The Unique Culture of Controversial Company Goya Foods
Goya Foods is a Hispanic-owned food company that many Latinos and Latinas love. Unfortunately, the company has been dealing with multiple controversial circumstances where their opinion leads to boycotts. For example, when the CEO of Goya Foods, Robert Unanue, praised Donald Trump at an event at the White House in the summer of 2020, some politicians such as U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez did not appreciate Robert's comments and called for a boycott on the company. The boycott has led to increased sales of the company's products. Through all the backlash of Goya Foods, many Latinos and Latinas would say that, according to Gabrielle Berbey in the podcast Goya In Three Boycotts, "Goya is like a batch of identity." It was said around the 4:56 mark of the podcast. The podcast was created by Gabrielle Berbey and Alejandra Salazar. The date of the podcast is January 22, 2021, and was listened to on January 31, 2021. The findings of Goya being a part of the lives of many Latinos come as it is a staple in many of their homes across the United States. There's this idea that food can form one's identity if it's been around for a long time, which the person would recall having many memories with the foods they used to make tasty dishes. Created in the 1930s, Goya Foods has been around for many years and has gone through many generations of consumers.
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| Goya Foods CEO Robert Unanue speaking at an event July 9, 2020 Washington, D.C. (The White House) |
In regards to the podcast, I like how the people who discussed the topic viewed it with an open mind without being quick to judge. Instead of going straight into why Goya Foods is a controversial company, there was time spent reflecting on the memories made from Goya Foods. The history of how the company was created is very rich and not remembered by many. The topic of Goya Foods is fun to learn as you go through the timeline of the company that leads up to its popularity being at an all-time high. At the 8:45 mark of the podcast, Gabrielle explains how there is an "intimate bond with food formed by cultural and historical practices." It's the history of such companies that create lasting bonds with consumers who enjoy the products from the companies There wasn't anything I didn't like about the topic, but rather about the people who were interviewed and how they viewed Goya Foods' backlash. The reason behind such disliking is because, while most of the people who were interviewed supported the Goya Foods boycott, there was not much representation for those who opposed the boycott, which shows that there may be a bias of how the people who created this podcast thought about the subject. I think the radio show should cover the topic of the Keystone XL Pipeline because the cancellation of construction resulted in thousands of job losses and is one of the most controversial cancellations by President Joe Biden.
According to a Newsweek article about the Goya Foods backlash, "Ocasio-Cortez supported a Goya boycott while calling out Unanue for his public support of President Donald Trump over the summer.... her statements led to a massive spike in sales" (Slisco). Although Ocasio-Cortez called for people to stop purchasing Goya products, the boycott caused people to start a boycott of the company and help sales skyrocket. I selected this article in relation to the Latino USA segment because it perfectly summarizes the Goya Foods backlash from the summer of 2020 as it explains how the company benefitted from such events. No matter if a company is under hot water, there will always be customers to support them. In this case of Goya Foods, there are many Latinos who stood in support of the company and continued to purchase their products because they trust the company and like what they have to offer.
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| Virginia man Casey Harper Creates a GoFundMe to purchase and donate Goya Foods to combat the boycott |
As humans, we are entitled to our opinions and shouldn't attack others for believing differently. The concept of "agree to disagree" shows that people can disagree about anything and still be friends. I could see why "Unanue refused to apologize for his comments and claimed that the criticism was a 'suppression of speech'..." because he has every right like Ocasio-Cortez to voice his opinions about certain people (Slisco). At the end of the day, Goya Foods products are still being sold from store shelves and should be up to the individual to decide if they want to buy the products or not. With differing opinions, humans should listen to what the people who disagree have to say before jumping to conclusions and starting arguments.
Works Cited
Berbey, Gabrielle, and Alejandra Salazar. “Goya In Three Boycotts.” Latino USA, 22 Jan. 2021, www.latinousa.org/2021/01/22/goyaboycotts/.
Slisco, Aila. “After AOC Calls for Boycott of pro-Trump GOYA, Sales Skyrocket and CEO Names Her ‘Employee of the Month.’” Newsweek, Newsweek, 8 Dec. 2020, www.newsweek.com/after-aoc-calls-boycott-pro-trump-goya-sales-skyrocket-ceo-names-her-employee-month-1553018.
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