In Buds case, they fired the executives in charge of the snafu and issued apologies.
And Target, although being one of the earliest gender neutral bathroom pushers, listened to its market and pulled specific offensive products. There is backlash here of course, and I’m willing to bet balance sheets we will never see will determine where they ultimately land on the issue.
I’m kinda glad that I’m a work with my hands type guy now. Totally not cut out for management/executive type stuff.
I’m pretty sure they haven’t fired anyone, the marketing executives are on paid leave. They didn’t apologize, they were more like “Remember 9-11? Here are some Clydesdales.” I don’t know what sort of damage control would have saved them, but I think that window has closed.
Technically a leave of absence but replaced by another guy from Budweiser. He will be fired. I’m willing to bet he’s in limbo until the hubbub dies because it will ignite the LGBTQxyzsdfhjeid crowd again and continue the controversy.
They should’ve moved on to Clydesdales without any peep at all, and made an internal note on limiting returns in the trans market.
It was a young woman advertising exec who lied about this issue publically, claiming (paraphrasing here) that Bud Light was a dying brand and she was saving it by remaking their “frat boy image.” I believe this threw gasoline on the fire. Last I heard, she is on paid leave.
Agree. It seems responding is the worst thing to do with this type of stuff.
I am not someone who makes marketing decisions, but it just seems foolish to do any sort of social campaign as a company in the first place. Even if you don’t get backlash, I’d think most people recognize it as pandering. The LGBTQ folks are going to shop at Target regardless. They don’t need an inclusion campaign. Advertising light beer seems straight forward. Have a commercial of attractive people drinking it at a social event, or get a popular celebrity to make it cool.
It seems a lot of companies feel they need to do some sort of diversity inclusion campaign. I think that is an error for the most part.
And this is why the woke are winning. The college grads who go into positions that have the potential to exert social influence have been infected by wokeness.
They definitely forgot their market research. To be fair though, gay people drink too.
I don’t know if I buy the big trans agenda pushing conspiracy. More than likely they saw an opportunity to market their product to a market segment and did so.
It’s not like they showcased Dylan on cups of beer sold at a NASCAR race.
I wonder if people realize gays also eat breakfast and wear Hanes undershirts. I tend to lean pretty conservative, and have strong opinions about trans shit in elementary schools, but how ridiculous would it be to start skipping breakfast not because you want to try intermittent fasting, but because transvestites eat breakfast too, and goddammit you’re not giving in to their agenda!
I mean shit, if people have been drinking this gay beer and loving it to the point it became a part of their self-image this whole time…
The whole thing is really very silly, and likely why BL did not accurately forecast impact.
Bud needs to pull out all the stops.
Clydesdales doing big manly shit like kicking footballs and quarrying granite with a thunderstorm raging and a rescue helicopter drifts ghostlike through the background. Wholesome but buxome woman stares worryingly out the window.
Soundtrack:
The storm subsides. The rocks are safe. The sun comes out and the Clydesdale returns home to his loving wife.
“Bud Light, cuz thats some manly fuckin stuff.”.
Not sure if this is just a “woke” thing. Seems like elitist contempt for the working class, which is probably as old civilization.
The gay marketing has been around for years. I don’t think the recent pushback is just because companies are advertising to 5% of the population. The trans stuff and marketing to children seem to be the line in the sand.
A rainbow can once a year vs selling female bathing suits to young boys so they can hide their dicks arent the same. People see the difference.
I think you have laid out the only way forward for Bud Light.
The irony is that socialism was about the working class but these woke “socialists” hate the working class.
You know what they need if they want to reinvigorate the spirit of 'Merica through drinking?
The Highwaymen.
Don’t let them die in vain America. Drink bud light.
(Actually ove that song, please don’t make it gay.)
The issue is brand identity. Bud Light has always positioned itself as a blue collar, working man’s beer. And their core market goes right along with it, but now there’s a tranny at the lunch table and they have to let everyone know how completely NOT gay they are.
They don’t care (anymore) if a logo turns rainbow one month out of the year online, but a tranny on a bud light beer can is a little too close for comfort.
Just when I thought you’d laid out everything, you surprise me with an obvious necessity I had not previously even considered.
It’s not that. It’s the obvious pandering and the fact that they chose a spokesperson who doesn’t drink Bud or beer in general. Add to that this particular person is annoying and comes off as a caricature of a woman.
She was celebrating her first year of womanhood. What? Did she have her period? Is she going on the pill? Is she thinking about giving birth one day? There are women who want to get pregnant but cannot. She cannot get pregnant as well but she will never understand how biological women who can’t get pregnant feel.
She makes a mockery of the female experience. If she’s happy with her choices, fine, life is short and how she wants to get through it is her business but, the reality is she will be always be a woman with an asterisk.
I 100% agree with your assessment of transvestites in general, but in the case of tanking bud light sales, it is an overly done pushback. No sharing the water fountain.
These guys with bud light tattoos, hats, bumper stickers et cetera have a lot to prove now. They realize they’ve been drinking gay beer the whole time, but instead of finding a good beer they want to kick the tranny out of the circle. Exactly why BL should’ve just let the hubbub die instead of feeding in. Hopefully Miller Lite is an easy cover tattoo meanwhile.
I doubt they care who else drinks Bud. You think if they see a gay dude driving a pickup or using a hammer they are going to give up their trucks and tools?
No, he will always be a dude with XY chromosomes.
Cutting off his dick and twisting it inside out, wearing makeup, and pretending to be a woman doesn’t make him a woman even with an asterisk.
I don’t wish any harm to any trans people or anyone, but their delusions don’t need to be fed.