Sharpie markers surge in popularity after Trump’s Hurricane Dorian map

The company that makes Sharpie markers saw a boost after President Trump displayed a map that went viral showing Hurricane Dorian’s original path apparently altered with a black marker to include Alabama.

The official Twitter account for Sharpie, which is owned by Newell Brands, has gained about 700 followers since Wednesday, according to Social Blade. The increase is significant for the page, which had reportedly lost 172 followers over the past month.

{mosads}The surge in followers for the page, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, came hours after Trump set social media ablaze after he displayed a map during a briefing that appeared to be manually altered with a marker to show Hurricane Dorian’s trajectory extending into Alabama.

It wasn’t long after the White House released footage of the Oval Office briefing that reporters and observers on social media took note of the apparent marker-drawn addition.

By Thursday afternoon, Democrats and other Trump critics had taken to social media to knock the president over the viral moment with memes and hashtags like #SharpieGate, #TrumpSharpie and #SharpiePresident.

The viral moment on Wednesday came days after Trump claimed on Twitter that Alabama and Georgia “will most likely be hit (much) harder than anticipated” by the hurricane, which the National Weather Service said was not the case.

The president on Thursday doubled down on his assertion.

In a series of tweets, Trump insisted on Twitter that “certain models strongly suggested” Alabama and Georgia would be hit by the hurricane and that what he “said was accurate!”

The president also took criticism from meteorologists over his Alabama remarks.