Happy Friday and happy Cinco de Mayo. According to Wikipedia, the holiday “generates beer sales on par with the Super Bowl.” That’s unfortunate for Bud Light, which is going to miss out on that annual bonanza!
Bud Light has hemorrhaged sales in recent weeks after executives partnered with Mulvaney, a biological man who claims to be a woman, and chronicled his purported gender transition on social media. Doukeris told analysts that social media users are spreading “misinformation” about the nature of the partnership, according to a report from Fox Business.
“We need to clarify the facts,” the executive for the Belgian conglomerate remarked, adding that the controversy is about “one influencer, one post and not a campaign.”
Sales for draft beer products marketed by Anheuser-Busch InBev nevertheless fell in the immediate aftermath of the partnership and continues to decline weeks after the controversy as beer enthusiasts search for alternatives. Doukeris revealed that Anheuser-Busch is now “providing direct financial support” to delivery drivers, sales representatives, wholesalers, bar owners, and other workers affected by the boycott.
Doukeris is minimizing the partnership with Mulvaney, dismissing it as “one influencer, one post and not a campaign.” Gosh, good thing it was only “one post” — no telling what a full blown campaign would’ve done!
This is the kind of tone deaf response that corporations flirting with wokeness toss out in their defense. Does he actually think that consumers care whether it was “one post” or a national campaign? It was the violation of the brand bond that sunk them.
But it’s even worse than that as they ignored—or are ignorant of—a key feature of the beer drinker, the incredible bond the consumer has with the product.
Not all products have the same level of bond with their consumers as others. But the beer or booze you drink, the vehicle you drive (as an example, Ford, Dodge, or Chevy pickups), and back when it was acceptable, the cigarette you smoked, all said something about you.
Thus, these types of products have a much higher customer bond than say the bathroom cleaning products you use. Few products have a higher bond than beer.
They have thousands and thousands of interactions with the brand every year . . . for years. Parties, birthdays, going to bars, football games, NASCAR, just sitting around at home watching TV, and through good times and bad with a friend who’s always there for you.
This brand bond is a reflection of what consumers perceive themselves to be. And having a role-playing guy who says he’s a woman sitting in a bubble bath and crowing about becoming the brand ambassador of your favorite beer is not what these consumers view themselves to be. It is a jarring affront to their perception of reality. It was an almost universal, WTF moment for all Bud Light drinkers.
Thus, ABI violated this bond and set off a firestorm like none before in the beer world, most likely forever changing the beer competitive landscape.
Most analysis focuses on the guy playing a gal, but that is where they are wrong. It’s not fundamentally about Dylan Mulvaney. It’s about the violation of this bond. And the stronger the bond, the greater the feeling of betrayal.
Worse yet, Doukeris is blaming “social media users” for “spreading ‘misinformation.'” Got that? It’s your fault that this happened. But Anheuser-Busch is confident it can overcome it’s consumer’s mistakes.
“We believe we have the experience, the resources and the partners to manage this. And our four-year growth outlook is unchanged,” Doukeris said.
“We want to reiterate our support for our wholesaler partners and everyone who brings our great beers to the market. I can tell you that we have the agility, resources and people to support the U.S. team and move forward,” he added.
“We will continue to learn, meet the moment in time, all be stronger and we work tirelessly to do what we do best: Bring people together over a beer and creating a future of more cheers.”
That sounds just like another corporation that deliberately torpedoed it’s brand by firing its top broadcast personality. Fox News has lost nearly half its audience in what used to be Tucker Carlson’s 8:00 PM slot.
Ratings for Fox News have dropped considerably in the wake of popular anchor Tucker Carlson departing from the network.
During its 8 p.m. hour, the network has dropped from a three million viewer average to a 1.65 million viewer average since the departure of Tucker Carlson; the hour was previously filled by Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade, which will then be filled by Fox News personality Lawrence Jones. Per the Washington Post:
The disparity was most stark on Wednesday, when Kilmeade’s 8 p.m. hour received an average of 1.3 million total viewers, compared with the 3 million Carlson received a week earlier — a decline of 56 percent. Overall, the network experienced a 45 percent viewership decline last week without Carlson in the host’s chair.
When Fox announced Carlson’s forced departure April 24, the network said that “rotating Fox News personalities” will fill in until a permanent 8 p.m. host is selected. The network did something similar with the 7 p.m. hour, after it was vacated by anchor Martha MacCallum, and ultimately settled on Jesse Watters as the permanent host. “Jesse Watters Primetime” has been a major success for Fox News, and Watters, who also co-hosts “The Five,” is considered a possible candidate for Carlson’s old slot.
Beyond the 8 p.m. slot, the network has also seen a sharp decline in the 25-54 demographic in the 6 p.m., 7 p.m., and 9 p.m. time slots.
Imagine Tucker Carlson as Bud Light and Fox News as the parent company, Anheuser-Busch. Now imagine A-B cutting off production of its top-selling beer without explanation, and you begin to get a sense of what Fox News has done. Just as the abandonment of Bud Light consumers has created a halo effect on other A-B brands, so has Tucker Carlson’s firing affected other shows, notably Hannity and Ingraham, which have both lost about a third of their audiences without Carlson’s lead-in.
“The demo” is that audience bloc of 25-54-year-olds coveted by advertisers. It’s the key metric that analysts watch to gauge how well a show is doing.
Like A-B, Fox News issued a cheery and defiant statement to address concerns over the fallout of its decision.
“For more than 21 years, Fox News Channel has been cable news’ most-watched network in all categories with more Democrats, Independents and Republicans now tuning in than either CNN or MSNBC,” the company said.
“Attracting more than 50 percent of the cable news viewing audience with the top 12 programs in cable news, Fox News’ powerhouse team of journalists, analysts and opinion hosts are trusted more by viewers than any other news source,” it added.
Not if conservatives abandon the network.
So both Fox News and Anheuser-Busch are hemorrhaging consumers. I consider that good news. In fact, I want conservatives and other like-minded adults to not just boycott, but to ABANDON both companies. They need to hear from us.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the life blood of any company is money. Unless they suffer a significant financial loss that sticks, they won’t change their behavior. It’s great that by mid-April A-B had lost some $6.5 billion in value since their ill-advised attempt to break from their “fratty, kind of out-of-touch” consumers. But A-B is a beverage juggernaut with a net worth of $130.73 billion.
Fox Corporation, parent company of Fox News, lost $1 billion, or about 5 percent of its stock valuation following its announcement canceling Tucker Carlson’s show. But they, too, are a corporate behemoth, with a net worth of $16.26 billion.
Neither of these corporations are going out of business, but they need to hear from conservatives. Leftists take off the gloves and throw their weight around, demanding that companies toe their woke lines or that they fire any employee that doesn’t. Corporations fear the woke, but they don’t fear conservatives because we tend to be kind, be reserved, mind our own business, and despise hurting anyone or anything.
If Fox News loses its audience in the 8:00, 9:00 and 10:00 PM slots and they don’t come back, that sends a message. If Bud Light loses its consumers and they don’t come back, that sends a message. The message is that “we’re not going to take it.” But if consumers have a fit of pique then return to the beer or the program, that sends a message, too. The message is, “we’re offended, but also we love our beer and whatever replacement bobble head you give us.”
Other corporations will take note and act accordingly.
If you want to know how to participate in the “culture wars”, ABANDON those companies that cater to the Left. Let them know by your ABSENCE that you won’t give them money to ruin your children and our society by promoting men who pretend to be women or that if they have such contempt for you that they’d rather cut the top-rated cable host in all of television than cater to your interests that you’ll go find your news somewhere else.
It has to be done.
Have a good weekend.