Jumping on a trending topic is all about timing. When coffee house giant Starbucks unveiled its cups for the holiday season there was an outcry from right-leaning customers. The cup was red but devoid of any traditional holiday imagery or sentiment. The backlash was swift and immediate, playing out on social media. In fact, other players in the coffee war, most notably Dunkin Donuts, quickly rolled out festive cups for the season.

And then there’s Breitbart News. The conservative online news purveyor was outraged that Starbucks would take a politically correct approach and scrub the religious aspect of the season from the cups. So it acted. Breitbart debuted a limited edition (3,500) red travel mug imprinted with a green Breitbart holiday logo and Merry Christmas. The promotion was a fundraiser for Wreaths Across America, an organization that raises funds to purchase wreaths to be placed on American veterans’ graves nationwide. The combination of the dig at Starbucks and the patriotic nature of the promotion proved to be not only timely, but successful. Breitbart sold out of the mugs in less than 24 hours, raising $14,000 for the organization.

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