Tens of thousands of people have signed a petition calling on Amazon to stop selling “51st State” merchandise — referencing U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats against Canada — but marketing and business experts say it’s unlikely to have much success.
The petition, started by Sue Williams-Dunn, said that there is a “profound sense of betrayal” by the actions of Trump and criticized Amazon for selling products that echo the president’s comments that Canada should become part of the U.S.
“Seeing items on sale that portray this notion on a platform as huge as Amazon gives President Trump’s intimidating tactics more power than they deserve,” she wrote.
More than 65,000 people have signed the petition so far.
A search on Amazon’s website shows various shirts, flags and hats with messages like “51st state of America” and “51 Make Canada Great Again.”
Trump began his rhetoric about Canada becoming the 51st state in early January, including referring to former prime minister Justin Trudeau as “Governor Trudeau” on multiple occasions.
Trudeau initially brushed off questions about the comments, calling them a joke.
Trump later said he wanted to use “economic force” to force Canada to become a state. Trudeau was later heard saying in a hot mic moment that Trump’s plans to annex Canada were a “real thing.”
The threats from Trump have sparked a surge in Canadian patriotism, with the “Buy Canadian” movement taking off in recent months and showing no signs of slowing.
Ipsos polling for Global News in February showed 68 per cent think less of the U.S. because of Trump’s comments. But despite the reaction, University of Toronto marketing professor Pankaj Aggarwal said it’s unlikely to prompt Amazon to drop the products.
“Amazon is a business venture and [wants] any opportunity to make a bit more money,” he said.
“I don’t think they are thinking patriotism or, ‘we are offending people.’”
In an email to Global News, Amazon said it had concluded the products did not breach its policies and referred to its Offensive Products Policies website.
“As a store, we’ve chosen to offer a very broad range of viewpoints, including products that may be disagreeable, and we have guidance for our customers and selling partners about the items allowed for sale in our store,” Amazon wrote in an email.
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The company’s policies note it prohibits the sale of products that “promote, incite, or glorify hatred, violence, racial, sexual, or religious intolerance or promote organizations with such views,” as well as any products that graphically portray violence or victims of violence.
It said it periodically reviews and updates policies based on experience, current events, and other recent developments.
One such case of the company removing items was in March 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic was declared, when it removed more than one million products for marketing misleading claims of being able to protect consumers from the novel coronavirus that caused COVID-19.
It also removed “tens of thousands of offers” of products suspected of price gouging.
Even though the company removed such items in the past, Toronto Metropolitan University ethics professor Chris MacDonald said it’s unlikely the “51 state” products will go anytime soon.
“I suspect there are too few Canadians who would be willing to give up using Amazon in order to make a difference,” MacDonald, who works at the Ted Rogers School of Management, said. “I think it would take legal action of some sort and that’s just not plausible in a case like this.”
Aggarwal also pointed out that while there were plenty of products with “51st state,” there were also items on the opposite end including, “Canada is not for sale,” “Never 51st” and “Elbows up,” a reference to the popular hockey term that has been used amid the rhetoric.
“So they’re doing both, right, whoever buys stuff, I think they make some money and they are happy to sell,” Aggarwal said.
MacDonald added that the vendors aren’t selling inappropriate products such as child pornography, they’re focused on political speech, and while it may offend some people, asking Amazon to remove the items amounts to censorship.
“A lot of Americans in particular don’t realize what an ugly, aggressive statement this is. Canadians are not taking this as good-natured teasing,” MacDonald said.
“I don’t think we should want a company like Amazon to be exercising its power to censor political statements. I think it’s regrettable on the part of the people who are making the shirt, but I’m frankly kind of glad that Amazon isn’t picking and choosing whose political statements make it through their filters.”
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