Parkland shooting survivor turned gun-control evangelist David Hogg called on the public to boycott Fox News host Laura Ingraham’s advertisers, after she tweeted an article about his rejection from several colleges.
Ingraham’s tweet mentioned that Hogg had been rejected from four colleges that he applied to, and “whined” about it. Hogg responded by tweeting a list of Ingraham’s advertisers – a ‘who’s who’ of big corporations like AT&T and Nestle – and called on his almost 600,000 followers to contact them.
Hogg, 17, became a national figure in the weeks following the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Since the shooting, he has advocated for tighter gun-control legislation, and helped organize the “March For Our Lives” protests last weekend.
Following Hogg’s call for action, Rachel Ray’s pet food brand, Nutrish, decided on Thursday to pull their commercials from Ingraham’s show.
Hogg’s plea found support on twitter, but also criticism:
One Christian satire site pointed out in a tweet that by publically rallying against constitutional rights, Hogg should expect some kind of backlash from the pro-Second Amendment crowd.
Nutrish was quickly joined by TripAdvisor, who announced later on Thursday that they would be pulling their sponsorship of Ingraham’s show. In a statement, the company said that Ingraham’s comments “cross[ed] the line of decency,” adding: “As such, we have made a decision to stop advertising on that program.”
Hogg is not the only figure trying to go after his opponents’ money in the wake of the shooting. Airlines like Delta and United; car-hire companies like Avis, Enterprise and Hertz; and hotel chains like Best Western and Wyndham have all ended their partnerships with the NRA, citing pressure from campaigners and customers.
In addition, YouTube banned certain gun-related content, including instructional videos on firearm assembly, and videos that link to gun-sales sites, a move that the NRA called “politically motivated censorship” and said “plants YouTube, and its parent company Google, against the freedoms so many Americans hold dear."
The move prompted some firearms bloggers to move their content to PornHub, one of the world’s largest adult content sites. When asked about opening the site to non-pornographic content to counter YouTube’s censorship, Pornhub community coordinator “Katie” said: “We've joked about doing something like this in the past but now it's becoming more and more realistic and not so crazy. We'll see!”
While the anti-gun clampdown is providing opportunities for some, the NRA shouldn’t worry. Donations to the group’s political action committee tripled in the weeks following the shooting. The NRA received almost $800,000 in donations in February, compared to almost $250,000 in January.