If you, like I, am stuck in the echo chamber of Twitter, you’ve probably noticed that #BoycottWoolworths is trending.

At first, I thought they might’ve unleashed a new range of Ooshies that sent the general public into a tailspin. Unfortunately, it’s a bit more sinister.

In a controversial move, the supermarket monolith has collaborated with the Rupert Murdoch-owned News Corp on a new campaign aimed to highlight those who have stepped up to the plate in 2020.

“We are proud to partner with News Corp to celebrate the human stories of 2020 with Thanks A Million, and I encourage you to nominate the people who you think deserve to be thanked,” Woolworths Group CEO Brad Banducci said in a Linkedin post.

“The Thanks a Million program has been developed to thank everyone who has gone the extra mile – be it in response to the bushfires, Covid 19 and other events which have made this such a challenging year.”

Woolworths partnering with News Corp on an initiative set to congratulate those that were both on the bushfire and coronavirus frontline is a parody that an adderall-fuelled SNL writers room couldn’t dream up. Murdoch-backed media is guilty of treacherously denying the climate crisis and playing down the coronavirus pandemic.

For two weeks in late February and early March, Fox News hosts repeatedly played down the threat of coronavirus, chalking it up to a Democratic plot against President Donald Trump.

Fox News repeatedly spread misinformation that coronavirus was nothing to fear, no more dangerous than the flu, or “a hoax” that was being used to “bludgeon Trump”, in host Shaun Hannity’s words.

Fox’s most devoted viewers are a median age of 65 — those at a greater risk of more serious illness and fatality from the virus. It is not far-fetched to consider that the flagrantly irresponsible dissemination of misinformation about the virus may have cost lives.

There was also their unforgivable coverage of Australia’s worst-ever bushfire season. Which saw News Corp vehemently deny the link between extreme weather catastrophies and climate change.

Murdoch-owned publication The Australian, has published articles claiming that climate change was “not the era’s burning issue,” its also published articles arguing that climate change activists were “global catastrophists” and part of a “socialist plot,”

The punch-line to this saga is that Woolworths unveiled its latest campaign on the final day of Kevin Rudd’s petition to launch a Royal Commission into the Murdoch media. A petition that has amassed a historic half a million signatures.

“Murdoch has become a cancer – an arrogant cancer on our democracy,” Rudd, said when he launched the petition last month.

The Woolworths campaign has incited significant backlash on social media, with the hashtag #boycottwoolworths trending on Twitter. Swathes of Australians have participated in the hashtag to express their disappointment in Woolworths for choosing to side with media parasite Murdoch.

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