“Diversity” took a massive hit last week. And if angry Americans keep the heat on, woke companies might decide focusing on their customers is better for business than advancing the increasingly discredited fantasy of “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.”
The overwhelming backlash to Anheuser-Busch’s disastrous attempt to flout its corporate wokeness by putting a transgender’s image on Bud Light beer cans should be a loud-and-clear wakeup call to executives everywhere. Attempting to appear “inclusive” by celebrating the anniversary of transgender “influencer” Dylan Mulvaney’s purported conversion from male to female, Bud Light managed to alienate millions of once-loyal customers. The impact was immediate and stunning.
“ANHEUSER-BUSCH LOSES MORE THAN $6 BILLION IN MARKET VALUE FOLLOWING TRANSGENDER DYLAN MULVANEY BUD LIGHT DEAL,” screamed a breitbart.com headline. But the financial ripple effect was felt even more acutely by Bud Light distributors and local bar owners as sales plummeted. “…bars across the country are seeing customers avoid the brand,” according to Breitbart. “In one Missouri bar, sales of Bud Light and other Anheuser-Busch beverages have reportedly dropped by roughly 40 percent. A bar in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood—which has a high population of gays—reportedly saw Bud Light sales drop 70 percent.
“Another report found Anheuser-Busch distributors across America’s heartland and the South are being ‘spooked’ by public backlash to the Dylan Mulvaney campaign.”
In short order, the Breitbart.com story logged more than 9,000 comments, mostly from outraged beer drinkers, who clearly are fed up with moronic corporate wokeism. Companies catering to Silicon Valley and East Coast elites are accustomed to getting away with transparent virtue signaling and pandering. But this time, blatant “diversity” nonsense attacked blue-collar Middle Americans’ treasured brands. And millions are revolting big-time.
A sampling of reader comments is telling (edited to correct spelling, etc.):
Anheuser-Busch has no business dictating our cultural values, so why should we do business with them?
We’re not a nation of marginalized frat groupies, nor will most of us who used to drink Bud products descend into a cesspool of what was once called wanton (for want of stronger uncensored terms) behavior.
Bud’s marketing team wants to drive their covert presumption that we are a nation that applauds and endorses bizarre and destructive identity disorders, and if we don’t, we are to be herded and driven that way.
There are a couple of great craft breweries in my local area. They deserve my business. Bud Corp et al. just lost me.
The suicidal campaign to “honor” a minuscule segment of the American populace was the brainchild of Alissa Heinerscheid, who was appointed vice president of the Bud Light sector last July. Her bizarre, insulting response to the enormous customer backlash underscored her gross ignorance of the Bud Light customer base:
“What does evolve and elevate mean? It means inclusivity. It means shifting the tone. It means having a campaign that’s truly inclusive and feels lighter and brighter, and different. And appeals to women and to men. And representation is sort of the heart of evolution.”
“You gotta see people who reflect you in the work. And we have this hangover. I mean, Bud Light had been kind of a brand of fratty, kind of out-of-touch humor. And it was really important we had another approach,” she blathered.
Regardless of her academic credentials and oh-so-woke whining, Heinerscheid’s insults made her an instant social media lightning rod for outraged Bud Light drinkers. One angry reader gave a single-digit California salute to corporate political correctness, writing, “To be fair, the dumb broad who thought this was a good idea was only in charge of bud light [sic] marketing. Bear in mind that bud light [sic] doesn’t really require vast marketing because it’s ubiquitous. So the people in charge of hiring executive level employees thought they’d get a diversity hire out of the way and in a position where no critical thinker was needed.”
As “being Heinerscheided” becomes the new shorthand for “go woke and go broke,” chastened Anheuser-Busch execs are probably discussing whether to fire their clueless VP of Bud Light or hunker down and hope this whole flap will soon blow over. But they shouldn’t count on it. Millions of dedicated beer drinkers have already vowed never to go back to Bud Light or any other A-B brand. John Rich, country singer and owner of Redneck Riviera, a Nashville bar, neatly capsulized the dilemma now facing hundreds of “woke” companies. “The customers decide. Customers are king,” he told Fox News. Fans are finding it “hard to stay loyal” to woke brands and are spending their bucks elsewhere.
Another powerful giant is starting to awaken, as well: Company shareholders. Initially, few noticed that firms inside their IRAs and 401Ks were succumbing to overt threats and intimidation by the likes of Black Lives Matter, Antifa, and a smattering of other self-anointed “social-justice warriors”. But as share values tanked—thanks to customers and investors quietly abandoning “woke” businesses—retirees and hard-working Americans have started asking, “What the hell is going on here? Why are my investments and dividends steadily shrinking?” Financial advisors are scrambling to satisfy furious clients, who demand their nest eggs be invested only in companies that focus on business and shareholder value.
These investors are merely expressing a preference for financial performance rather than lofty, nonsensical virtue-signaling. They don’t give a whit whether a company employs the “right” balance of a certain race or gender. Most couldn’t care less that a company values diversity, equity, and inclusion or is reducing its carbon footprint to appear “socially just.” Instead, normal people see DEI as a one-way trip to their investments, “DIE-ing.”
Millions have come to realize DEI really stands for “Division, Exclusion and Indoctrination,” a Marxist scam antithetical to America’s foundation of individual freedom and personal responsibility. Consequently, consumers and shareholders are abandoning short-sighted, pandering companies in droves. A search for non-woke companies in which to invest will yield several ever-growing lists. For example, CD Media has its readers contributing to a “Freedom or Control” list of corporations. Unsurprisingly, Budweiser is in the column labeled “Wants to Control Your Life.”
Over the next few weeks, normal Americans should launch a full-scale revolt against wokeism, runaway political correctness, “preferred pronouns,” and irrational gender fluidity. Millions are finally awake and soundly rejecting Leftist insanity. It’s time for all Americans to be very offended and loudly sound off, screaming, “No more! Get out of our faces—and leave our kids alone!”
Mulvaney’s mug-on-a-can definitely enraged millions of beer-swigging, America-loving normals, driving yet another nail in the “woke” coffin. Thanks, Bud Light!