The NRA’s charitable arm is calling the maker of a premium brand of cooler “unsportsmanlike” after the manufacturer ended a discount program. That’s per a letter from NRA Foundation lobbyist Marion Hammer, who was the NRA’s first female president and says Yeti “should be ashamed,” USA Today reports.
In a statement, Yeti took issue with the NRA’s characterization, saying Hammer’s letter is “inaccurate” and that it’s simply halting some “outdated discounting programs” and setting up an “alternate customization program.”
Yeti—which sells coolers that can go for up to $1,300 and is the latest company to modify its relationship with the NRA after the Parkland shooting, per the Hill—added it’s “unwavering in our belief in and commitment to the Constitution of the United States and its Second Amendment,” the Austin American-Statesman reports.
No matter the details, gun owners are railing against Yeti and saying they’ve “shot themselves in the foot.”
One prominent detractor who now supports a boycott: Chris Loesch, husband of NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch. “Do you not understand who your base is?,” Chris Loesch tweeted. “Will never buy or use any of your products again and we had a bunch.”
Some are even taking to destroying their Yeti products—including by blowing them up, shooting them with rifles, and crushing them in vises—using #YetiCoolerChallenge.
Not everyone agrees this is the most sensible reaction.
“Let me get this straight: #yeticoolerchallenge = fill $500 cooler with $20 of tannerite. Blow up cooler. Outcome: @Yeti keeps $500, @NRA foundation receives no benefit, and you are left with no cooler and a huge mess to clean up … seems reasonable,” one observer sarcastically notes.
