Yahoo Finance Bernie Sanders' Inauguration Meme Hijacked By Amazon For Ad; Critics Appalled
Amazon helped itself Friday to the trending photo of a bundled-up Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) at Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration to sell Amazon Pay — and people were horrified.
The backlash was so immediate that the company deleted the tweet by the end of the day.
The Amazon Pay Twitter account tried to profit from the buzz around the homey meme of the mittened Sanders sitting by himself in the chilly outdoors at the inauguration Wednesday. In the odd Amazon ad, “How to register for Amazon Pay” is written over the image of Sanders with the tweet: “It’s that easy. Thanks #BernieSandersMittens.”
Not only was the ad confusing, weird and presumptuous, but the choice to use Sanders was particularly fraught because the senator hates Amazon’s labor policies. In fact, he bashed Amazon in a tweet — on Inauguration Day – for trying to stonewall workers’ efforts to unionize. So he hardly seems like a natural pitchman to boost Amazon’s profits even higher.
Sanders has also criticized Amazon’s Jeff Bezos for hazardous working conditions, whistleblower firings and all-around “corporate greed.”
Amazon, incidentally, paid no federal taxes in 2018 or 2019.
Amazon doesn’t want its workers to form a union because unionized workers have:
- higher wages
- better benefits
- more control over their lives
If Amazon workers in Alabama vote to form a union, that will benefit every worker in America. https://t.co/g2Zfa6DEgc— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) January 21, 2021
Jeff Bezos, the wealthiest man alive, became $83 billion richer over the past 9 months while Amazon made record profits. Meanwhile, Amazon workers are risking their lives to fill holiday orders and are denied paid sick leave and hazard pay. This ugly corporate greed must end.
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) December 22, 2020
Amazon late last month lashed out at Sanders’ criticism of its labor policies and working conditions, so it’s not completely clueless about where the senator stands. Some observers speculated that Amazon was mocking Sanders with the ad.
As of Friday night, Sanders hadn’t directly commented on Amazon’s appropriation of his image to sell its stuff. So his supporters sounded off for him — and let the company have it.
As someone that has lots of bad ideas, I can honestly say this was a really bad idea.
— Wil Kristin (@wilkristin) January 22, 2021
Nationalize Amazon
— dj sacrilicious (@djsacrilicious) January 22, 2021
So @amazonpay deleted this tweet b/c people remembered that Amazon doesn’t pay federal taxes, doesn’t pay a living wage, & doesn’t allow unions.
Hey @Amazon—maybe spend less time using Bernie memes & more time applying Bernie policy & pay your employees. pic.twitter.com/UdL16HeGp9— Qasim Rashid, Esq. (@QasimRashid) January 23, 2021
You now owe your workers a union, thank you
— All Cats Are Beautiful🌹 (@marxistplanner) January 22, 2021
sit the fuck down you monopolistic drain on the American dream
— Blue Pup (@SeaBluePup) January 22, 2021
Amazon using Bernie's image for marketing reminds me of when Trump held up a Bible while he ordered human rts activists clobbered and gassed.
— Aimee Sukol 👓 (@SukolVentures) January 22, 2021
this is a bad meme and you are a worse company. let workers unionize.
— ajay (@ajay_pdx) January 22, 2021
Amazon: Pay is right
— OLM (@TooSphexy) January 22, 2021
shut the fuck uphttps://t.co/NtUyTgbGly
— Laura Lou (@explauratory) January 22, 2021
I want a live shot of @SenSanders face when a staffer tells him he’s being used to promote Amazon pay. https://t.co/Vx1GMaCcZz
— Tara Golshan (@taragolshan) January 22, 2021
Also on HuffPost
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
