If the Occupy movement stands for any one thing, it’s making sure corporations can’t walk all over the little guy. Apparently, that even extends to a grocery store not wanting to pay someone who won a halftime contest at a college basketball game.
University of Kentucky freshman Vincent Swope was watching his Wildcats dominate South Carolina when he heard his name over the intercom. Make a half-court shot, he was told, and Kroger will give you $10,000. Amazingly, he nailed it.
But as Swope celebrated, a contest organizer approached him to say his foot was over the line, so Kroger might not pay.
That’s when Matt Jones, host of the popular podcast Kentucky Sports Radio, stepped in.
“Kroger is threatening to not give [Swope] his $10,000 because they say his toe was on the half-court line. If that happens, we riot,” Jones tweeted to his 37,000 followers.
He followed it up by tweeting: “everyone do one tweet that says #OccupyKroger and the message will be sent.”
The tag #occupykroger spiked to almost a thousand mentions in a few minutes. The movement even spread to a few fans in Ashland, KY, who tweeted a picture of themselves “Occupying” their local Kroger.
And it worked. Only 12 minutes later, Jones tweeted that he “just got call from an official Kroger spokesman who says they WILL pay.”
For his part, Swope tweeted that he’s scheduled to call Kroger today to claim the money.
Photo by @Snackdaddy_Swiz