Bud Light is trapped in a hell of its own making

Anheuser-Bush executives have trapped themselves in a corporate hell of their own making, and it is difficult not to enjoy the schadenfreude. The company was stripped of its LGBTQ+ rating from the Human Rights Campaign after wavering ever so slightly in its support for the trans agenda. The Corporate Equality Index, on which Anheuser-Busch had previously scored a perfect 100, is used to blackmail corporations into compliance with the latest progressive political agenda.

With sales plummeting almost 25% since the company embraced Dylan Mulvaney as a spokesperson, executives find themselves trapped between a boycott from their core market on one side and a woke social revolution on the other.

Bud Light has appealed to red America for decades by billing itself as the beer of the working man. There is a reason that the beverage is regularly called out by name in country songs; this has been the demographic Anheuser-Busch has always seen as its market. But red America is quickly becoming an unacceptable crowd to cater to. The heartland is filled with wrong kind of people, the ones who might attend church, vote Republican, and oppose the mutilation of their children. White, straight Christian males are the most unclean of all the common folk, and having them as the core of your customer base is seen as deeply shameful.

Previously, corporations were willing to hold their noses and sell beer to the plebs, even though they hated them, because it made their shareholders rich. But now the purchasing power of red America is waning, as the middle class is intentionally eroded and the culture war turns them into untouchables. So, like many corporations that used to farm conservatives for cash while despising them, Bud Light saw the writing on the wall and knew it needed to shift its appeal, so executives tried to shape the social norms of their current audience while appealing to a more culturally desirable one.

To the surprise of many, however, events took an unexpected turn. For decades, red America has been pretty easy to manipulate and push toward progressive norms, giving ground at almost every opportunity. But conservatives have suddenly found their spine when it comes to the issue of radical gender ideology, especially when it is pushed onto children.

I would like to believe that the ensuing boycott was related to the fact that the Dylan Mulvaney campaign came on the heels of a transgenderist shooter murdering children at a Christian school, but that might not be what actually resonated with the average Bud Light drinker. It may have simply been the understandable disgust of seeing a twisted caricature of a woman plastered on the familiar light blue beer can.

Either way, a boycott should be no big deal; red America is notorious for declaring boycotts that have no effect and are quickly abandoned. When I was a child, I distinctly remember conservatives declaring boycotts against companies like Disney and Johnson & Johnson for their attack on traditional values, but they came and went with no substantive consequences. This time, however, the boycott stuck and has done serious damage to Anheuser-Busch’s bottom line, sending their executives into a panic.

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