Tomato Soup Temper Tantrums

graphic by Sarah Wong

Picture this: you walk into Ernie Davis for lunch one day to see a bunch of students throwing garlic bread on the floor, and yelling at everyone to boycott RateMyProfessors. Would you really consider that a great protest? We doubt it. 

But, believe it or not, a very similar scenario unfolded in the UK. Protestors from a climate activism group threw a can of tomato soup at Van Gogh’s famous “Sunflowers,” and proceeded to glue their hands to the wall to protest against the UK’s current climate policies. A few days later, a group of ‘animal cruelty’ activists dumped out cartons of milk in the middle of a Scotland grocery store to protest against the dairy industry. (And yes, you read all of that correctly). 

Both protests have received intense responses on social media, much of it more negative than positive – so let’s just say these protests were not giving what they were supposed to give. 

Obviously, we see the vision. And we don’t think the causes these activists are protesting for aren’t inherently bad. We get it – they were going for shock factor to catch people's attention, and to be fair, this kind of worked. But the protesters ended up getting arrested, the Van Gogh painting remained unharmed, and a bunch of poor grocery store part-timers were probably stuck with cleaning up all the souring milk on the ground. So did they really achieve anything all that meaningful? We don’t think so. At the very least, they certainly did spark a lot of discourse about the difference between an actual protest and a flashy act of rebellion. Unfortunately, we just think these two protests fit into the latter category. 

SU also has a history of pretty outspoken protests with #NotAgainSU, and the Crouse-Hinds Hall occupation in 2020. That protest, however, was actually successful. Though it caused disruption, this disruption was very much needed and brought people together in solidarity – rather than just making a show of who can be louder. Those tomato soup and milk protesters can’t say the same. But at least they’ve demonstrated a great example of what not to do as a protest. Take notes, SU.