‘Socialist Patsies’ Offering Cheap Beer To Vaccinated Haligonians
HALIFAX — Good Robot Brewing Company has revealed its true agenda.
Scroll to the bottom of one of its most recent Instagram posts and the truth is staring you in the face:
“This message was paid for by the Government of Canada, The Pfizer Corporation, The CIA and the Martian invaders who are hanging out on the other side of the moon biding their time,” the disclaimer reads.
The message is tacked onto the bottom of a post announcing the company’s latest promotion. Its “Pints for Pro-Vaxxers” campaign offers anyone with proof they’ve been vaccinated a beer for the lowest legal price: $2.75.
Josh Counsil, one of Good Robot’s co-founders, says his company launched the promotion not to bribe people with cheap beer (“I’d hazard a guess that we’re not going to be changing too many minds,” he jokes) but to promote the importance of vaccines.
“Right now, it feels as if the government is coming up with the entire direction and it’s just sort of trickling down to the rest of us. And you seem to hear a lot of negative media but not a lot of supportive media. We thought we would veer towards the latter,” Counsil says.
He says encouraging vaccinations is important to him because it helps protect his frontline staff and contributes to positive conversations around vaccines.
But while planting its flag in the pro-vaccination camp has lured some to Good Robot’s taproom, it’s also attracted the ire of internet trolls and conspiracy theorists.
It’s why the company has used social media to take some friendly jabs at the most outrageous of its haters. Online, the company cops to being “socialist patsies” and “big pharma stooges.”
“We know you are angry, anxious, scared and frustrated. We are too. It is more important now than ever before to pitch in and knock the virus on its tuchus. That means wearing a mask, maintaining social distance, washing your hands, getting regular tests and… ROLLING UP OUR SLEEVES FOR OUR BIG PHARMA OVERLORDS,” an Instagram post advertising Pints For Pro-Vaxxers reads.
“We expect anytime we do something big and fun and stupid that we’re going to get pushback. You have to have haters to have lovers,” Counsil says. “But what I didn’t expect was in a province as docile and cooperative as Nova Scotia … to get called Nazis 14 times in a week.”
Counsil says his team tries to approach their haters with good humour. They’ll get together at the end of the workday for some beers and look over the best conspiracy and hate comments they’ve received.
Yesterday, for example, an email landed in their general inbox with “documentation” about Pfizer’s underground labs and their work with Bill Gates.
“It was awesome, it was great entertainment,” Counsil says.
However, not to alienate the vaccine-hesitant too much, Good Robot also mentions in its marketing that “anti-vaxxers” are still welcome to come and enjoy a full-priced pint in the taproom alongside their vaccinated friends.
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