Washington - US President Donald Trump called for consumers to boycott the US tyre company Goodyear, amid unconfirmed reports that the company had allegedly banned his branded red-coloured political attire.
"Don't buy GOODYEAR TYRES - They announced a BAN ON MAGA HATS. Get better tyres for far less!" Trump said in a tweet on Wednesday, in an unusual move for a president.
Goodyear quickly denied that the report in question was accurate. However, its statement confirmed any partisan attire - effectively including the Trump campaign's Make America Great Again, or MAGA, hats - would be prohibited while on the job.
The controversy over the Ohio-based company in conservative circles began after a report showed an apparent employee training session with a slide saying that slogans like Black Lives Matter are allowed, but pro-police and pro-Trump attire was banned.
Don’t buy GOODYEAR TIRES - They announced a BAN ON MAGA HATS. Get better tires for far less! (This is what the Radical Left Democrats do. Two can play the same game, and we have to start playing it now!).
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 19, 2020
Goodyear said the slide was not approved by its corporate headquarters and that the company was supportive of both movements for racial equality and law enforcement, but partisan politics was to be shunned.
The uproar comes amid a reckoning in the US over police brutality and racial injustice, sparked by the death in police custody of George Floyd, a black man.
While the MAGA slogan is a mainstream part of the Trump campaign since the president first started his run for office, in liberal circles it is often derided as being xenophobic.
Goodyear stock on Wall Street sank on the tweet, but recovered some of its losses.