TORONTO – Usually, when a famous person visits a company, a restaurant, a bar, there is a positive image boost for that business: photos hung on the walls to immortalize the event, posts on social networks to receive “likes” and enthusiastic comments. Usually. In some cases, however, the effect is… the opposite. 

In Italy, for example, a couple of weeks ago a hotel in Valle d’Aosta that hosted the well-known influencer Chiara Ferragni – who went from riches to rags after a series of investigations into charitable initiatives in the smell of fraud – was literally “overwhelmed” from hundreds of insults via the web after posting on Instagram some images of the influencer’s vacancy. The same happened, a few days earlier, at the “Rummo” pasta factory after the visit of Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, leader of the far-right party Lega: the people of the web even announced a boycott against the well-known Campania company.

In Canada, there is Justin Trudeau. An Ontario brewery that hosted the prime minister a couple of days ago was inundated with hundreds of hateful messages after Trudeau visited the Brewer’s Pantry in Bowmanville, Ontario, last Thursday to support Robert Rock, the Liberal candidate for the federal election in Durham. The brewery posted a photo of the event and soon after received dozens of negative Google reviews, abusive emails, and phone calls at all hours of the night. One user wrote on Facebook: “Definitely a place I will never visit,” while another said: “Small business owners in Bowmanville will not forget your location. You’re not one of us…”.

“These are comments about my business that I am passionate about and very proud of and those offensive calls hurt me” the Brewer’s Pantry owner wrote on social media.

“I ask everyone to show the Brewer’s Pantry some love. Small business owners should not be penalized for making business decisions” said candidate Robert Rock.

Ryan Turnbull, Member of Parliament for Whitby, Ontario, also released a statement condemning the hateful behavior. “These business owners are good people, hard workers and passionate about craft beer” he said before urging everyone to show love and support instead of hate.

According to CTV, the Brewer’s Pantry community offered their support to the small business, writing positive reviews to counteract the negative ones. “For those who have reached out to us with love and support, we say it means a lot to us. For those who judge us based on what we have done, then I suggest they visit us before wishing us bankruptcy, protests and violence” Brewer’s Pantry said.

The fact remains that this is not a good sign for Trudeau: hosting him now could become a boomerang.