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Why did Goya Foods name AOC ‘Employee of the Month’? Internet asks if they'll name Trump ‘Employee of the Century’

Goya Foods CEO Bob Unanue claims that thanks to AOC's call to boycott their products and sharing recipes, the brand registered huge profits...quite the opposite effect of what she may have hoped for

US Rep for New York, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez aka AOC has been mockingly selected as “Employee of the month” earlier this year at Goya Foods as mentioned by CEO Bob Unanue. The CEO made the remarks on a radio show hosted by conservative Michael Berry on December 7. His remarks came on the heels of AOC drawing attention after her call to boycott the company as it supported President Donald Trump. However, that boycott purportedly increased its sales, said the CEO.

"It's interesting that AOC was one of the first people to step in line to boycott Goya. To go against her own people, as supposedly a Puerto Rican woman, to go against people of her own Latin culture," Unanue said. "To some extent, I can understand AOC. She's young, she's naïve, she doesn't get it. But you've got someone like [Senator Bernie] Sanders, who's older than us ... other than me, who still doesn't get it."

He continued, "She was actually our employee of the month ... when she boycotted us, our sales actually increased 1,000 percent," Unanue added. He added, "We never were able to hand it to her, but she got employee of the month for bringing attention to GOYA and our adobo. Actually, our sales of adobo did very well after she said, 'make your own adobo' ... she's our hero, she helped boost sales tremendously."

Unanue had been generous in his praise for the outgoing president earlier this year. At that time, CEO Unanue was slammed for praising Trump during a visit to the White House. "We're all truly blessed at the same time to have a leader like President Trump, who is a builder," CEO Robert Unanue stated in his speech after a roundtable with Trump and other Hispanic leaders in July 2020.  In response, Trump also shared an image on his Instagram in July and expressed his support for Goya Foods. The picture POTUS posted showed him giving two thumbs up while seated behind a row of Goya Foods products that were displayed on his desk.

The aftermath of this endorsement was not pretty as #BoycottGoya began to trend online. Even then, many on Twitter started circulating recipes for Adobo, in order to substitute it with Goya’s products. 

Trump’s eldest daughter and advisor at White House, Ivanka Trump also took to Twitter in July to heap praises on Goya Foods. “If it’s Goya, it has to be good”, she tweeted. For the unversed, Goya Foods deems itself as the country's largest Hispanic-owned food company. In recent times, some Latinos have expressed their disenchantment with the CEO's praise for Trump, whom they believe continuously attacks Latinos, USA Today reported.

After Unanue’s support of Trump, Ocasio-Cortez supported a Goya boycott while slamming Unanue for his public support of POTUS. "Oh look, it's the sound of me Googling 'how to make your own Adobo,'" Ocasio-Cortez said on Twitter in July after the CEO’s roundtable. She ridiculed the company by sharing an alternative recipe to the Adobo seasoning which is part of Goya’s brand and is a popular Latino household item. In addition to AOC, the boycott call gained momentum on social media as celebrated personalities including Lin-Manuel Miranda, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro and celebrity chef José Andrés also supported the boycott of the company. 

Now, the CEO revealed that after the backlash, the sales of Goya Foods have tremendously increased which has caused a furor on the Internet. Some are taking to Twitter to write they will still not buy Goya as it supports Trump while others are asking if POTUS will be named as the “employee of century”. A user wrote why they weren't using any Goya products: “I don't buy Goya and had never even heard of the brand. I did buy cases of chili and kidney beans before the Pandemic. I use both in my turkey chili to feed the homeless in SF. I use Bush's best! I would NEVER use a brand that was associated with Trump.” “Yeah but I’m still boycotting. And I used to buy a lot!! #Goya” said another. 

Another concurred, “Just a reminder that Goya is still trash. Don't forget.” A user quipped, “Goya foods sarcastically named AOC ‘Employee of the Month’. Will the funeral industry name Donald Trump ‘Employee of the Century’?” “I saw Goya trending and thought Ivanka announced her next job”, read one tweet. A user brought in the issue of racism and wrote, “Ceo of goya is a prime example of Mexicans turning into trump supporters when they get a boat I'm a Mexican so I can say that something bout having money makes u stupid and racist." However, there was scattered support for Goya products as well as one social media wrote endorsing the brand: “I use Goya black beans to make my favorite recipe. Black bean hummus!  #GOYA."