Keurig Machines Put in Black Friday Sale Bins After Controversy

(Bloomberg) -- Keurig Green Mountain, coming off a boycott campaign earlier this month, is courting holiday shoppers with steep discounts.

The company, owned by the European investment firm JAB Holding Co., has cut prices for some of its coffee machines to below $50 in a bid to increase household penetration, according to Pablo Zuanic of Susquehanna International Group.

“In general, all Keurig machines have fairly deep discounts for Black Friday/Cyber Monday,” Zuanic said in a note to clients. Price cuts were in place for a wide range of Keurig products and were being offered both on the company’s website and for sales via third-party retailers, he said.

Keurig was drawn into the U.S. political crossfire after it halted advertisements that aired during Sean Hannity’s show on Fox News earlier this month. The move followed calls on Twitter for the company to pull the ads because of Hannity’s request that the public not rush to judge U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore of Alabama, who has been accused of inappropriate sexual behavior.

Supporters of Hannity and Moore responded by posting photos of themselves smashing the company’s single-serve coffee brewers and calling for a boycott of the products.

JAB’s Keurig is the latest company pulled into a social media dispute. Consumers are increasingly using their wallets -- and sites like Twitter and Facebook -- to express political frustration and perspective in the Trump era. Other companies include Anheuser-Busch InBev NV, Coca-Cola Co., PepsiCo Inc., Starbucks Corp., Nike Inc., Uber Technologies Inc., Under Armour Inc. and Kellogg Co.

--With assistance from Jennifer Kaplan

To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan Roeder in Mexico City at jroeder@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.net, Jonathan Roeder

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