Backlash Against Corporate Social Activism

Burgeoning numbers of companies are bombarding consumers with social issues in business and product advertising. But one company, Anheuser-Busch InBev, waded too far, triggering a rebellion that has damaged the brand, torpedoed sales and torched millions of dollars in shareholder value.

The Belgian-based firm's Bud Light marketing vice president  unveiled a tribute to Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender "influencer" who was invited to the White House by President Biden. Not only did Bud Light tout Mulvaney's transition, but the ad guru preceded to bash its customer base.

The veep insulted Bud Light's top consumers, calling them too "fratty," an apparent reference to beer swilling males. The marketing veep gushed that attracting transgender males would expand the customer base, boosting sales.  The decision may go down as the greatest marketing blunder ever.

Compared to last year, retail sales of Bud Light nosedived 25% in the week ending May 13,  That surpassed the 23.3% slump in April. Anheuser-Busch InBev shares plunged 5%, leading to a loss of $6 billion in market value.  Several financial analysts downgraded the stock as sales skidded.

Anheuser is in full retreat. The V-P marketing is on leave as is her boss.   Executives are labeling the Mulvaney linkage "just one influencer, one post and not an ad." Bigwigs all the way to the top of the corporate ladder are making like Pontius Pilate, washing their hands of this smelly muck. 

In a retrenchment, A-B is wrapping itself in the flag.  The company is set to launch a line of camouflage aluminum bottles that promotes the "Folds of Honor" program, which provides scholarships for families of fallen and disabled military service members and first responders.  

For good measure, another A-B brand, Budweiser, is planning a launch of limited edition beer cans featuring images inspired by motorcycle manufacturer Harley-Davidson.  The LGBTQ activists are now threatening their own boycott of the firm for backing away from Mulvaney.  

The usual media suspects--NPR, The New York Times, Washington Post and LA Times--are serving up baloney calling out current Bud Light drinkers for being trans-phobic.  The media echo chamber pompously downplays the loss of market share as trivial to discourage product boycotters.

You could surmise the Bud Light kerfuffle might dissuade other consumer firms from embracing social issues.  Never underestimate corporate herd mentality.  Within weeks, Adidas debuted a transgender model posing in a women's bathing suit. There is a noticeable bulge in the crotch area.

The reaction has been swift among women who are increasingly angered by what they view as misogyny.  Transgender males are increasingly usurping female roles. Why deliberately alienate the people who buy your product?  Sound marketing has been scrapped for social issue signaling.

This is clearly not about sales. Transgenders are not a large, lucrative market. A Pew Research poll conducted in May, 2022, found that 0.6% of American adults are transgender. That is not a typo: 0.6%. Including non-binary adults inches the needle to 1.6%.

These firms are appealing to those who embrace the transgender ideology. Many are being cajoled by big investment firms such as BlackRock, State Street and Vanguard. Others are influenced by activist groups whose clout exceeds the number of members.  

In other cases, a corporation's employees  are increasingly goading leadership into supporting a social cause.  When the Florida legislature passed a bill prohibiting teaching sexual orientation and gender identity to elementary children, employees within Disney insisted the firm take a public stance.

Disney management acquiesced and stirred up a political hornet's nest.  An acrimonious war-of-words has ignited an ongoing feud between Disney and the state's Governor Ron DeSantis and the Republican legislature.  In the process, Disney has lost some of its family entertainment sheen.

Corporate political interference is nothing new.  A case in point: The CEO's of Delta Airlines and Coca-Cola, both based in Atlanta, voiced strong opposition a Georgia voting law in 2021, Despite the corporate pressure, the Republican Gov. Brian Kemp signed it into law.

Allegations of the law's effort to suppress voting proved to be patently false when Georgians turned out in record numbers to vote in the 2022 midterm elections.  Don't expect Coca-Cola or Delta Airlines to issue a mea culpa.  Corporate cowards never admit they were wrong.

Not too long ago corporate America was assiduously apolitical. Businesses lobbied state legislatures, Washington's politicians and local officials, often outside the public's view.  Corporate advertising was reserved for selling products or buttressing the firm's image with its customers.

The larger the firm today the more likely it will be fronting social and political issues.  CEO's feel insulated because few customers ever complain and boycotts have proven short-lived.  However, the Bud Light episode may serve as a red flag that the tide may be turning, if only slowly.

That would be a refreshing development for our democracy. Unelected corporations today carry as much clout as political parties to advance social and political positions.  Consumers hold the power to vote with their dollars against corporate influence. Now they need to use it.    

Opinion: America's Alarming Surge in Bad Behavior

What has happened to civility?  Fisticuffs erupt on airline flights. Rowdy fans are booted from sporting arenas. Road rage turns violent. Classroom scuffles are no longer rare. Office behavior ruffles workers. Online bullying spirals out of control.  Americans are seemingly seething with anger.

As personal conduct has cratered, the establishment blames our political divisions.  Stop and think.  America's politics are a reflection of its voters.  Not the other way around.  American history its replete with political nastiness.  What's changed is the behavior of its citizens.  

Another convenient scapegoat is the pandemic.  Social scientists claim Americans were cooped up so long that it was inevitable that once we emerged from our masked cocoon we would forget our manners. This theory hardly explains the rudeness that pervades our society.

While we are dismissing excuses, quit faulting the frenetic pace of everyday living.  Give me a break. Americans have never earned more, acquired more, spent more, traveled more, felt more entitled and indulged themselves more.  Somehow we believe that previous generations never faced a lick of stress.  

So let's dispense with any justification for incivility.  There is no legitimate reason for disrespectful, aggressive, harassing behavior.  At this point, you might be thinking, "Oh come on, some people have always acted up."  You're right.  But it has become all too common and too widespread.

When a flight attendant gets two teeth knocked out by a furious passenger, that does not reflect behavior even a decade ago.  The Federal Aviation Administration documents that complaints about airline passenger misbehavior is at an all time high.  And it's not improving. 

Just a few weeks ago, a grown man yelled and threatened flight attendants because a baby was crying.  Who gets enraged by an infant that cannot be soothed to your personal expectations?  An angry individual.  One who feels entitled to a flight cabin devoid of humans or at least little colicky ones.

Fan behavior at indoor and outdoor sporting events is turning uglier every day.  People, almost exclusively men, spit on players, throw water bottle missiles at their heads or dump a beer on an unwary player.  Assault and battery charges are a part of an increasing number of games.

Even company offices have evolved into dens of incivility.  A Harvard study conducted over the past 14 years has documented a steady rise in disrespect.  A total of 98% of workers reported experiencing harassment, rudeness, bullying and crude interactions.  The work culture is toxic.

In a strange dichotomy, a recent survey found 62.3% of workers report they are satisfied with their jobs.  Go figure.

Even neighbors get into ugly fights that escalate into violence. A San Antonio man accidentally dumped tree limbs in a neighbor's yard. A argument ensued and ended with a neighbor being stabbed.  Once neighborhoods were safe harbors.  Now ordinary disagreements detonate conflict.  

By comparison, neighborhoods are less intimidating than schools.  A recent report in Education Week counted more than 200,000 assaults by students against teachers in a two-year period.  In the most recent, a middle schooler cursed and attacked his teacher after she confiscated his cell phone.  

These are not isolated incidences.  Such outbursts have been reported in schools across America.  When youngsters feel emboldened to assault their teachers, there should be unholy outrage.  It is an indictment of parenting and schools.

And college age students are not much better behaved.  Speakers on campuses are hectored, shouted down and cursed for expressing viewpoints they consider offensive to their tender sensibilities. What's mystifying is this behavior is tolerated by administrations, which just invites more outrage.

Some experts link these spike in incivility at schools to the sewage known as social media.  Study after study has for years documented the aggressive, disrespectful behavior and harassment on Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and Instagram.  Youngsters rancor toward others online feeds anger offline.

Road rage has reached epidemic proportions.  The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety released data that 80% of drivers "expressed significant anger, aggression or road rage" at least once during the previous 30 days. Road rages deaths have doubled in the last four years. What's fueling the rage?

Pent up fury is unleashed daily as human beings kill other humans. The media focuses on the instruments of death, failing to consider what roils a person to end the life of another.  More often than not irrational hatred, resentment and revenge motivate the slaughter of innocents, including children.

It is evil by any other name.  Yet society and the media sometimes paint the killers as victims.    

Why doesn't society care more about this simmering violent temperament that percolates the lives of many Americans?  It is a question that goes begging for answers and analysis.  We can't keep blaming mental illness for every killing.  What triggers a "normal" person to murder another?  

The root cause for these madness is elusive and complex.  There is no simple answer.  But one thing is certain, there is no longer a fear of punishment.  Young people and adults appear to be oblivious to the consequences of their actions.  The perpetrators act first without regard for the ramifications.

We live in an era when shared values are tearing asunder.  Society preaches personal values with no norm.  Individualism trumps common societal behavioral expectations. Another person's values are of no concern to an increasing number of Americans. They consider their values more righteous.  

Likewise, society renounces morality as a personal compass.  Our secular world rejects moral guideposts because it suggests a religion or a God controls our lives.  In fact, it is considered immoral to impose any morals on anyone. We each decide for ourselves what is moral and what is not.

Whatever your view on causes, we cannot ignore the alarm bells that our society is descending into chaos.  America can no longer dismiss worsening civility as some phase that will pass.  We need a national conversation about the breakdown of civility.  It it has to start with us.