The Brief: The hashtag #BoycottJimmyJohns is trending on Twitter after photos of the owner with an elephant he killed have resurfaced.
DEEP DIVE
Every so often, there will be a social media campaign calling for people to boycott Jimmy John’s sandwich franchise. This typically occurs after photos of Jimmy John’s founder and owner Jimmy John Liautaud posing with animals he’s killed on international trophy hunting trips go viral online.
This week calls for a boycott surfaced in reaction to the reposting of an old photo of Liautaud making a thumbs-up in front of an elephant he killed has inspired multiple calls for boycotts of the sandwich chain and caused #BoycottJimmyJohns to trend on Twitter.
Animal-loving influencer Brother Nature reposted a tweet of the photo with the caption “We boycotting Jimmy Johns.”
We boycotting Jimmy Johns https://t.co/pIjgVbJmCM
— Brother Nature (@BrotherNature) August 23, 2019
brother nature leading the charge to take out jimmy johns pic.twitter.com/qR0IX87aSK
— chester (@bruhitschester) August 23, 2019
When an elephant was tasked with laying down logs in pre-dug holes, it outright refused when a dog was sleeping in one. It wouldn’t do anything until the dog left. Elephants have so much empathy and compassion for others. The owner of Jimmy Johns is a monster. #BoycottJimmyJohns pic.twitter.com/ccX6l8CFXI
— Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) August 23, 2019
Some people have taken this as an opportunity to dunk on Jimmy John’s for the quality of their food in addition to calling for people to boycott Jimmy John’s.
Y’all were eating Jimmy Johns? pic.twitter.com/gBKjJavGJ5
— young midoriya (@CallMehBrye) August 23, 2019
Jimmy Johns is 🗑 anyway.
— Natalie Egenolf (@NatalieEgenolf) August 23, 2019
The owner of Jimmy Johns has just posted a pic of himself sitting on a mutilated elephant that he killed with a "thumbs up." I refuse to re-post that sickening image.
Needless to say, it you are not already doing #BoycottJimmyJohns, you really should.
— Amee Vanderpool (@girlsreallyrule) August 23, 2019
Others have pointed to the owner’s documented killing of other wild and endangered or vulnerable species and the wider issues that these species face.
The owner of Jimmy Johns is a repeat offender.
Feel free to stop buying his sandwiches and funding his inhumane exploits. pic.twitter.com/nPBWhtHXO0
— Simran Jeet Singh (@SikhProf) August 23, 2019
Few times a year this pic of the founder of Jimmy Johns goes viral. It almost always starts trending and everyone is shocked!
Tons of retweets!
But this pic is from years ago and meanwhile 🐘 are facing a real crisis & when people tweet about that, it gets little attention pic.twitter.com/7tdybMN310
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) August 23, 2019
According to Forbes, Jimmy John Liautaud’s net worth is currently $1.7 billion. In a 2015 interview with the Chicago Tribune, Liautaud addressed the over ten-year-old pictures, clarifying that all of the hunting he had done “has been totally legal” and that “I don’t hunt big African game anymore.”
Whether or not this boycott of Jimmy Johns will last or cause any disruption in business has yet to be seen.