When Ricardo Alvarado went grocery shopping this week, he had a list of items to buy, but he steered clear of anything from Goya Foods. “I was using their beans, but I found a different brand,” he said. “I switched olive oil, too, and I bought my own spices, not theirs.”
A performing artist based in New York City, Alvarado is boycotting Goya Foods. “As long as I’m helping my community, I will do my part. It’s important that we show unity and solidarity.”
The CEO of Goya Foods, Robert Unanue, plunged the company into turmoil last week when he praised President Donald Trump at an event announcing the White House Hispanic Prosperity Initiative. “We’re all truly blessed, at the same time, to have leader like President Trump who is a builder,” Unanue said. He compared the president to his grandfather, a Spanish immigrant who founded the company in 1936.
News of Unanue’s words spread quickly, and hashtags like #Goyaway and #BoycottGoya trended on social media.
Goya Foods CEO and President Bob Unanue speaks prior to President Donald Trump signing an Executive Order on the White House Hispanic Prosperity Initiative in the Rose Garden at the White House on July 9, 2020.Jim Watson / AFP – Getty Images
For Alvarado, boycotting Goya Foods is personal. “I know the company employs a lot of Latinos and is very charitable,” he said, “but with everything that is going on with this administration and the border, the family separations and DACA, for Goya to step up and support him [Trump] for his work just blew my mind.”
“There is so much hate against our communities,” Alvarado said. “And the face of that hate is Trump. I feel like Goya is supporting hate, by supporting Trump.”
As far back as Cesar Chavez’s boycotts of grapes during the 1970s, consumer campaigns have been a way for Latino communities to amplify their voices. But the Goya episode feels different to many Latinos, because it come at a time when the nation is politically polarized and some Latinos report feeling under siege.
The “Boycott Goya” movement, some Latinos say, is more about taking a stand against the president’s bigotry than about punishing a once-beloved brand.
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Valerie Halsema, a teacher in Los Angeles, said that she relates to both sides of the Goya issue. “I support the boycott, but I also support his [Unanue’s] right to say what he wants. If he wants to say that, go for it,” said Halsema, “but anytime you take a stance, there are consequences, and I’m not sure he was ready for it.”
Halsema noted that “where I would draw the line is death threats, harassment and people trying to totally shut someone down.” The idea of the boycott is a good one, she believes, because “Donald Trump has not exactly been a champion of people of color. He’s been so divisive. I would say I support the boycott — and free speech.”
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Unanue’s comments have led to public figures like Lin Manuel-Miranda, chef José Andrés, actor John Leguizamo, former Democratic presidential hopeful Julián Castro and Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez,D-N.Y., to express support for a Goya boycott or criticize Unanue’s comments.
That led to pro-Goya tweets from Trump and his daughter Ivanka Trump that have kept the controversy brewing.
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So far, Unanue is standing by his words. In an interview on “Fox and Friends” last week, he likened the backlash to “suppression of speech.” Speaking on “The Ingraham Angle,” he said: “We have the opportunity to either do well, or to destroy. And let’s do well.”
Host Laura Ingraham asked Unanue if he planned on apologizing for standing with Trump, and he replied: “Hell, no. Hell, no.”
Goya Foods has, in a sense, participated in a boycott itself, when the company led other corporations in withdrawing support for the Puerto Rican Day Parade in 2017. That year, parade organizers were honoring Puerto Rican nationalist Oscar López Rivera, whose sentence for seditious conspiracy was commuted by President Barack Obama.
Several national Latino advocacy groups have weighed in on Unanue’s recent remarks. In a statement Friday, the Hispanic Federation called the comments “both painful and insulting.” The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) called Unanue’s words “insensitive, calloused and disrespectful to the workers and consumers who buy Goya Foods products.”
“This is not a party issue”
For Melinda Colón Cox, president of the Hispanic Bar Association of New Jersey, the decision to issue a statement regarding Goya Foods was complicated by the fact the company is based in her state, and the organization likely has some members with strong ties to the company.
“When an issue like this arises, we take it very seriously and we do our best to look at the full perspective of views based on the available facts,” Colón Cox said.
Among other factors, her members considered that Trump has a history of making disparaging remarks about Latinos and that Goya Foods prides itself on being part of the Hispanic community and consumer culture.
“It is undeniable that Goya is known for its charity and philanthropic efforts,” Colón Cox said, “yet Mr. Unanue’s remarks led to pain, hurt, and anger for a very large sector of the Latino community.”
Colón Cox’s group is nonpartisan, with members holding diverse political views. “This is not a party issue,” she said. Although she personally is supporting the boycott, her group is not endorsing it.
Colón Cox hopes that Unanue and Goya Foods can heal the anger among some Latinos by reflecting on the reasons behind the boycott. “Words are powerful and they impact how a company is perceived by the public.” Along with other measures, she believes that a statement from Goya acknowledging the boycott itself and why it is happening would be a start in helping to rebuild community trust.
Not a decision “taken lightly”
Maria De Moya, an associate professor of communications at DePaul University in Chicago, was surprised by Unanue’s remarks. “I feel that Goya has been a brand that has always done a good job at celebrating immigrants and Latino culture, everything that this administration seems against.”
Any CEO is entitled to his or her political views, De Moya explained, but when an executive is speaking on behalf of a brand, they owe it to the company, to investors and to their employees to represent the brand in the best way.
“Giving passionate, public praise to President Trump, and then not backing down from the backlash, does not strike me as wise,” she said.
De Moya added that a boycott does not have to cripple or bankrupt a company to be considered successful. Consumer boycotts can have the cumulative effect of subjecting a company to greater scrutiny in the press.
“A boycott can also be successful simply by getting information out there about the company’s values,” she said. “While there are Latinos who support Trump who will continue to buy Goya, there are certain customers the company will probably never get back.”
In New York, Ricardo Alvarado said his decision to boycott Goya Foods was not one he took lightly. “I’ll be honest, it hurt me, coming from Goya. It hit home for me in a hard way.”
“We made Goya, we made them. Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, and Mexican Americans — we made that company,” he said. For Alvarado, it doesn’t matter if others do not continue the boycott, or if it eventually dies out. “I have made my decision. I will keep my word; I am done with them.”
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.
Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.
On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.
Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.
Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.
British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for consumer protection, has tabled a bill to force merchants to calculate tips based on the price before tax.
That means on a restaurant bill of $100, suggested tips would be calculated based on $100, not on $114.98 after provincial and federal sales taxes are added.
The bill would also increase the rebate offered to consumers when the price of an item at the cash register is higher than the shelf price, to $15 from $10.
And it would force grocery stores offering a discounted price for several items to clearly list the unit price as well.
Businesses would also have to indicate whether taxes will be added to the price of food products.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
