It’s Not Just Bud Light. How Companies Are Fighting Back Against the War Over ‘Woke.’ 4K

Bud Light is the latest casualty in a battle over whether companies are embracing too many progressive goals, from gender identity to climate change. A Bud Light is no longer just something you grab when you feel like a beer. A conservative outcry over Bud’s marketing campaign with a transgender activist has put the brand into the center of a culture war over so-called corporate wokeism.

To many people, Bud was simply getting with the times by embracing activist Dylan Mulvaney, recognizing LGBTQ consumers, and following the lead of brands such as Coca-Cola (ticker: KO), Nike (NKE), and Hershey (HSY). But the conservative backlash against Bud Light produced a 26% drop in beer sales in a week. Companies from BlackRock (BLK) to Walt Disney (DIS) are under siege as political attacks on progressive corporate policies heat up ahead of the 2024 elections. Some companies are fighting back—notably Disney—and there is scant evidence of firms retreating from environmental, social, and governance, or ESG, initiatives.

At the same time, conservative calls to boycott consumer brands and financial companies accused of corporate “wokeism” have gained momentum, and several Republican-led states have passed laws or rules penalizing companies they view as hostile to their economic or social interests.

Lets Discuss. Good move, useful? Ill-advised or a mistake of magnanimous proportions? I think we can all agree that justice is sound. The idea that socially we are one another responsible for the actions of the diluted few is as advertised, disastrous. Just sell me my shhh and let f*ck off in peace.