing in Maine).

The Response

As usual, Trump’s tweet inspired fury and outrage. People were horrified at the president-elect using his political power to peddle consumer goods.

Liberals had already been boycotting L.L. Bean because of Linda Bean’s political activity. Trump’s tweet made things even worse for the company.

The Bean Family’s Response

L.L. Bean responded to the boycott with a post on Facebook. The post noted that Linda Bean is just one member of the very large Bean family, and that the company overall has no political affiliation:

Meanwhile, Linda Bean went on the Fox Business Network to complain about the boycott. “It’s bullying,” she said. “It’s un-American.”

Stupid Like a Fox?

Then comedian Andy Richter weighed in with his own take. According to Richter, Trump’s original tweet was actually a clever ploy to encourage people to boycott L.L. Bean on purpose in order to hurt Maine’s economy.

Is this true? Is Trump’s tweet some kind of brilliant ploy to punish a company he dislikes? Or is he just following whatever impulses his lizard brain sends him, as always?

We don’t know. But there’s one thing we do know: it’s going to be a long four years.

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