## 5 Discussion and Hypotheses
Dairy farmers and industry representatives echoed this point: \"whenever he gets involved, dairy farmers look at it with a pinch of salt because his opinion or research always seems to be slanted against us\" ([PERSON], interview). The fact that #buttergate originated from someone with a history of antagonism with the dairy industry allowed the industry to collectively roll its eyes and dismiss some of [PERSON] claims. Thus, in addition to the networks of digital activists, their relationship with industry targets is another variable that may condition the nature of industry's response. **H2. **: _Digital activism that targets traditional media in addition to social media can gain more attention and be more likely to elicit a response from industry._  
#Buttergate offers new insight into the relevance of traditional media to digital activists. The case lends credence to the idea that activism that gets covered by traditional media is more likely to garner a response from industry [38; 39]. Notwithstanding the decoupling of industry reputation from media coverage in recent years [27], industries retain a strong impetus to respond to negative media coverage. #Buttergate also demonstrates that the relationship between traditional media and digital activism is more bidirectional than previously conceptualized. Past research has positioned traditional media primarily as an amplifier of digital activism [56]. By mentioning specific hashtags, traditional media can bring a cause to a broader audience in a way that plays a role in agenda-setting [21]. Yet the empirical data in this case suggest that the reverse is also true. Social media play a key role in amplifying stories from traditional media. The Twitter data suggest that #buttergate became a social media phenomenon only _after_ stories began to run in traditional media outlets (see Figure 2). The hashtag #buttergate was first used on 24 January. On 5 February, the Canadian food writer received hundreds of comments on her first tweet on the topic, but, outside of comments on this tweet, there  
Figure 1: Contributors to #buttergate by number of followers. was very little activity on Twitter. On 12 February 2021, one week after the Canadian food writer's initial tweet, there were only 32 tweets containing the hashtag #buttergate. Then, the topic hit the national press through articles by Prof. [PERSON] and the Canadian food writer in the _Journal de Montreal_ and _The Globe and Mail_ on Feb. 15, 20, and 21 st. By 25 February, following broad North American media coverage, the number of tweets containing #buttergate shot up to 645 tweets. The topic then moved into international non-English media through coverage in _Le Monde_ on 5 March. Social media activity subsequently reached its apex on 9 March with 1068 tweets. The importance of traditional media is further borne out by the responses from interviewees. The majority of those interviewed mention that they first learned about #buttergate through stories in the print media, mostly one of the two op-eds in _The Globe and Mail_. This reflects a deliberate strategy by digital activists involved in the campaign to leverage traditional media. As Prof. [PERSON] observes: \"If you want a story to explode, you give it to _Le Journal de Montreal_. And that's what happened\" ([PERSON], interview). Greenpeace similarly aimed for coverage in traditional media in its campaigns:  
\"Greenpeace is not a digital activism organization insofar as that's not all we do. When we design campaigns and tactics we don't design them to be centred on that...we always have a number of different tactics if we're taking a campaign seriously. Journalistic media--stories--are still a really critical part of that\" (Greenpeace Campaigner, interview). Taken together, the extant literature and #buttergate data suggest the continued importance of traditional media for the influence of digital activism.