A politically motivated call two years ago for a boycott of Goya Foods seems to have had exactly the opposite effect, according to a study from Cornell University.
Goya CEO Robert Unanue ignited a social media firestorm when he lavishly praised then-president Donald Trump at a White House event in July 2020. Twitter and other social media flared up with calls for a boycott, countered by a surge of calls for support of Goya products by Trump supporters.
The Cornell study noted that in the immediate aftermath of the controversy, sales of Goya products actually increased by 22%. However, that effect dissipated within three weeks. There was a 56% increase in sales in counties that had voted heavily for Trump in 2016, and there was no countervailing decline in either Democratic-voting counties or among Latino consumers in general.
“[B]rand loyalty and switching costs are potential explanations for the limited evidence of boycotting among experienced Goya customers,” the study states.
