Anheuser-Busch InBev lost $1.4B in sales

[CrimsonJazz]

Seems to me they were making an effort to potentially monetarily capitalize on the transgender community and their supporters but forgot who their customer base was for that particular beer. There is no way in this day and age of social media that BL didn't know that by sending those cans to a person (even "privately") they would end up on social media and instant advertising would happen. They knew good and hell well that's what would happen but the problem was they didn't get the reaction they'd drawn up in their marketing meetings. Talk about a colossal failure and exercise in marketing stupidity. LOL!

You touched on something I hadn't thought of until now. Is exploiting people for financial gain really supporting them? Did AB really sit down and say, "You know what? We need to show these people we care. Print the cans!" Or was this more along the lines of, "Yeah, let's pretend to care and expand our customer base." I'm thinking the latter if anything. Not very impressive, IMO.

 

[NationalTitles18]

Let's be honest, if AB truly cared about trans people, is marketing a beercan really the best way to support them? Especially a beer that the bulk of their consumer base is middle/lower class white rednecks. Really? LOL! Does anyone really think they didn't know that? Companies that size do research about their customer base down to the type of jobs they have and the socks they wear. People, I was born at night, just not last night. What the hell did they really expect? That's like sticking your dang hand through the lion's cage at the zoo and then being appalled when the thing bites your freakin hand off. "OH GEEZE!!! Let's get mad at the lion for doing what lions do!!! OH GEEZE, what a travesty, can anyone believe this?!?! NEVER SAW THIS COMING!!" Bigots are going to bigot so knowing that about the customer base of Bud Light, why is that the focal point? LOL! Let's get all up in arms over something that anyone who can fog a mirror could have predicted happening. But they did it anyway. Unreal...

Seems to me they were making an effort to potentially monetarily capitalize on the transgender community and their supporters but forgot who their customer base was for that particular beer. There is no way in this day and age of social media that BL didn't know that by sending those cans to a person (even "privately") they would end up on social media and instant advertising would happen. They knew good and hell well that's what would happen but the problem was they didn't get the reaction they'd drawn up in their marketing meetings. Talk about a colossal failure and exercise in marketing stupidity. LOL!

I don’t think anyone believes AB didn’t have other motives for their actions.

On this board politics including the politics of bigotry get discussed.

Anyone who can fog a mirror understands that it was inevitable here. So why is that the focus?

 

[NationalTitles18]

You touched on something I hadn't thought of until now. Is exploiting people for financial gain really supporting them? Did AB really sit down and say, "You know what? We need to show these people we care. Print the cans!" Or was this more along the lines of, "Yeah, let's pretend to care and expand our customer base." I'm thinking the latter if anything. Not very impressive, IMO.

AB’s motivation is not as important as the obvious motivation of the boycotters. We know some of them won’t stop with the boycott and will take their behavior into other places wherever they go.

 

[Bamabuzzard]

I don’t think anyone believes AB didn’t have other motives for their actions.

On this board politics including the politics of bigotry get discussed.

Anyone who can fog a mirror understands that it was inevitable here. So why is that the focus?

Because the scope of the thread started was about the marketing failure and utterly dumb business decision-making of AB. The focal point was not the customer base who boycotted them and their moral issues.

 

[Bodhisattva]

ridiculous comparison, but ok.

If they fit the definition they dit the definition.

I didn’t go looking for them. They made a big to do about it to get attention.

Feel free to ignore that part of the issue, or to ignore me for that matter if you prefer.

Heh. Of course you can only see things through a leftist's lens. Whatever. You do you.

 

[Bodhisattva]

Let's be honest, if AB truly cared about trans people, is marketing a beercan really the best way to support them? Especially a beer that the bulk of their consumer base is middle/lower class white rednecks. Really? LOL! Does anyone really think they didn't know that? Companies that size do research about their customer base down to the type of jobs they have and the socks they wear. People, I was born at night, just not last night. What the hell did they really expect? That's like sticking your dang hand through the lion's cage at the zoo and then being appalled when the thing bites your freakin hand off. "OH GEEZE!!! Let's get mad at the lion for doing what lions do!!! OH GEEZE, what a travesty, can anyone believe this?!?! NEVER SAW THIS COMING!!" Bigots are going to bigot so knowing that about the customer base of Bud Light, why is that the focal point? LOL! Let's get all up in arms over something that anyone who can fog a mirror could have predicted happening. But they did it anyway. Unreal...

Seems to me they were making an effort to potentially monetarily capitalize on the transgender community and their supporters but forgot who their customer base was for that particular beer. There is no way in this day and age of social media that BL didn't know that by sending those cans to a person (even "privately") they would end up on social media and instant advertising would happen. They knew good and hell well that's what would happen but the problem was they didn't get the reaction they'd drawn up in their marketing meetings. Talk about a colossal failure and exercise in marketing stupidity. LOL!

Lions are nazis

And on that note, I'm out for the day. I've posted before about some of the charitable causes Lily has been active with throughout high school. One of them is a teen youth shelter. (Many of the kids are gay/trans and had to leave their homes.) Lily has contributed her time and raised money for them for years. Tonight, we are having a fund raiser (fish fry plus a little more) for this facility. My wife and I and a couple of other families have agreed to match whatever is raised. Hope to do some good.

Good discussion. This thread got more action than I thought it would.

 

[spidermayin]

You have to cater to your main audience. Bud light isn't going to make much headway marketing to the gay community for the same reason they wouldn't make any headway marketing to hipsters. If you're in a upscale, or cool bar, you're not going to be ordering a bud light. You're going to be ordering something like a Sierra Nevada, or some local craft beer. You also wouldn't ask for hamburger helper at a nice Italian restaurant.

 

[CrimsonJazz]

AB’s motivation is not as important as the obvious motivation of the boycotters. We know some of them won’t stop with the boycott and will take their behavior into other places wherever they go.

And? If I need a refresher course on how awful people are, all I have to do is ask my wife about it. Or my many black friends and clients. This sort of thing is as old as humanity itself. No raindrop believes it's responsible for the flood. Everyone understands this (yes, even those meanies on the right.) If the whole trans things goes against someone's religion, values or hell, even common sense, it is what it is. Things will improve given time. Beating people over the head with your values will only elicit a negative response. Even if I want to give AB the benefit of the doubt and assume they were trying to make a difference in society (I don't) this was not the way. They only made the situation worse for trans people and they lost a butt-ton of money doing it.

 

[Bazza]

-snip-
If there was a widget that Alabama fans were loyal to for generations, and all of a sudden the marketing big brains decided they wanted to increase market share by making the widget orange and using Rocky Top as the widget's theme, would you think this was a good idea? And if you didn't would you then describe yourself as a bigot towards all things orange and UT? If the widget marketers doubled down and called you and like-minded Alabama fans "morons," would you be ok with that? IMO (as long as one doesn't do any violence) any Alabama fan who abandoned said widget for something else would be acting as I would expect them to. And as a result of these actions, if the widget maker took a massive hit financially, I wouldn't be surprised by that either.

I don't know about that Rocky Top thing. How about a RuPaul drag race at the BDS homecoming halftime show?

What do you think?

 

[CrimsonJazz]

W

I don't know about that Rocky Top thing. How about a RuPaul drag race at the homecoming halftime show?

What do you think?

Wanna prank a redneck? Ask if he wants to go to a drag race and bring him here. I’m sure he’ll see the humor in it.

 

[NationalTitles18]

Because the scope of the thread started was about the marketing failure and utterly dumb business decision-making of AB. The focal point was not the customer base who boycotted them and their moral issues.

My point was that the OP and everyone else knew where it would go, just like AB. Did you expect any different?

 

[NationalTitles18]

Heh. Of course you can only see things through a leftist's lens. Whatever. You do you.

The same was said when I was a staunch libertarian with the same view and voted 3rd party so you can just deflect to left/right if it makes you feel better I guess.

 

[NationalTitles18]

And? If I need a refresher course on how awful people are, all I have to do is ask my wife about it. Or my many black friends and clients. This sort of thing is as old as humanity itself. No raindrop believes it's responsible for the flood. Everyone understands this (yes, even those meanies on the right.) If the whole trans things goes against someone's religion, values or hell, even common sense, it is what it is. Things will improve given time. Beating people over the head with your values will only elicit a negative response. Even if I want to give AB the benefit of the doubt and assume they were trying to make a difference in society (I don't) this was not the way. They only made the situation worse for trans people and they lost a butt-ton of money doing it.

What happened to personal responsibility for the bigots and the effects of their actions? Why are we blaming anyone but the ones responsible for that?

Reminds of of certain uppity types in past movements on rights, as some would call them. Blame them for bringing attention to their own mistreatment. Seems silly. But ok

 

[crimsonaudio]

I 100% guarantee you AB had zero idea they would lose $1.4B on this campaign - or it never would have seen the light of day.

 

[CrimsonJazz]

What happened to personal responsibility for the bigots and the effects of their actions? Why are we blaming anyone but the ones responsible for that?

Reminds of of certain uppity types in past movements on rights, as some would call them. Blame them for bringing attention to their own mistreatment. Seems silly. But ok

Okay, I’ll bite: what sort of personal responsibility do you want them to take? Last I checked, being a jerk isn’t against the law, so what’s your final solution? How do you propose to bend them towards your idealized society?

 

[NationalTitles18]

Okay, I’ll bite: what sort of personal responsibility do you want them to take? Last I checked, being a jerk isn’t against the law, so what’s your final solution? How do you propose to bend them towards your idealized society?

You tried to place blame for how stupid people treat people on AB. It makes no sense.

Nice final solution reference to make it seems that calling out people for stupid beliefs and bad behavior is unreasonable and extreme.

 

[jthomas666]

Speaking of marketing flexes that make you scratch your head:

https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/26/food/kellogg-ceo-cereal-dinner/index.html

 

[81usaf92]

You know, it's ok if you just acknowledge that the BL marketing team made a mistake and then doubled-down. They cost BL the top spot after 20 years. They cost the company $1.4B. People lost their jobs. You can be sympathetic to the trans community and still comprehend the marketing blunder. I am, and I do. Or, you can just stay tribal and accuse the other side of being nazis .....

Serious question: If you could go back in time and be in that marketing room when the BL big brains said, "We have a great idea," would you have advised them to re-think that strategy or to go for it?

Well you are talking to the same people who quickly reject the idea that Disney destroyed Star Wars and Marvel by interjecting identity politics over sound storytelling. Everyone cries bigotry when the money walks away but never wants to admit that people loved the 90’s Xmen, Harry Potter, and just about anything Tom Cruise does despite them being very open with their beliefs, platforms, and message. All three faced the wrath of these “white Christian nationalists” groups but laughed back with their continued successes. Sell or die is the core concept of capitalism.

I mean anyone with a brain knew it was stupid on AB’s part after seeing how well the left’s “boycott” of Chick-fil-A went over the same issues. I think the people who are arguing against you are seeing the political point more than the business point. Like @Bamabuzzard said there are a bunch of businesses that I know went under because their owners either started preaching scripture to customers or posting crap on Facebook, and eventually everybody got tired of it. But does anyone on the left care? No because it’s capitalism. So why do they with BL? Because it exposés uncomfortable truths about the profitability of some of their core beliefs on the market. Disney has learned it on the big screen and Budweiser has learned it in the beer industry.

 

[NationalTitles18]

Because it exposés uncomfortable truths about the profitability of some of their core beliefs on the market.

I think we are looking at this from totally different perspectives.

I don't care about the business choices and consequences of a multi-national conglomerate.

But this is the intersection of that and the politics of hate.

And what drove this change in the market is very much hate and hate is the underlying force behind it all - else making a few cans for an obscure personality would have made no difference in the lives of anyone complaining about it.

Some of us are more concerned about the underlying issue.

Others are concerned about other things.

I'm not even certain that everyone can agree that hate was the driving force for the market change and some seem upset when anyone points that out, even assuming they can admit that.

Just blaming it on the marketing department seems lazy and superficial, or perhaps for some it is deliberately ignoring the other side of things. And I can't say whose motivation is what on an individual level for most and certainly not for anyone here. Some well known personalities out there are easy to read because they tell you.

 

[81usaf92]

I think we are looking at this from totally different perspectives.

I don't care about the business choices and consequences of a multi-national conglomerate.

But this is the intersection of that and the politics of hate.

And what drove this change in the market is very much hate and hate is the underlying force behind it all - else making a few cans for an obscure personality would have made no difference in the lives of anyone complaining about it.

Some of us are more concerned about the underlying issue.

Others are concerned about other things.

I'm not even certain that everyone can agree that hate was the driving force for the market change and some seem upset when anyone points that out, even assuming they can admit that.

Just blaming it on the marketing department seems lazy and superficial, or perhaps for some it is deliberately ignoring the other side of things. And I can't say whose motivation is what on an individual level for most and certainly not for anyone here. Some well known personalities out there are easy to read because they tell you.

Put it this way… if AB instead marketed Herschel Walker instead of a trans influencer, and lost 1.4 Billion what would you have said in this thread?