‘Another PR disaster waiting to happen’: Jacob Rees-Mogg triggers fresh Tory snacks backlash as he posts picture of him eating Walkers crisps prompting calls for a boycott after Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s Twitter war over using Yorkshire Tea
- Jacob Rees-Mogg hits back at Twitter ‘cancel culture’ with Walkers crisps tweet
- Was responding to article setting out what to do if your product suffers backlash
- Comes after Chancellor Rishi Sunak sparked Twitter war for using Yorkshire Tea
Jacob Rees-Mogg triggered a fresh Tory snacks row today after he posted a picture of himself enjoying a packet of Walkers crisps, prompting calls for the company to be boycotted.
The Commons Leader said he was a ‘Walkers crisps man or Pringles when I’m feeling extravagant’ as he waded into a rumbling social media war over which products Conservative MPs use.
His intervention comes after Chancellor Rishi Sunak was photographed with a bag of Yorkshire Tea bags, sparking left-wing fury on Twitter and demands for people not to use them.
That row prompted Yorkshire Tea’s social media team to ask people to ‘try to be kind’ after they received a torrent of online abuse.
Mr Rees-Mogg jumped into the debate today as he tweeted a photograph of himself sat at his desk in Parliament with a packet of crisps.
He said: ‘I can reassure the manufacturers of artisan crisps that they are in no danger, in fact I am a Walker’s crisps man or Pringles when I’m feeling extravagant.’
Jacob Rees-Mogg today sparked a fresh Twitter row about which products Tory MPs use as he tweeted a picture of himself enjoying a bag of Walkers crisps
Some social media users accused Mr Rees-Mogg, pictured in Downing Street yesterday, of staging the crisps photo
The Commons Leader was responding to an article on The Grocer website which set out what companies should do if there has been a social media backlash against their product.
The article sets out a hypothetical scenario of Mr Rees-Mogg ‘reclining in the Commons, stuffing his face with a bag of your ethically-sourced crisps’.
It suggests that should a call for a boycott of the product then follow, the company should respond with humour and humanise itself by pointing out it is a real person responding to hate-filled messages online.
One user responded to Mr Rees-Mogg’s tweet by stating: ‘That’s it, I am BOYCOTTING Walkers crisps now!’
Another said: ‘We have another Yorkshire Tea incident on our hands. Shares in Pringles tumbling as we speak.’
However, Mr Rees-Mogg was praised by some for taking on the so-called ‘cancel culture’ on Twitter.
One Twitter user said: ‘This will drive the cancel culture woke left absolutely bonkers.’
Others claimed the photo had been ‘humiliatingly staged’ in order to garner some media attention while others joked it appeared as if ‘Death’ was standing behind Mr Rees-Mogg due to the shape of his coat hanging on his office door.
Yorkshire Tea faced calls last Friday for users to boycott the brand after the Chancellor shared an image of a large bag of tea bags with the caption: ‘Quick Budget prep break making tea for the team. Nothing like a good Yorkshire brew.’
Many Twitter users responded to the post by condemning the brand for its apparent association with the Conservative politician, leading the company to publicly dissociate itself from the post.
On Friday, the brand tweeted: ‘Nothing to do with us – people of all political stripes like our brew.’
However, on Monday the curator of Yorkshire Tea’s Twitter account took to the social media platform again after a ‘rough weekend’ of angry comments – including many who had said they intended to take their custom elsewhere.
Yorkshire Tea came under fire from left-wing Twitter trolls after Rishi Sunak posted an image of himself with a 1,040-bag pack of teabags on Friday afternoon with the comment, ‘nothing like a good Yorkshire brew’
‘On Friday, the Chancellor shared a photo of our tea. Politicians do that sometimes,’ it said.
‘We weren’t asked or involved – and we said so the same day. Lots of people got angry with us all the same.
‘For some, our tea just being drunk by someone they don’t like means it’s forever tainted, and they’ve made sure we know it.’
The curator of the account said they had ‘spent the last three days answering furious accusations and boycott calls’ while some people had tried to pull the brand into ‘a political mudfight’.
‘It’s easier to be on the receiving end of this as a brand than as an individual,’ wrote the account’s curator.
‘There’s more emotional distance and I’ve had a team to support me when it got a bit much.
‘But for anyone about to vent their rage online, even to a company – please remember there’s a human on the other end of it and try to be kind.’