Stand up to Trump like Burger King stands up to bullying
Burger King released a public service announcement in regards to bullying, shedding light on the fact that 30 percent of students are bullied worldwide every year. The clip consisted of a scenario illustrating a teen boy being bullied by another teen boy. This public service announcement also consisted of a social experiment in which the company showed a “ bullied” Whopper Jr. They conducted this experiment by smashing the Whopper Jr. and then handing the damaged burger to customers.
Interestingly, 95 percent of customers said something about the “bullied” Whopper Jr. when only 12 percent stood up for the teen boy being bullied. At the end of the clip, Burger King inserted a call to action for people to stand up to bullying like they stood up for their burger.
Burger King’s message is powerful. I wish that we could have specific individuals sit in a room to watch this clip, particularly, individuals such as the President of the United States, Donald Trump and his wife Melania Trump. First Lady Trump has chosen to make her central cause about bullying. She believes that people should extend kindness and compassion to one another.
It is interesting that the First Lady of the United States (FLOTUS) has chosen anti-bullying as her cause, because from the moment her husband started his campaign he has been a bully. Even as the POTUS, President Trump still continues to exhibit the characteristics of a bully.
There are multiple examples of President Trump being a bully both before and after his election. There was the instance where he mocked a reporter with a disability during his campaign in 2015. He mocked the gestures and speech of Serge Kovaleski of the New York Times, who suffers from a chronic condition that impairs the movement of his joints.
Then, there was the footage of President Trump making vulgar comments about women. In his conversation with radio host Billy Bush in 2005 he comments, “You know, I’m automatically attracted to beautiful—I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything,” President Trump said. “Grab ’em by the pussy. You can do anything.”
It is interesting that the FLOTUS wants to help end bullying when she lays next to one of the most powerful bullies in the world.
My call to action to everyone, including First Lady Trump, is to stand up to President Trump like Burger King stands up to bullying. We should stand up to bullying like we would stand up for our Whopper Jr. being smashed. We need positive role models for children and teens to look up to because when we condone behavior like President Trump’s, we are saying to children, teens and people in general that it is acceptable to be a bully.
Children are watching President Trump’s behavior, and my biggest fear is that they are going to grow up thinking that intimidating, insulting and humiliating people is satisfactory because of their president’s actions.
So, America, I know you have a strong desire to “make America great again,” but we should start off by making presidents nice again. Children, teens and people throughout the world are watching the leader of our country as he bullies others while, we sit back and watch, rather than stand up to him.