Consumer affairs

Rightwing companies are attempting to “bilk” conservative Americans by pushing “anti-woke” products including razors, chocolate and floor cleaner, an analyst said, as the Daily Wire news outlet launched a “reclaim masculinity” multivitamin.The launch of the “manly green vitamin capsules”, which cost 10 times more than Centrum-branded multivitamins, fits into an emerging pattern of companies selling what they claim are masculine products in reaction to big brands allegedly embracing liberal values.In an article announcing its multivitamin, the Daily Wire asked readers if they wanted to “buy your men’s health products from a company that partners with drag queens and supports radical organizations that push gender procedures on children”. It did not name any particular company, but the “us v them” dynamic used by the Daily Wire and others is clear.Buying and consuming the multivitamin will help with that, the Responsible Man website says. It adds that the product, which comes in “manly green vitamin capsules”, “may be the finest Men’s Multivitamin on the market”.One of the best-known of the rightwing products, Jeremy’s Razors, was launched by the Daily Wire, a rightwing news operation, in 2022, while last year a Georgia man launched Ultra Right Beer, a rightwing alternative to Bud Light, after the latter ran a limited ad campaign with Dylan Mulvaney, a trans activist.Both products have received poor reviews, but that hasn’t stopped the Daily Wire from entering into the world of vitamins.“As a man, you have people relying on you and the world conspires to see you fail,” claims the Responsible Man multivitamin website, which was launched by the Daily Wire at the start of May.“With so much chaos and uncertainty, it’s crucial to take charge of your life and responsibilities.”As Media Matters reported, the site is promoting its multivitamin as a response to what it calls a “woke mind virus”, which it vaguely claims is infecting US corporations.This isn’t the Daily Wire’s first foray into selling rightwing products. Its co-founder and co-CEO Jeremy Boreing launched Jeremy’s Razors in 2022, after the razor company Harry’s said it would stop advertising on the Daily Wire.Going back further, brands such as Black Rifle Coffee have championed their conservative leanings to appeal to Republican-supporting consumers, while PublicSquare – like Amazon, but for people who “respect traditional American values” – has been backed by Donald Trump Jr.“What’s newer, I think, is we’ve seen from the Daily Wire in particular a sort of range of issues in which the media outlet side is kind of creating demand for particular products by tearing down particular companies,” said Matt Gertz, senior fellow at Media Matters, a progressive watchdog group.“And then on the business side, they’re creating a supply of products that they can endorse and sell, so that people can buy them instead.”Jeremy’s Razors has continually received poor reviews – “Absolutely terrible … Would rather use products from a woke company than rip my skin off with Jeremy’s Razors,” one person wrote on the company’s Facebook page in March – but that hasn’t stopped the company, and what seemingly began as a fit of pique has since evolved into a whole range of Jeremy’s products.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionThere’s an all-purpose cleaner: “Sure to wipe out woke,” the blurb says; a shampoo: “Softens hair, not masculinity”; and a hand soap: “You’re not responsible for woke culture, and you don’t have to participate in it either. Wash your hands of it all.”“They’re attacking existing men’s health companies, saying that they can’t be trusted and are bad. And then they are providing you instead with an alternative,” Gertz said.“You just have to give them money and they will give you a product that I guess you can feel more politically comfortable with. Effectively what we see on the right is they create a very dedicated audience and then they bilk them for all they’re worth.”Notably, with many of the rightwing companies, commitment to non-woke causes comes at a price. Ultra Right beer retails at $45 for 24 beers, about twice the price of the liberal Bud Light. The Daily Wire’s multivitamin costs $39.99 for a 30-day supply – about 10 times the price of Centrum multivitamins.There’s a risk for the customer, too, even aside from the irritation allegedly caused by Jeremy’s Razors.Ultra Right Beer earned an F rating from the Better Business Bureau in January, after it received 175 complaints in six months – mostly for not delivering beer people had paid for.“​​Ordered 6 months ago. Tried to call no answer, emailed several times, no reply. Complete disgraceful fraud,” one person wrote on the Ultra Right Beer Facebook page.“I was duped!” More