The ongoing trucker convoy protest has brought downtown Ottawa to a standstill. Amid the DIY signs and banners decrying Canada’s COVID-19 response, demonstrators have also been waving factory-made flags that bear obscene political slogans.
These flags and other offensive merchandise are available online from sellers on Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Facebook Marketplace and more.
“Corporate greed has no moral compass, so of course businesses will take advantage of an opportunity like this,” Barbara Perry told CTV News. Perry directs the Centre on Hate, Bias and Extremism at Ontario Tech University.
“We’ve seen that in the U.S. in response to Trumpism where all manner of paraphernalia were produced not just for protest but for profit,” Perry said.
Many of the flags are nearly identical: the words “F*** TRUDEAU” in white all-caps on a black background, the offending “U” swapped with a red maple leaf. Some designs feature a raised middle finger. One includes a maple leaf merged with an assault rifle. Similar images and messages are available on everything from coffee mugs to sweatshirts, and even on facemasks. Fox News firebrand Tucker Carlson has also jumped on the protest merch bandwagon by offering a simple “I HEART TRUCKERS” shirt on his website for more than CA$40.
On Amazon, some “F*** TRUDEAU” products have achieved “Bestseller” banners and racked up hundreds of positive reviews. They are also easily found on eBay, Etsy, Facebook Marketplace and other e-commerce sites. While there are online sellers in both Canada and the U.S., the vast majority of items appear to be manufactured and shipped by companies in China.
“In a democracy, we tolerate political expression from a variety of perspectives, but I wonder if consumers have considered how their purchase of these products supports a country where citizens do not have the same rights to political expression,” Shelley Boulianne told CTVNews.ca.
Boulianne is an associate professor at MacEwan University in Alberta who cowrote a 2020 study on political consumerism, which is “the deliberate purchase or avoidance of products, goods, or services for political reasons.” Boulianne calls the Trudeau merchandise part of “a long history of consumption of products… to express one’s political views.”
“I think Canadians consuming these flags and related products should consider how the purchase of these products conflict with their own core democratic values related to freedom of expression,” Boulianne said.
At the Ottawa protests, others waved apparently off-the-shelf flags bearing Confederate, Nazi and far-right symbols. Some demonstrators claimed they were trying to draw comparisons between current public health measures and Nazi Germany.
“You either have that stuff because you’re a Nazi already, or you paid somebody who’s a Nazi to buy it,” Canadian Anti-Hate Network Executive Director Evan Balgord told CTVNews.ca. “There are some symbols that just so obviously mean one thing: that you are for the subjugation and destruction of another group of people.”
The Canadian Anti-Hate Network wants to ban such symbols from public spaces. While the Canadian Criminal Code prohibits speech that incites or promotes hatred against identifiable groups, there are no federal laws that specifically prohibit Nazi and similar symbols.
“Just having a Confederate flag is not illegal,” James Turk, the director of Ryerson University’s Centre for Free Expression, told CTVNews.ca. “It’s offensive, it shouldn’t be done, we have every right to express outrage with somebody who does it, but it’s not a violation of the law.”
Like Boulianne, Turk points out that offensive political products have a long history in democratic societies.
“Amazon certainly makes the manufacturing and distribution and selling of those products easier than ever before,” he said. “But the phenomenon isn’t new.”
In a statement to CTVNews.ca, an Amazon spokesperson said the company supports COVID-19 vaccination efforts and complies with local health and safety measures.
“The products you reference are sold in Amazon’s online store by third-party sellers,” they explained. “Amazon does not allow products that promote, incite or glorify hatred, violence, racial, sexual or religious intolerance or promote organizations with such views.”
According to a spokesperson from Facebook’s parent company Meta, “voicing opposition to government leaders or mandates is not against Meta’s policies.”
“What we donxjmtzyw’t allow is the sale of violent or hateful products on our platforms, or the sharing of content that makes harmful claims about vaccines,” Meta added. “We’ll continue monitoring our platform and will enforce against any content that violates our policies.”
Etsy and eBay did not respond to requests for comment.
Turk from Ryerson University says that in these times of “extreme polarization,” it’s more important than ever to protect Canadians’ rights to freedom of expression—even perhaps if that right is crudely being exercised with “F*** TRUDEAU” flag.
“We can’t resolve these things by trying to silence the opposition,” Turk said of the ongoing protests rattling Ottawa. “It’s far better to criticize, protest, object to and so forth. But bad ideas and bad behaviour don’t go away because you censor them.”
RELATED IMAGESview larger image
People stand on a flatbed truck during a rally against COVID-19 restrictions on Parliament Hill, which began as a cross-country convoy protesting a federal vaccine mandate for truckers, in Ottawa, on Saturday, Jan. 29, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
