Anheuser-Busch continues to serve as a stellar example of why companies should opt out of promoting woke politics and focus on promoting their product instead.

On April 1, trans-gender social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney posted a photo of himself on the cover of a Budlight can. And since April 1, the company has reaped criticism and financial loss. The company’s move showed a lack of self-awareness, and customer awareness and did not land well with most Americans who are opposed to gender ideology.

Americans largely believe sex is assigned at birth. Recent polls also show the public believes men and women cannot randomly change their sex. In addition, US voters do not believe in giving children puberty blockers or surgeries that alter their bodies, such as breast removal. Yet Budlight opted to promote Mulvaney, who celebrated the first year of “girlhood.” Never mind that beer is an adult beverage intended for adults over 21 years of age rather than for “girls.” 

Since the lapse in advertising judgment, the beer company has desperately tried to plug the leaking ship, but angry customers have not forgotten. Budlight decided to pick a side in the culture war, advancing harmful and radical ideology aimed at children rather than just serving up cold beer.

Now the nation’s largest LGBTQ+ advocacy group is also coming after the company. According to the New York Post, the Human Rights Campaign is an advocacy group that pushes companies to accept and promote their agenda. Those that do are rewarded with a higher rating. Those that make a misstep like Budlight did when they disavowed using Mulvaney on a beer can as an ad campaign receive a lower rating.

Most Americans want to enjoy products that they like without having to endorse an ideology or weigh in on a social policy. Companies often forget that they became popular for the product they produced, not because their target market longs to hear their opinion on political, moral, or social issues.

Yet the Human Rights Campaign chooses to issue a Corporate Equality Index to rate companies on their policies toward workers in the LGBTQ community. The rating is not just about the corporate environment but also pushes companies to make public statements and LGBTQ+ endorsements. When the corporate world fails to perform, like Budlight, who, according to the group, missed an opportunity to stand with trans-activist Mulvaney, their ratings are downgraded.

According to a letter leaked to USA Today on Thursday, the Belgian-based brewer will have its score slashed following the debacle. Eric Bloem, HRC’s senior director, said, “Anheuser-Busch had a key moment to really stand up and demonstrate the importance of their values of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and their response really fell short.”

HRC’s punitive approach reveals the public relations nightmare companies face when they allow a leftist elbow in their back to drive corporate policies that anger the public and risk the business’s financial health. Bud Light’s parent company has been scrambling to fix the Mulvaney fallout, suffering huge financial losses in the interim.
Many Independents, Democrats, and Republicans would prefer to live life without constant social programming. Woke social groups like HRC that punish companies who do not promote their messages are a blight on financial profits and a parasite to the businesses that embrace them.
Groups like HRC work to compel speech, but the Bud Light backlash is proof Americans are learning to throw off corporate indoctrination.

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