AOC’s Anti-Goya Tweet Raised The Company’s Profits
Goya Foods is praising Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for boosting its sales, calling the New York democratic representative its “employee of the month.”
Goya Foods CEO Bob Unanue made the announcement during “The Michael Berry Show” on Monday, saying, “When she boycotted us, our sales actually increased 1,000%, so we gave her an honorary — we never were able to hand it to her — but she got employee of the month for bringing attention to Goya and our adobo.”
Back in July, Ocasio-Cortez supported a boycott of Goya Foods after Unanue praised President Trump during a visit to the White House. At the time, Unanue had said during a speech after meeting with Trump and other Hispanic leaders that they were "all truly blessed...to have a leader like President Trump.”
The backlash soon followed for the company, which is the largest Hispanic-owned food company in the U.S., as some Latinos called out Unanue for supporting Trump, who they said attacked Latinos throughout his presidency, USA Today reported.
Ocasio-Cortez also criticized Goya, posting on Twitter, “Oh look, it's the sound of me Googling 'how to make your own Adobo,'” as she looked for her own recipe to make the seasoning that Goya produces rather than purchasing it from the company.
Social media erupted and called for a boycott of Goya, but Unanue maintained his position, saying on "Fox & Friends" (via CBS News) at the time, “I’m not apologizing.” He also called the boycott of his company an attempt at “suppression of speech.”
He continued, “...when you're called by the president of the United States — you're gonna say, 'no I'm sorry I'm busy no thank you.' I didn't say that to the Obamas and I didn't say that to President Trump."
Trump showed his support for Unanue and Goya during the boycott by tweeting, “I LOVE @GoyaFoods!” Days later it was followed by an Instagram post that showed the president seated behind a series of Goya products with his thumbs up.
Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump has also shown her support of Goya Foods, posting an image on Twitter of herself holding a can of Goya black beans that read, “If it’s Goya, it has to be good.”
Ocasio-Cortez criticized the post from Ivanka by retweeting it with the Spanish caption, “If it's Trump, it has to be corrupt.”
At press time, AOC had not responded to her “employee of the month” recognition from Goya.
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