Pizza Hut is facing consumer boycotts after the chain reportedly provided free meals to soldiers at Israeli military bases.
On January 19, Pizza Hut Israel posted an Instagram story by user @alex_shults that showed two smiling soldiers holding stacks of Pizza Hut pizza boxes, suggesting that the chain had delivered the meals to soldiers. The story expired after 24 hours and can no longer be viewed on Instagram.
Palestinian news agencies, including the Quds News Network, began Reshare screenshots of posts On Instagram and X (formerly Twitter), they prompted supporters of Palestinian rights to boycott the chain’s products.
In recent months, advocacy groups have also called for boycotts of other brands seen as supporters of Israel. This included Starbucks, which faced boycotts and protests from union members after the company was sued for posting social media posts in support of the Palestinian people on a union account.
Pizza Hut has not publicly responded to the boycotts, nor has the company confirmed that the pizzas were distributed to soldiers.
It is not the first time that Pizza Hut Israel has been boycotted
In May 2017, Pizza Hut came under fire after the chain’s Israeli branch shared an ad online. The ad appeared to mock Palestinian prisoners who were on hunger strike. The ad used a Photoshop image of a prisoner eating Pizza Hut pizza in his cell.
Social media users and interest groups, including the BDS movementor Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions, began using the hashtag #boycott_pizzahut in response to the ad.
According to news reports, Pizza Hut later deleted the ad, apologized, and fired the PR firm that created the ad.
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This article originally appeared in the Arizona Republic: Who’s boycotting Pizza Hut? What you should know about the recent protest
