NRA supporters are blowing up Yeti coolers
The Washington Post
Yeti coolers are the hottest coolers around. They are also wildly expensive, between $250 and $1,300, depending on the size. So a discount on a Yeti, like the company offered to the NRA and other organizations, is no small thing.
Still, the price of the coolers didn’t stop some Yeti owners from blowing them up in ritual anger after the National Rifle Association claimed that Yeti was terminating the discount as part of an NRA boycott.
On Monday afternoon, for example, Bryan Atkinson unloaded a Yeti cooler from the bed of a truck parked on a dirt road in the middle of a South Carolina field.
Inside the cooler he placed ammonium nitrate and aluminum powder, packaged in a cardboard box sealed with duct tape.
“This Yeti,” he said, “ain’t ready.”
His friends took the cooler out to the middle of the muddy field and set it down. Mr. Atkinson got on one knee and lifted his AR-15 to eye level. Then, with one shot, he blew the Yeti cooler to pieces.
“If Yeti can’t stand behind the NRA, I ain’t standing behind Yeti no more,” Mr. Atkinson told the camera during a Facebook Live video, which has been shared more than 2,300 times.
The stunt followed a letter to NRA members sent by the NRA Institute for Legislative Action announcing that Yeti had severed ties with the NRA Foundation, following the lead of other companies in the wake of the Feb. 14 Parkland, Fla., shooting massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
The letter, sent by former NRA president and current lobbyist Marion Hammer, said the company “declined to do business with The NRA Foundation” without prior notice and “refused to say why.”
“They will only say they will no longer sell products to The NRA Foundation,” Ms. Hammer wrote. “That certainly isn’t sportsmanlike. In fact, YETI should be ashamed.”
But on Monday, just as the backlash and calls for boycott picked up steam, Yeti said in a statement to The Washington Post, also posted on Yeti’s Facebook account, that the NRA letter was “inaccurate.”
The Austin-based retailer said it notified various organizations, including the NRA Foundation, that it was eliminating a “group of outdated discounting programs” from which the organizations benefited.
The NRA was not specifically targeted, Yeti said.
“When we notified the NRA Foundation and the other organizations of this change, YETI explained that we were offering them an alternative customization program broadly available to consumers and organizations, including the NRA Foundation,” Yeti said. “These facts directly contradict the inaccurate statement the NRA-ILA distributed on April 20.”
“Further,” the statement continued, “the NRA-ILA stated … that ‘[YETI has] declined to continue helping America’s young people enjoy outdoor recreational activities.’
“Nothing is further from the truth. YETI was founded more than 10 years ago with a passion for the outdoors, and over the course of our history we have actively and enthusiastically supported hunters, anglers and the broader outdoor community … YETI is unwavering in our belief in and commitment to the Constitution of the United States and its Second Amendment.”
But the damage had already been done, and NRA supporters had taken to destroying Yeti coolers in a variety of explosive ways. Some filled the cooler with tannerite explosive rifle targets and, like Mr. Atkinson, shot it and blew it up in a field. Others shot holes through the stainless steel Yeti tumblers in their backyard or basements. One man crushed a Yeti tumbler in a vise.
The Yeti flap comes after various businesses have distanced themselves from the NRA or from gun manufacturers in the aftermath Parkland shootings. Companies ranging from airlines to rental car companies ended discounts for NRA members. Retailers such as REI, Dick’s Sporting Goods and L.L. Bean announced new policies on gun sales and stopped selling certain weapons or products tied to gun manufacturers.
All of these companies made formal announcements making their stance on guns or the NRA clear.