• People on the
• Brands cutting ties with the NRA are being
• This is just the lastest boycott battle that unnecessarily puts two sides in extreme opposition to each other.
• Most Americans

among more than a dozen companies

In response to companies cutting ties, supporters of the NRA have sprung into action with boycotts of their own.

Delta, United, and Hertz are now the enemy for pro-gun-rights activists, while FedEx has become a new ally.

The divided response is playing out in the Twitter replies and Facebook pages of every company that has ever offered NRA members discounts.

Scrolling through the Facebook pages is a numbing vision of political polarization.

The traditional complaints about poor customer service and delayed flights are completely forgotten in favor of celebration or disgust over gun control.

Roughly half are positive, roughly half are negative — and there is no in-between.

Boycotts and counter-boycotts have become an increasingly common part of the American political narrative in recent years.

F

Boycotts shape political narratives

Endless boycotts create a cycle of division

Gun control should be something that Americans can agree on. In fact, most of the US does agree.

A

It is unlikely that companies that have cut ties with the NRA will see a major sales impact. And, by cutting ties, brands like Delta and Hertz have played a major role in making the ostracization of the NRA a mainstream and dominant stance.

However, the backlash to the backlash shows how boycotts can be pushed to the point of absurdity. One year into the Trump presidency, the expectation of a counter-boycott represents a knee-jerk desire to force companies to support a specific political opinion, instead of looking to points of compromise.