Voice No campaigners call for boycott of CBA, Woolworths, Coles for supporting Yes in referendum
‘No’ campaigners on Indigenous Voice call for boycott of Woolworths, Commonwealth Bank and other companies supporting a ‘Yes’ vote: ‘Give them the Bud Light treatment’
- Boycott could be imminent for companies that support the Voice referendum
- Political commentator said ‘give them the Bud Light treatment’
Loyal supporters of the No campaign against the Voice to Parliament have launched a boycott of companies supporting the other side of the debate.
No activists called on fellow supporters to stop using the services of companies supporting the Yes campaign, such as supermarket giants Woolworths and Coles, and three of the four largest banks, ANZ, Commonwealth Bank and NAB.
The companies, along with airliner Qantas, mining companies Rio Tinto and BHP, and conglomerate Wesfarmers have angered ‘No’ supporters.
The call for a boycott appears to be in response to Yes campaigners telling consumers to shun Blackmores after the health supplement founder Marcus Blackmore’s son supported the No vote.
Corporate giants such as the Commonwealth Bank are targeted for a potential boycott after lending their support to the yes vote to create the Indigenous voice in parliament
Conservative commentator on Australian and US politics and outspoken supporter of the No campaign, Kobie Thatcher, took to Twitter to lead the charge against the boycott.
“These companies support the ‘yes’ vote…Should we give them the ‘Bud Light’ treatment?” she wrote.
Bud Light, the American beer company Mrs Thatcher was referring to, was recently boycotted by American conservatives in response to a sponsorship deal with transgender actress and TikTok personality Dylan Mulvaney.
The Twitter post drew both supporters and opponents of the No campaign and sparked fierce debate in the comments section.
Those who supported Thatcher’s call to boycott said they would move to stop associating with the companies, while others cited the morality of publicly supporting a political campaign.
“Companies going public in favor of a divisive political cause puts unnecessary pressure on employees, suppliers and customers/customers to conform,” wrote a supporter of Mrs Thatcher.
‘I currently bank with such a bank. I will try to change that by the end of the year,” wrote a second.
Another user claimed they would join the boycott, but they couldn’t because their fussy cat only eats a certain brand of Woolworths food.
The call to boycott the companies was launched by conservative political commentator, Kobie Thatcher, who asked supporters ‘should we give them the Bud Light treatment?’
Bud Light, an American beer company, was boycotted by US conservatives after they announced a sponsorship deal with transgender actress Dylan Mulvaney (pictured)
Twitter users opposed to Thatcher said boycotters would have little to no options.
“Lol please try it,” one user wrote.
“By giving the ‘Bud Light treatment,’ do you mean you’re intelligent, compassionate and share a cold?” wrote a second.
Another user wrote, “Are you continuing to fight cancellation culture with this?” referring to a message Mrs Thatcher made on 5 January.
“Let’s continue the fight against cancellation culture in 2023,” Ms Thatcher wrote.
Mrs Thatcher then responded by saying ‘It was the yes voters who started it when they threatened to boycott Blackmores after their founder said he voted no’.
The attempted boycott of Blackmore’s drew criticism from No campaigners and forced the company to distance itself from Mr Blackmore.
“His (Mr. Blackmore’s) views are completely independent of Blackmores Group,” a company spokesman said.
A Roy Morgan poll at the end of May found that 46 percent of respondents said they would vote ‘yes’, while 36 percent were in the no camp and 18 percent in the undecided.
The organization noted that the yes vote has fallen by seven percent since December and is down in all states, requiring a referendum to receive an overall majority and also win the vote in a majority of states to pass.