Luke Skywalker Could Learn From The Bud Light Boycotters
Luke Skywalker doesn’t want anyone using X, the social media app formerly known as Twitter. Mark Hamill, the actor famous for his Star Wars role, is an avid Twitter/X user and is known for his incredibly smart, articulate and insightful tweets like this one:
Now he’s mad that Elon Musk is rebranding Twitter to X and he’s simply not going to take it anymore! Hamill has called for a boycott of Twitter/X today, August 1st, because no one should have to suffer the indignity of a rebrand. Or something.
This will only be effective if EVERYONE refrains from tweeting (X-ing?) on August 1st a/k/a #TweetlessTuesday. Let's show the owner the POWER OF THE PEOPLE. Honestly, would it kill you to keep your thoughts to yourself for 1 damn day? Read a book! ???? #August1stTweetOutDayhttps://t.co/0apu2XsbAC
Hamill should protest and boycott whatever he wants to, no matter how frivolous and privileged it may seem to me. But a day long break seems like a very ineffective way to reach Musk. Hamill isn’t calling for a mass departure to Meta’s Threads or a long boycott because that would mean leaving Twitter/X and the attention of his 5.4 million followers for longer than 24 hours.
If Hamill wants to be effective, and I don’t think he really does, he should take a page from the Bud Light boycotters. Beer drinkers began to boycott the Bud Light brand back in April due to an ill advised partnership with a trans influencer and now seems less of a boycott and more like a permanent abandonment. Add to that some really inept corporate responses and insulting ads from the former beer giant and it’s easy to see why Bud Light lost they lost their top selling beer spot as sales continue to plummet four months later.
And while beer isn’t Twitter/X, a day long social media fast to protest a corporate rebrand just seems terribly silly.
