Listerine Pride bottle boycotted on social media for being ‘woke’: ‘As popular as Bud Light’

Listerine Pride bottle, that was launched back in 2019, has resurfaced and gone viral yet again as conservatives on X, formerly known as Twitter, started tweeting pictures of the rainbow-colored bottle with the hashtag “Boycott.”

“This Listerine Progress Pride bottle is worse than the parody Pride flags people keep making,” one user wrote, while another said, “What the hell is this. It’s time to make Listerine ‘go woke, go broke’. #LGBT” One more noted, “Listerine goes Woke! The mouthwash brand owned by Johnson & Johnson is pushing transgender ideology on consumers with their new LGBT packaging featuring trans family cartoons. How on earth does mouthwash have anything to do with gender identity?”

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Another user stated, “OK. Let’s make @Listerine as popular as @budlight. #Boycott.” One more tweeted, “While you’re rinsing out your mouth with mouthwash, @Listerine wants you to remember that they are pro genital mutilation surgery. Listerine also supports organizations who advocate for sex change surgeries for minors.”

The mouthwash bottle was part of Johnson & Johnson’s Care With Pride range and is covered in rainbow stripes and words including “healing” and “harmony”. One social media user pointed out that the bottle was launched back in 2019 and is not even available for buying in 2023.

Nevertheless, the bottle was not popular when it was launched in 2019. The Care With Pride scheme donates funds to LGBT+ groups such as PFLAG and the Trevor Project, a non-profit organization and confidential suicide hotline for LGBT+ youth.

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The rainbow-themed bottles at the time were sold in pharmacies across America but did not appear to be sold in the UK. The bottle bore the words: “Sex, life, healing, sunlight, nature, magic, peace, harmony, spirit.” These words were spoken by Gilbert Baker, gay activist and creator of the Rainbow Flag, which was created in 1978.