#BoycottNRA: How social media continues to encourage change

U.S. companies are rethinking who they associate themselves with after one of the deadliest school shooting happened February 14 at Stoneman Douglas High School. 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, a student at Stoneman, walked in carrying firearm arm that left 17 dead and 14 severely injured.

After high school students made headlines by walking out to fight for stricter gun laws, people took to social media in support of the cause and to start a boycott against The National Rifle Association. February 22 people started taking to twitter with the hashtag #boycottNRA.

Since the hashtag was created major companies have pulled their ties from The National Rifle Association. Companies such as Delta, United airlines and Hertz are just a few out of the 26 companies to discontinue contracts and discounts after the deadly shooting.

Although some companies have pulled away from the association many are refusing to cut ties, which is creating more backlash to the NRA, but also to the companies who will continue to renew their contracts.

Companies including: Apple, Amazon, Roku and Youtube are receiving backlash due to the video streaming service continuation of NRATV. People have gone to twitter to express how they are riding their Apple Tv’s and wanting to cancel their Amazon Prime accounts.

Other companies have spoken out against the backlash, for example FedEx received a lot of heat for not cutting their ties and the company took to their twitter to release a public statement on the matter. The statement to ensure the public knows that their beliefs on gun control does differ from the NRA and they do not believe rifles should be in the hands of civilians, but the company does not deny service or discriminate against any legal actions.

The National Rifle Association had a different approach when they held public appearances to speak on the matter and created content on their network NRATV. The National Rifle Association's Spokeswoman, Dana Loesch, spoke out and said, “many in legacy media love mass shootings,” Loesch said. “I’m not saying that you love the tragedy. But I am saying that you love the ratings. Crying white mothers are ratings gold.”

As of now petitions and the hashtag #boycottNRA are still floating in and out of social media. Do you think there was a more strategic way FedEx could have made a public statement versus the response they had on Twitter? Do you believe the backlash the NRA is receiving is right or should it be directed to the government?

If you want to see other ways social media has influenced change check out our blog.