American political polarization is playing out on the dinner table with a recent round ofbrand boycotts.While the left is ditching Papa John's, the right is cutting out Starbucks and tossing Keurigs out the window.Thefoods we eat eatare a shorthand for certain beliefsand that can be dangerous for different brands.The past two years have seen an unending series of politically sparked boycotts and counter-boycotts.Now, as Thanksgiving nears, the boycottsseem to be playing out on dinner plates across America."We've never seen something like thisa consumer awakening, if you will," Chris Allieri, the founder of the communications and marketing firm Mulberry & Astor, told Business Insideron the rise of consumer boycottsin recent years.In an effort to see how political divisions are dividing the American diet, we rounded up foods that have been politicized by the left and right over the last few years.Here are all the brands that have been sucked into politics and hit with boycotts, through everything fromalt-right-led Twitter campaignsto anti-Trump spreadsheets.SEE ALSO:Ivanka Trump is stealing a strategy out of the first lady's playbook ' and it's a brilliant political moveOver the last two years, a new right-wing social media movement has risen in prominence ' and that means new boycott threats.Not every right-wing boycott starts withthe alt-right, aloosely allied group of white supremacists, men's rights activists, and other far-right individuals.However, with the social media power of manyalt-right personalities who aggressively supported Donald Trump's political rise,right-wing boycotts are often rooted in or amplified by certain individuals or websites.Perhaps no brand is a bigger target for the right than Starbucks.Starbucks' most recent "scandal"is that it is currently featuring a cartoon lesbian couple in an ad and, potentially, on cups, leading to some backlash.However, this #BoycottStarbucks flapis nothing compared to past drama.In February, some customers threatened to boycott the coffee giant afterthe company spoke out against the executive order barring immigrants from seven majority-Muslim countries from entering the US.In late 2016,alt-right Twitter userBaked Alaskachallenged his 123,000 followers to go to Starbucks and tell the employees that their names are Trump to "trigger SJW" employees.And, while he was campaigning in late 2015, Donald Trump encouraged boycotting the chain for its lack of Christmascheer.Basically, if you're a pro-Trump conservative,Starbucks has beenat the top ofthe boycott list for a long time. And, with its dedication to progressive social causes, it's likely to stay there for a while longer.Keurig recently entered the spotlight as some people smashed their coffee makers to support Fox News host Sean Hannity.Keurig faced backlash when it cut advertising on "Hannity" after the show ran an arguably sympathetic interview with Roy Moore, an Alabama GOP Senate candidate accused ofsexual misconduct with a 14-year-old and other teens.Many Hannity supporters promised to boycott the coffee brand, with some going as far as posting videos of themselvessmashing their Keurig coffee machines.Keurig's CEO apologized to employees for appearing to take sides in a political debate. Hannity decided to accept the apology himself, and promised to replace the coffee machines of people who smashed their Keurigs. So, at the end of the day, Keurig seems to have actually boosted salesover the course of the drama.See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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