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(NEW YORK) — Fresh calls to boycott Bud Light volley across social media nearly two weeks after a product endorsement from Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender influencer, set off backlash among some prominent conservatives.

Far-right House Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., on Wednesday reposted a video for her 700,000 Twitter followers that featured a rapper in a pro-Trump hoodie burning empty Bud Light boxes. Celebrities Kid Rock and Ted Nugent previously voiced similar messages.

The boycott, which coincides with a conservative push in state legislatures nationwide to restrict LGBTQ rights, is the latest in a string of efforts among advocates on the left and right to damage the bottom line of companies deemed anathema to a given group’s views.

However, the campaigns rarely succeed in hurting a company’s sales or influencing its decision making, experts told ABC News, adding that they expect the calls to boycott Bud Light to ultimately fade away with little consequence for the brand’s parent company Anheuser-Busch InBev.

“The vast majority of boycott calls fail,” Maurice Schweitzer, a professor at University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business who studies consumer movements, told ABC News.

“They fail because you need people to have a sustained and coordinated response,” he added. “Most people fall back on what is convenient and inexpensive.”

Anheuser-Busch InBev did not respond to a request for comment from ABC News.

Since April 1, when Mulvaney posted an Instagram video promoting Bud Light, the price of Anheuser-Busch InBev stock has fallen about 3%.

It is difficult, however, to assess the financial impact of the boycott campaign, since many factors influence a company’s performance, said Allyson P. Brantley, a history professor at the University of La Verne and author of Brewing a Boycott, told ABC News.

“With consumer boycotts, it’s really hard to figure out if they’re making an impact on a company’s bottom line,” Brantley said. “Generally, consumer boycotts don’t really work.”

Budweiser has promoted itself as an LGBTQ-friendly brand for decades, Brantley said, adding that the brand had previously drawn ire from prominent conservatives in response to such marketing.

“The company has spent a lot of money and time trying to win that market,” she said. “It’s probably something they anticipated because they’ve faced this kind of backlash before.”

Politically motivated consumer boycotts typically pass with little consequence because participants become distracted by a different cause and revert back to old consumption habits, according to Schweitzer.

“Boycotts for different things displace the old calls for boycotts,” he said. “The news cycle keeps spinning so quickly.”

The boycott against Bud Light faces a further challenge because it follows an LGBTQ-friendly ad that may encourage sympathetic consumers to buy more of the product, offsetting or even exceeding the protest, the experts said.

“The benefits of appealing to one audience may outweigh the costs of another audience,” Schweitzer said.

In some cases, however, boycotts succeed because advocates remain focused for a prolonged period and a target proves sensitive to the pressure, experts said.

In 2019, celebrities Ellen Degeneres and George Clooney called for a boycott of Brunei-owned hotels worldwide because the country punished gay sex and adultery with the death penalty.

Ultimately, Brunei decided not to impose the death penalty for offenders of the anti-gay law.

A successful boycott “requires people to be quite passionate about something,” Schweitzer said.

Mulvaney responded to the backlash in an interview on the podcast “Onward with Rosie O’Donnell.”

“I have tried to be the most uncontroversial person this past year, and somehow, it has made me controversial still,” Mulvaney said.

She continued, “I think it comes back to the fact that these people don’t understand me, and anything that I do or say then somehow gets taken out of context and used against me. And it’s so sad, because everything I try to put out there is positive.”

Matt Tumminello, president of LGBTQ marketing firm Target 10, says brands have been marketing to queer consumers for decades — and it’s a smart business strategy to be encouraged.

“This is what America looks like, and so from a business perspective, time and again, marketing studies prove that being culturally inclusive, culturally resonant, reflecting the true fabric of America drives business and drives sales,” Tumminello told ABC News.

“From a societal standpoint, I think we know that this is the right thing to do. Because visibility breeds isolation, and that’s a dangerous thing, especially for young people,” he added.

LGBTQ advocates applauded companies that have used their platforms to support the community despite political attacks. LGBTQ people are their customers too, they say.

“The best that brands can do is be ready to stand up and defend and to talk about why they did what, why their marketing plans are inclusive, and why that really matters,” said Eric Bloem, Human Rights Campaign senior director of Programs and Corporate Advocacy, in an interview with ABC News.

Pride events across the country have long been sponsored by corporations and brands across industries, from airlines to banks to department stores to beauty brands and so on.

“Progress like this often comes with backlash, but it’s important to remember that at the end of the day, transgender people are your friends, family members, neighbors, business owners, and simply everyday Americans,” said Ash Orr, a spokesperson for the National Center for Transgender Equality, in a statement to ABC News.

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(WASHINGTON) — The Federal Reserve’s staff is more worried about the U.S. economy tipping into a recession after the recent banking crisis, the minutes from the central bank’s meeting in March reveal.

Economists at the Federal Reserve said they expect a “mild” recession later this year, an escalation from their previous assessment.

“Given their assessment of the potential economic effects of the recent banking-sector developments, the staff’s projection at the time of the March meeting included a mild recession starting later this year, with a recovery over the subsequent two years,” according to the publicly posted minutes from the meeting, which took place over March 21-22 right after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.

The comments from economists on staff within the Federal Reserve reflect a dimmer outlook than public statements from Chairman Jerome Powell, who said after that March meeting “we don’t know” whether there will be a recession.

While several economists, including the International Monetary Fund, have said the U.S. and global economies face a higher risk of recession after the recent bank failures, the Biden administration has painted a rosier picture, with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen saying she does not anticipate a “downturn” in the U.S. economy.

“I wouldn’t overdo the negativism about the global economy,” she said Tuesday. “I think countries have proven resilient, and a number of emerging-market and lower-income countries continue to show resilient growth.”

Speaking with reporters in Dublin, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre argued that economic indicators say “we are not headed to a recession or pre-recession.”

“Recent economic indicators are not consistent with a recession or even a pre-recession. And you can just look at the data: Twelve-point-five million jobs have been created since he took office — twelve-point-five million jobs. We’ve gained all the jobs lost during the pandemic and created three million more jobs. And so, unemployment is a near 50-year low and black unemployment is at a record low. Annual inflation has fallen over the last nine months,” she said.

Silicon Valley Bank, the nation’s 16th largest bank, collapsed in March and was taken over by the government. Signature Bank, the 29th-largest bank in the U.S., followed suit just days later, marking the largest bank failure since the 2008 crisis.

Despite the troubling outlook from Federal Reserve staff, the central bank has aimed to curb inflation. In February, year-over-year inflation was 6%. The data released on Wednesday marked the ninth consecutive month of smaller price hikes.

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(NEW YORK) — The head of the government agency that oversees recalls is making an urgent plea when it comes to getting a recalled baby product off the market.

Alexander Hoehn-Saric, chair of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, sent letters Wednesday to Meta, the parent company of Facebook, and Mattel, the maker of the Fisher-Price Rock ‘n Play sleeper, calling on the companies to do more to make sure the sleeper, recalled since 2019, is not used by consumers.

In the letters, Hoehn-Saric said his agency has found that hundreds of recalled Rock ‘n Play sleepers are sold every month on Facebook Marketplace and other secondhand sites.

The CPSC issued an initial recall of Rock ‘n Play sleepers in 2019 after 30 children were reported to have died after they were placed in a sleeper and “rolled from their back to their stomach or side while unrestrained, or under other circumstances,” according to the agency.

The recall applied to approximately 4.7 million sleeper products, many of which were sold between 2009 and 2019 at major retailers such as Target and Walmart and online on e-commerce sites like Amazon.

Hoehn-Saric noted in his letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg that the majority of secondhand listings for Rock ‘n Play sleepers are found on Facebook Marketplace.

“While CPSC staff informs me that Facebook Marketplace is responsive and moves quickly to remove listings that CPSC flags for Meta, CPSC should not be finding many illegal offers of life-threatening products on your platform,” Hoehn-Saric wrote. “Moreover, at best, CPSC is catching these unlawful products after they have been listed for sale and made available to the public; we do not know how many illegal sales occurred that we did not identify.”

He continued, “Facebook is uniquely positioned to identify recalled and violative products like the Rock ‘n Play and stop their sale before they are listed. This would guarantee that these dangerous products are not sold, and further tragedies are averted.”

In the letter to Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz , Hoehn-Saric called on the company to reannounce the recall and offer consumers more of an incentive to stop using the sleepers.

“Fisher Price clearly has not done enough to incentivize consumers to act upon the recall. Nor have the company’s actions deterred a secondary market for this product,” Hoehn-Saric wrote. “It is incumbent on Fisher Price to motivate consumers to stop using the Rock ‘n Play and to destroy unused Rock ‘n Plays that may be in their homes. A refund of the full purchase price of all Rock ‘n Plays would be a good start in achieving these outcomes.”

In January, the CPSC re-announced the recall of the Rock ‘n Play sleeper, noting that at least eight additional infant deaths had been associated with the product following the original 2019 recall.

The CPSC also confirmed at the time that at least 70 more infant deaths had been reported in connection to the sleeper, bringing the total to over 100.

In January, the CPSC instructed consumers to “stop using the Rock ‘n Play immediately and contact Fisher-Price for a refund or voucher.” The agency also noted in the reannouncement of the recall, “It is illegal to sell or distribute the recalled sleepers.”

In response to the letter from Hoehn-Saric, a spokesperson for Fisher-Price told ABC News the company “has worked diligently” to remove recalled sleepers from the market.

“Following the April 12, 2019 voluntary recall, Fisher-Price immediately stopped sales of Rock ‘n Play Sleepers,” the spokeperson said in a statement. “Since then, the company has worked diligently to remove all recalled product from the market, highlighted most recently by a widespread re-announcement of the original product recall, made jointly with the CPSC on January 9, 2023.”

The Fisher-Price spokesperson also noted the company is considering increasing the refund amount for consumers.

“We have recently made clear to the CPSC our willingness to increase the proportional cash refund available to consumers who participate in the recall,” the spokesperson said. “Fisher-Price and CPSC share a common goal: to remove this recalled product from the market. We look forward to collaborating with the CPSC to explore ways to promote participation in the recall. We urge both consumers and resellers that they should not use, sell, or donate the recalled Rock ‘n Play. If consumers have a recalled product, they should go to https://service.mattel.com/ to the ‘Recall and Safety Alert’ tab and follow the instructions on how to participate in the recall. We reaffirm our commitment to parents that we will always put their children’s safety first.”

A spokesperson for Meta told ABC News that selling recalled goods on Facebook Marketplace is a violation of the company’s policies. In addition, the company works on its own to remove recalled goods from Facebook Marketplace, and encourages consumers to report items that may violate the site’s policies, according to the spokesperson.

“Like other platforms where people can buy and sell goods, there are instances of people knowingly or unknowingly selling recalled goods on Marketplace,” the Meta spokesperson said in a statement. “We take this issue seriously and when we find listings that violate our rules, we remove them.”

Safe sleep guidelines from both the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics say that caregivers should always place infants to sleep on their backs on a firm, flat surface without any pillows, blankets or bumpers, and that infants should not be placed on inclined products for sleep.

Last year, legislation known as the Safe Sleep for Babies Act went into effect, banning the manufacturing and sale of inclined sleepers for babies.

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(SAN FRANCISCO) — Whole Foods is temporarily closing a large store in downtown San Francisco due to concerns over employee safety, the company said on Wednesday.

The closure arrives roughly a week after the high-profile killing of Cash App Founder Bob Lee in San Francisco, which sparked crime fears among some city residents.

Overall, crime in San Francisco is down nearly 10% this year compared to last year, but homicides are up 20% and robberies are up more than 13%, San Francisco crime data shows.

The Whole Foods store, which spans nearly 65,000 square feet, opened last year at Trinity Place in the city’s Mid Market neighborhood.

A company press release announcing the store’s opening in March 2022 referred to the location as a “flagship store.”

Whole Foods opted to close the location to “ensure worker safety,” the company said, noting that all of the employees would be transferred to nearby locations.

“We have made the difficult decision to close the Trinity store for the time being,” the company said in a statement.

Whole Foods, which is owned by Amazon, said it would assess a reopening of the store if it feels it can protect employees at the location.

San Francisco Board of Supervisors member Matt Dorsey said he was “incredibly disappointed but sadly unsurprised” with the decision.

“Our neighborhood waited a long time for this supermarket, but we’re also well aware of problems they’ve experienced with drug-related retail theft, adjacent drug markets, and the many safety issues related to them,” he added.

The store cut its operating hours last year due to theft and hostility among its customers, the San Francisco Standard reported.

Whole Foods operates eight other locations in the San Francisco area.

In California, violent crime increased by 6% last year but remained well below a peak experienced in the early 1990s, according to a report from the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California released in October.

The Whole Foods announcement stoked criticism from some prominent Republican figures over the threat of crime in major U.S. cities, which are typically run by Democratic mayors.

Violent crime in U.S. urban areas increased by 4.4% over the year ending in June 2022, a study from the Major Cities Chiefs Association found. However, instances of homicide and rape fell over that period, the study showed.

After the murder of Lee on April 4, San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott said in a statement that the city does not tolerate violent crime.

“There is no place for this kind of violent crime against anyone in our city,” Scott said.

“I want to assure everyone that our investigators are working tirelessly to make an arrest and bring justice to Mr. Lee and his loved ones, just as we try to do on every homicide that occurs in our city.”

ABC News’ Bill Hutchinson contributed reporting.

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(NEW YORK) — NPR will stop sharing content on Twitter, the company announced Wednesday — a rebuke of certain labels the social media platform attached to the news outlet.

The international media non-profit said the categorization — first as “US state-affiliated media” and later “government-funded media” — prompted the outlet to stop posting “fresh content to its 52 official Twitter feeds,” according to a Wednesday statement.

“It would be a disservice to the serious work you all do here to continue to share it on a platform that is associating the federal charter for public media with an abandoning of editorial independence or standards,” NPR CEO John Lansing said in an email to staff explaining the decision.

Owned by Elon Musk, Twitter is working to undermine NPR’s credibility, the outlet said.

​​”NPR’s organizational accounts will no longer be active on Twitter because the platform is taking actions that undermine our credibility by falsely implying that we are not editorially independent,” NPR said in a statement Wednesday.

Twitter labeled NPR’s main account as “US state-affiliated media” last week. The “state-affiliated media” stamp is also used to identify media outlets run or heavily influenced by authoritarian governments, like in Russia or China.

Twitter policy defines its labeling of state-affiliated media accounts as outlets where “the state exercises control over editorial content through financial resources, direct or indirect political pressures, and/or control over production and distribution.”

The company later changed NPR’s label to “government-funded media,” a stamp that has since remained. At least one other public news organization, the BBC, has the same label.

Twitter defines “government-funded media” accounts as “outlets where the government provides some or all of the outlet’s funding and may have varying degrees of government involvement over editorial content.”

On Wednesday, after NPR’s announcement, the GOP’s House Judiciary Twitter account appeared to weigh in on the incident, saying “Defund NPR” in a Tweet.

NPR does not receive direct federal funds, but it receives some government funding through grants from federal agencies and departments. The company said those funds account for less than 1% of their annual operating budget.

In a farewell tweet, NPR suggested people subscribe to its “Up First” newsletter, download the NPR app and enable mobile push alerts.

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(NEW YORK) — Several attorneys general announced a new $462 million settlement from e-cigarette manufacturer JUUL Labs on Wednesday.

The settlement is the largest multistate settlement which includes the most “stringent restrictions on the company’s marketing and sales to protect and to prevent minors from vaping,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said during a press conference.

James added “JUUL’s lies lead to a nationwide public health crisis and put addictive products in the hands of minors who thought they were doing something harmless,” James said at the press conference alongside attorneys general for Washington, D.C., California, Illinois and Massachusetts. Two other states, Colorado and New Mexico, are also recipients of the funds from the settlement.

“There is no doubt that JUUL played a central role in the youth vaping epidemic. Today, Juul is paying for the widespread harm it caused and will undergo severe restrictions on its marketing and sales practice,” James continued.

JUUL’s decision to target underaged students was widespread, the attorneys general said on Wednesday. In New York, James alleged that the e-cigarette company targeted middle and high school students in New York using “colorful ads featuring young models and flashing parties in New York City and the Hamptons, all while downplaying the harmful effects of vaping.”

D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb claimed JUUL’s “online verification systems were riddled with flaws and loopholes that allow kids of any age to purchase the products it knew but did not care,” and Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Cambell said JUUL’s “targeting of young people rolled back decades of progress in combating underage tobacco and nicotine use and has led to a nationwide public health crisis for young people all across this country.”

Juul said the settlement marks nearly “total resolution of the company’s historical legal challenges.”

“With this settlement, we are nearing total resolution of the company’s historical legal challenges and securing certainty for our future. We have now settled with 47 states and territories, providing over $1 billion to participating states, in addition to our global resolution of the U.S. private litigation. Since our company-wide reset in the fall of 2019, underage use of JUUL products has declined by 95% based on the National Youth Tobacco Survey,” a spokesperson for JUUL told ABC News.

“Now we are positioned to dedicate even greater focus on our path forward to maximize the value and impact of our product technology and scientific foundation,” the spokesperson continued, noting its priorities are “to secure authorization of our PMTAs based on the science and lead the category with innovation to accelerate our mission and advance tobacco harm reduction for over 31 million adult smokers in the U.S. and over 1 billion adult smokers worldwide.”

In D.C., JUUL’s $15.2 million settlement is the largest litigated settlement negotiated under the Consumer Protection Procedures Act, according to Schwalb. At least half of the settlement from Juul, which “marketed nicotine products to District youth and misled District consumers about the product’s highly-addictive qualities,” will be aimed at mitigating public health damages that JUUL caused, the attorney general says. Under the agreement, “JUUL must abide by strict advertising restrictions that prevent it from engaging in harmful marketing practices in the future.”

Many of the funds acquired in the settlement will be aimed at education to lessen the effect of JUUL’s vaping in the next generation. James told ABC News that her state’s $112 million will be used to “help government agencies and educational organizations to prevent young vaping to support community and school based anti vaping programs to help individuals quit vaping to help localities and counties enforce vaping laws and regulations and monitor and research efforts to read to reduce vaping.”

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(NEW YORK) — Consumer prices rose 5% last month compared to a year ago, extending a months-long slowdown of price increases as the Federal Reserve aims to bring inflation down to normal levels without pushing the U.S. into a recession, government data on Wednesday showed.

The fresh data showed the lowest year-over-year inflation rate since May 2021.

In February, year-over-year inflation was 6%. The data released on Wednesday marked the ninth consecutive month of smaller price hikes.

Prices showed a monthly gain of 0.1%, complicating a smooth downward path to normal price levels.

Despite an overall cooling of inflation, price hikes for some grocery store staples remain well above the average rate.

The price of flour jumped more than 17% over the past year, while the cost of eggs spiked 36% over that time, government data showed.

Since last year, the cost of margarine has leapt 33% and prices for cookies have surged more than 16%.

Some prices, however, have fallen over the past year, offering some relief for buyers.

Gas prices dropped 17% over the past year, government data showed, while television prices fell 14% over the period.

The data release arrives less than a month after the Federal Reserve imposed the latest in an aggressive string of borrowing cost increases, despite concern that previous rate increases helped trigger the nation’s banking crisis.

Inflation has fallen significantly from a summer peak, though it remains more than double the Fed’s target of 2%.

The rapid rise in interest rates, however, tanked the value of bonds held by Silicon Valley Bank, precipitating its failure and cascading damage for the financial sector.

With an aggressive string of rate hikes last seen in the 1980s, the Fed aims to slash price hikes by slowing the economy and choking off demand. The approach, however, risks tipping the U.S. economy into a recession.

Mounting evidence suggests rate hikes have slowed economic activity.

Nearly 190 banks are at risk of collapse amid high interest rates and declining asset values, according to a study released by a team of university researchers last month.

Meanwhile, the U.S. added 236,000 jobs in March, which marks robust job growth but a reduction from an average of 334,000 jobs added each month over the previous six months, according to government data released on Friday.

The International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday that it expects the U.S. economy to expand by 1.6% this year, which would prove a slowdown from 2.1% growth in gross domestic product last year.

Still, some key areas of the economy have proven resilient, despite the rate hikes.

Existing-home sales spiked 14.5% in February, ending a 12-month streak of declines and recording the largest monthly percentage increases in nearly two years, National Association of Realtors data showed.

Meanwhile, U.S. retail sales fell moderately in February but remained solid, suggesting that households still retain some pandemic-era savings.

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(NEW YORK) — Investors and consumers on Wednesday will closely watch the release of fresh inflation data, which will show whether price increases continued a months-long slowdown in March.

The data release arrives less than a month after the Federal Reserve imposed the latest in a string of borrowing cost increases, despite concern that previous rate increases helped trigger the nation’s banking crisis.

Consumer prices rose 6% in February compared to a year ago, marking the eighth consecutive month of smaller price hikes, government data showed.

Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expect consumer prices to have risen 5.1% in March compared to a year ago, which would mark the lowest reading in almost two years.

However, the economists also forecast that consumer prices will show a monthly gain of 0.4%, complicating a smooth downward path to normal price levels.

Inflation has fallen significantly from a summer peak, though it remains triple the Fed’s target of 2%.

The rapid rise in interest rates, however, tanked the value of bonds held by Silicon Valley Bank, precipitating its failure and cascading damage for the financial sector.

With an aggressive string of rate hikes last seen in the 1980s, the Fed aims to slash price hikes by slowing the economy and choking off demand. The approach, however, risks tipping the U.S. economy into a recession.

Mounting evidence suggests rate hikes have slowed the economy.

Nearly 190 banks are at risk of collapse amid high interest rates and declining asset values, according to a study released by a team of university researchers last month.

Meanwhile, the U.S. added 236,000 jobs in March, which marks robust job growth but a reduction from an average of 334,000 jobs added each month over the previous six months, according to government data released on Friday.

The International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday that it expects the U.S. economy to expand by 1.6% this year, which would prove a slowdown from 2.1% growth in gross domestic product last year.

Still, some key areas of the economy have proven resilient, despite the rate hikes.

Existing-home sales spiked 14.5% in February, ending a 12-month streak of declines and recording the largest monthly percentage increases in nearly two years, National Association of Realtors data showed.

Meanwhile, U.S. retail sales fell moderately in February but remained solid, suggesting that households still retain some pandemic-era savings.

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(NEW YORK) — A New Jersey mom is speaking out after she claims United Airlines staff refused to accommodate her son’s “life-threatening” peanut allergy during a recent flight.

Lianne Mandelbaum said she, her husband and their son Josh were traveling home on March 13 from Texas, where they had been visiting a college, when she said she approached a flight attendant to notify them of her son’s allergy.

“I went up to speak to the flight attendant and I said, ‘My son has a life-threatening peanut allergy. I would appreciate it if you could just tell the surrounding rows to be careful,'” the mom of three recalled to ABC News’ Good Morning America.

Mandelbaum, who also runs the food allergy advocacy nonprofit No Nut Traveler, said she’d made similar requests before. During their initial flight to Texas a couple of days earlier, she had a positive experience, which she shared on Twitter, with other United staffers who accommodated her request to alert neighboring passengers of Josh’s allergy.

“I wasn’t expecting any pushback on the flight on the way home. In fact, I was approaching it with a very optimistic view and the opposite happened,” Mandelbaum said.

Instead of addressing her concern and request, Mandelbaum claimed another United staffer, who she said stated they were a supervisor, allegedly summoned her before the flight takeoff and responded rudely.

“I went to go pull up [United’s] policy on my phone and she literally put her hand in my face like this and got close and she goes, ‘I don’t care what you’re going to say or what you’re going to show me. I’m telling you, this is not going to happen on this plane. So what are you going to do about it now?’ And at that point, I really did feel threatened that she was going to kick me off,” Mandelbaum claimed.

She said she and her son felt embarrassed and her son asked her to let the request go after she returned to her seat, but the alleged experience stayed with her and prompted her to pay for Wi-Fi on board and tweet about it after the flight took off.

When contacted by GMA, United said it is “looking into this incident” and shared its allergy policy, which is also posted on its website. The policy states that the airline “is committed to the safety of its customers, including customers with major food allergies” and does not serve peanuts on flights but may serve food that could include allergens.

United also says in its policy that it cannot guarantee an “allergen-free” environment or prohibit passengers from eating food brought onboard that can contain allergens like peanuts, but that customers can request “an allergy buffer zone” that includes notifying other passengers “seated nearby to refrain from eating any allergen-containing products they may have brought on board.”

Following her flight, Mandelbaum filed an official U.S. Department of Transportation complaint against United on March 20 with her attorney Mary C. Vargas. The complaint, a copy of which GMA was able to obtain, claims Mandelbaum “was subjected to denial of accommodation, humiliation, retaliation, and intimidation because she disclosed her son’s food allergies and requested accommodation” and alleges United violated the Air Carrier Access Act and Airline Passengers with Disabilities Bill of Rights.

Mandelbaum’s complaint also claims her alleged experience and others like it suggest “a pattern or practice of discriminatory treatment of passengers with food allergies and those who advocate on their behalf.” She is seeking a finding that United violated disability discrimination laws, a fine and mandatory training for employees.

GMA also obtained a copy of the response that United filed after Mandelbaum’s complaint, which acknowledged in part that Mandelbaum spoke with at least two United staffers and “requested that other passengers be informed that her son had a peanut allergy.” The airline, in its response, has disputed some of the alleged facts and “denies that the Mandelbaum family was subjected to ‘discriminatory treatment’ or that there is a ‘pattern or practice of discriminatory treatment of passengers with food allergies and those who advocate on their behalf.'”

Since opening up about her varying experiences while flying with her son on United, Mandelbaum said she has received some online threats and negative feedback, including one message that called her a “selfish person.” She said the dismissive responses haven’t deterred her from opening up, adding that experiences like this one have fueled her advocacy work for the last decade.

“I’m trying to model for [my son] so that when he is an adult flying without us and going back and forth to college, that he models my behavior and he asks for things that are going to keep him safe. There’s no reason why his food allergy should stand in the way of him achieving any of his goals,” Mandelbaum said.

“Despite what people say on social media, it’s not really suffering to go without your favorite snack for a couple hours or just be careful around someone who’s asked you politely. I mean, what kind of world are we living in where we can’t help someone that has a different health risk than we do? It’s just, it’s really upsetting,” she added.

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(NEW YORK) — A staple in many American kitchens could soon be coming to an end.

Tupperware, which has been in American homes for more than 75 years, is now saying it could soon go out of business.

The news sent stock prices plummeting nearly 50% on Monday.

Analysts say the brand has struggled to connect with younger consumers.

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