Ordinary people are standing up to Target and Anheuser-Busch in their woke crusade. The old rules of marketing and advertising, with unidirectional and explicit messages, are no longer valid, especially if the theme is a controversial social issue, as in the case of gender ideology. Both brands were punished by their own customers. They experienced a brutal loss of revenue and lost millions of customers.
Both brands wanted to impose their views on transsexuality and the LGBT movement on their customers, as they have been doing until now, but the rules have changed. Until now, this type of campaign has provoked a wave of anger and rejection, mostly expressed on social media. However, this had no impact on the bottom line and companies even took advantage of it to increase the impact of their ads.
Wait another week and Anheuser-Busch will pay you to drink their beer.https://t.co/vwY9L2lpWW #FoxNews
— Scott Adams (@ScottAdamsSays) May 25, 2023
Attacks on workers and millions of dollars in losses
What these companies used to shrug off has since cost Anheuser-Busch more than $15.7 billion, and Target $10 billion, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. In addition, it has caused considerable damage to the brands' image. Truck drivers delivering Bud Light have reported attacks, insults and difficulties when it comes to distributing the product. 500 independent distributors have been hit hard by the boycott of the brand since it was promoted by trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
Target has also suffered the wrath of disgruntled customers and critics. In addition to insults and threats to workers, many people took videos inside stores while destroying the Pride displays. According to The Wall Street Journal, the company's CEO, Brian Cornell, sent an email to his employees thanking them for their work and apologizing for what they had to endure while supporting the LGBT community.
NEW: Anheuser-Busch loses their LGBTQ+ rating after missing out on an important “moment” to double down on their support of Dylan Mulvaney.
Yikes. Now Bud Light has lost support from their former target audience and their new target audience.
The company has turned to… pic.twitter.com/2igbfvAPoj
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) May 20, 2023
LGBT Community also revolts against both companies
These campaigns also brought to light another one of the main problems: it is never enough for the LGBT community. Community activists and even politicians like California Governor Gavin Newsom criticized the companies for bowing down to pressure from "extremists."
CEO of Target Brian Cornell selling out the LGBTQ+ community to extremists is a real profile in courage.
This isn’t just a couple stores in the South. There is a systematic attack on the gay community happening across the country.
Wake up America.
This doesn’t stop here.… https://t.co/1vRgukaT0g
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) May 24, 2023
