Boycotts against Target and Bud Light are working thanks to a 'perfect storm' of social media and culture wars, experts say

I predict the culture wars cooling substantially once Trump gets his shit pushed in again next year. Deplorables will finally understand that nothing was stolen in 2020, that 2016 was a fluke, and that they aren't the majority.

Bonus points if DeSantis flames out big in the primary, seeing how he's staked everything on battling wokeness.

“Experts say” but they only quote one expert on the subject and the other one gives a vague gobbledegook answer about branding.

[quote]I predict the culture wars cooling substantially once Trump gets his shit pushed in again next year. Deplorables will finally understand that nothing was stolen in 2020, that 2016 was a fluke, and that they aren't the majority.

Unfortunately, there are too many state legislatures that are red that are capable of passing anti-LGBTQ legislation all on their own and they can do that with her Trump fails or not.

The article was interesting, and made me consider something I hadn’t. What happened to Bud Light was straight up transphobia, but we do know that there is an organized campaign that has been promoting pieces of legislation, with almost identical language that was written by a lobbying organization, and we know that lobbying organization’s name, and it was a concerted effort. It was super organized. So bud light was gonna lose no matter what. It might have worked in another year, but not this year.

But what I didn’t consider was that the pandemic created the perfect storm for this to happen. The same people that were refusing to wear masks, or were screaming at store employees over them, are the same people who are now boycotting and harassing employees at target. And the employees at target are exhausted. Because of the people harassing them for the last three years.

So maybe, if the pandemic hadn’t happened, Bud light still would’ve gone down, but target might not have.

I like the points in the article that Nike and Patagonia were able to weather any controversy by staying on brand. So retailers can be supportive of the LGBTQ community and not get boycotted, or they can get boycotted, and it won’t make a noticeable difference. But a lot of factors went into what happened to target.

Walmart is selling gay pride merchandise, can you imagine this crowd not shopping at Walmart? Where would they go?

I don’t blame target for buckling, because the protesters took it too far. They went into the stores and they were harassing and threatening employees. That’s not something that normally happens.

I’ve said this before but the right fights dirty. If they’re harassing teenage workers at target, maybe we need to stand outside of their churches and their kids schools holding up pictures of dead bodies from Orlando and Colorado Springs, and stand across the street and scream at their children “your parents did this! Your parents are to blame for these people being dead!“. And maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have the small number of left wing hunters who have AK-47s show up with them shouldered and exercise their right to free carry.

Let’s scare the fuck out of them. Reasoning with them is not possible. Let’s threaten them. Make them so scared that they volunteer to host the next drag queen reading at a library.

And we have to get more organized. Every Democrat is speaking in a different voice from the heart and saying things that are true, but the Republicans are all speaking from a script. They are all on the same message, people are hearing it, repeatedly, and the more they hear it the more they believe it. But what they’re hearing from Democrats is confusing, because it’s different from everyone, and that is confusing and is causing people to just tune out.

We need scripts too. We need to set a talking points, and everyone needs to repeat them endlessly until people think that it is the truth. Because it is the truth.

Just keep asking right wingers “why are you so obsessed with children’s genitals?“ We’re dumb, for not following the same tactics that the right wing is using. This is our own fault.

Progressives have been calling for an end to corporate Pride, so they should be thrilled now.

Progessives have been calling for an end to corporate.

What boycott?

Republican Garth Brooks refuses to get rid of Bud Light in his bar:

"I want it to be a place you feel safe in, I want it to be a place where you feel like there are manners and people like one another."

In recent weeks, a number of social media users have also shared photos and videos of unsold Bud Light on store shelves and at venues, in a bid to illustrate the purported success of their boycott of the beer brand.

Brooks went against the grain in January 2021, when he performed at the inauguration of President Joe Biden—a move that angered a number of country music fans.

"The message they're pushing is unity, and that's right down my alley, man," Brooks said at the time. "If we're gonna get anywhere, we're gonna get there together."

[Quote] Deplorables will finally understand

This has to be the funniest fucking thing I've read in my entire life.

Anecdotally only, but one of the south Austin Targets was pretty crowded yesterday around 11 AM and they had a pride display still up.

[quote]Deplorables will finally understand that nothing was stolen in 2020, that 2016 was a fluke, and that they aren't the majority.

I hear what you're trying to say R1 but I don't think the above is going to happen any time soon. Have you heard of the term "rusted on"? The MAGA cult members are rusted on and they will never, ever change their minds.

In New Jersey some guidos were fisting in front of the Pride display and saying "We're doin dis to protek da kids!"

Bud Light's lady MBA went on the record sneering at their uncool customers. When you talk about a perfect storm add in her eagerness to recruit Dylan was a manifestation of that hostility and contempt towards her customer base.

I think Target is just collateral damage. It would never have gotten so big had the Bud firestorm not already been blazing.

As of Garth Brooks that's no surprise. I remember him and Mango.

HOT R11!

R11 The guidos were fisting? Oh my. Wait until the dicks come out.

Bud Light picked a walking stereotype that offended more than just the right wing. Laverne cox print and tv vodka ads and it barely made a wave. Terrible timing, terrible choice and an out of touch MBA marketing exec that torched her career.

Drop the T and Q!!

We desperately need MORE threads on this topic, because the other 986,478,893,281,623 threads simply could not cover it all!

TERFs have already thrown us gays under the bus and don't care what happens to us. That's because TERFs hate all men - including gay men.

DROP THE TERFS!

Was it all a nefarious plot by the horse faced chick?

R12, the sneering marketing executive is what really did the damage. If it wasn't for the podcast she did, in which she came across as a pompous, sneering, elitist cunt, the boycott might not have even happened or to a much less degree.

R12, I do believe that "lady" is likely trans. Had 3 kids via surrogate. If trans, I hope that comes out because it's an important part of the story.

R21, Allissa is NOT trans.

Big surprise: Customers hate it when brands suddenly switch personalities at whiplash speed.

Bud Light: The beer for blue-collar fun & relaxation *becomes* Bud Light: The beer for grown men that say they're 13-year-old girls.

Imagine other examples, taking trans out of the equation. What if...

Nike: The cutting-edge, socially-aware sportswear company *becomes* Nike: The sportswear company that only sells women's size M and below, because, according to the product manager, they "no longer want to be associated with fatties."

Hermès: The impeccable, aspirational accessories brand *becomes* Her-meez, the joint venture with Walmart, providing colorful bandannas and fun logo tees in sizes up to XXXL. The product manager gives interviews deriding the "snobs with more money than sense" who had been their customers in the past.

Do you think their old customers would enjoy the new direction? How many would continue to support the company?

It's less about politics or trans and more about the very deliberate "fuck you" to their current customers. I don't drink the swill, and you probably don't either, but no one should be surprised that when a company suddenly turns around and tells their loyal customers to fuck off, those customers get pissed.

R3, just have to say I completely agree, and I'd even be OK take it a step further and making roughing some white trash up and hassling them in much the same way. The Repubs need to be beaten into submission as far as I'm concerned. I'm not an ardent supporter or Trans rights but stores and brands should be able to support what they want without some white trash hicks coming in and verbally assaulting your sales force.

Everything R3 said. THANK YOU. I’ve said this since the start of Trump’s initial candidacy in 2015. You cannot just turn the other cheek or ignore. You need to confront them with the rhetoric, same tactics. This is why I think what Gavin Newsom is doing wrt DeSatan may be a winning strategy, contrary to what some in the media might be saying

R22, has there been a denial? It's a reasonable question given the situation and the very masculine face and body frame.

I'll assume trans till proven otherwise.

Also, LOL at all these peons in the cheap seats assuming this move by behemoth Budlight et al isn’t a more calculated business strategy for the future. They aren’t idiots, they know where the country (and world) are headed, and overall it ain’t moving backwards on anything LGBT-related. Think harder, dummies.

R27, yes and no. While I agree that a company would and should have done a lot of research before changing directions like it did. But wasn't there a Vogue (or whatever magazine) issue not too long ago where kids were shown in an S&M-type pictorial? If I recall correctly, that was a case of major lack of oversight for the magazine. They basically just let some insane woman run the show without checking her work. So it is possible that BL was totally out to lunch over this.

R28, Bud Light may have been clueless about Dylan but they knew about Alyssa the supposed lady VP. They knew Alyssa was woke when they hired Alyssa. That's what they wanted.

Let me explain again. BUSINESS INSIDER IS A GARBAGE SITE. No editing, barely any writing. It's ALL CLICK BAIT.

It was so tone deaf to put that Dylan freak as the spokesthem for a white trash redneck brand of beer. WTF were they thinking?

R28 It was Balenciaga and funny you mention that, on the Tori Spelling and her fug fat family thread, Dean was wearing Balenciaga shoes and people were saying that brand is slipping.

I don't really care about Dylan Mulvaney being trans; they're just an insufferable, attention whore, "influencer" that would be flipping burgers at a locally owned hamburger stand if it wasn't for technology and an abundance of idiots that care what a burger flipper has to say. That being said, I'm convinced the whole "trans" thing is just for clicks for Dylan. Most of these modern trans folks are just looking for attention.

R33 I agree, if it had been like a more Bud light-sy type trans, I don't think people would have cared. Buck Angel is even named Buck, he's cowboy-y, I bet he would have been better received.

R26, you are free to be an idiot. I suggest you don't proclaim it all about.

R33, he comes from a billionaire family.

[quote] It was so tone deaf to put that Dylan freak as the spokesthem for a white trash redneck brand of beer.

You’re a moron.

pretty sure they've bounced back already

The anti-trans brigade really needs to get a life.

Imagine all of the problems in the world and this is the hill you want to die on.

Get on antidepressants, improve your diet, and start going to the gym. You are sad and pathetic.

r37 can't deal with the truth

"Most of these modern trans folks are just looking for attention."

I think most of them are just good old fashioned transvestites looking to legitimize their fetish.

Maybe if corporations didn't choose a trans person as annoying as Dylan Mulvaney to sell their products this wouldn't have happened.

I don't have anything against trans people, but the first clip I saw of Dylan prancing around in the Nike sports bra with that hideous gaping mouth was ridiculous. It was almost like a mockery was being made of their clothing.

[quote] The anti-trans brigade really needs to get a life.

I agree, but corporations making the decision to use a trans person in their advertising is a big deal. If I were trans, I would not want a clown like Dylan Mulvaney representing me.

These boycotts happened for about a week. Everyone is back shopping at Target. Nobody gives a shit anymore.