We mentioned last week that the maker of Bud Light beer is facing a backlash after its decision to include a trans-identified influencer in its commercials. As political action, boycotts are a mixed bag (here and here), some work, some fail. These days, if companies are truly wedded to the views they espouse in their branding, they might happily take a monetary hit to make their point. Often, victory is in the eye of the beholder as both sides will say they were the ones taking a bold stand and consequently claim some sort of win.
In this case, Matt Walsh, with his considerable influence amongst conservatives, called for his audience to focus their attention on Bud. The concerted effort by angry customers reportedly drained $5bn off the company’s value (although fact-checkers were not convinced). The message that the promotion of transgenderism was not popular with a key customer base must have reached the executive, with parent company Anheuser-Busch issuing a “flat apology”.
These “David and Goliath”-type struggles are always intriguing, watching what a bunch of little people standing together can do. Even if we can’t intimidate monster corporations out of directing the moral course of our society, being thoughtful about where we put our time, attention and money is a valuable way to live. Supporting businesses who stand for the same things we do is a great opportunity for Christian stewardship. Even better if we can practice depending on Christian brothers and sisters, our church family, for things we need, as Dr Koontz has recommended a couple of times on the Brief History podcast.
Progressives remain puzzled by what they see as silly culture wars. Why are you bothered by a trans TikToker promoting beer? He isn’t hurting anyone… They fail – or choose not – to see the results of their godless standards, so we need to keep our heads in the game, making the case and not growing weary in doing good or speaking truth. Meanwhile, stepping out of the white noise every now and again to meet each other’s needs shows the world that we follow Jesus Christ, not the dictates of the zeitgeist.
In a related note, a Moravian church has used a clever scheme to purchase millions of dollars of medical debt. Acting like a debt collecting agency, the church was able to forgive the debts for folks in the community.