For anyone who has been blissfully ignorant over the culture war being fought over cans of mass-produced beer, good for you.
For anyone who has been following this sordid tale of Anheuser-Busch working with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney — things just took a very interesting turn.
To wit: Anheuser-Busch shot itself in the proverbial foot when it came out with a ceremonial can emblazoned with Mulvaney’s face on it, angering swathes of customers (some big names among them) and tanking its own market value by billions of dollars.
Public sentiment cratered, as feeble attempts from the company to “fix” this situation fell on deaf ears:
— Anheuser-Busch (@AnheuserBusch) April 14, 2023
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So.
Anheuser-Busch crippled the image of its most iconic brand. It turned off droves of loyal customers (not all.) And, perhaps most importantly to its executives, there’s been a real, tangible financial hit due to the marketing decision.
While there have been plenty of opinions on the matter, there’s one question that isn’t getting asked nearly enough: Why did Anheuser-Busch commit brand suicide by working with Mulvaney?
Are you boycotting Bud Light?
Yes: 96% (81 Votes)
No: 4% (3 Votes)
While some reports have attributed this decision to a rogue employee who made a “mistake,” conservative pundit James Lindsay offered a different take on why Anheuser-Busch may have been so incentivized to torpedo itself.
In a lengthy Twitter thread, Lindsay illustrated how the Human Rights Campaign has effectively been strong-arming massive, multi-billion dollar conglomerates so they bend to the will of the LGBT lobby.
Want to know why Bud Light is teamed up with Dylan Mulvaney? It’s not hard to explain.https://t.co/ZN7jCfkClu.
— James Lindsay, wrongest person on this site (@ConceptualJames) April 5, 2023
“Want to know why Bud Light is teamed up with Dylan Mulvaney? It’s not hard to explain,” Lindsay tweeted, before penning a long thread under that original tweet.
In short, Lindsay called out the “Corporate Equality Index” as some sort of “social score” for major companies, and called out HRC for using it as a be-all, end-all.
If the HRC came to Anheuser-Busch and told them to celebrate Dylan, and they said no, that would be failing “responsible citizenship” and points would be deducted. The Corporate Equality Index is an extortion racket that makes corporations do these things.
— James Lindsay, wrongest person on this site (@ConceptualJames) April 5, 2023
“If the HRC came to Anheuser-Busch and told them to celebrate Dylan, and they said no, that would be failing ‘responsible citizenship’ and points would be deducted,” Lindsay explained on Twitter. “The Corporate Equality Index is an extortion racket that makes corporations do these things.”
Appearing on conservative influencer Allie Beth Stuckey’s podcast “Relatable,” Lindsay divulged “the secret reason” why Bud Light worked with Mulvaney — and it’s all about that CEI score.
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While Lindsay did acknowledge that the CEI theory was just that, a theory, he noted that it only makes so much sense, even if HRC didn’t go to Anheuser-Busch about promoting Mulvaney, specifically.
“I don’t have absolute proof that he [Mulvaney] is raising [Anheuser-Busch’s] CEI scores,” Lindsay told Stuckey. “But that’s the exact kind of thing that would raise their CEI scores, so it’s probably something they’re pursuing. I don’t know if the HRC came and said, ‘You must elevate Dylan Mulvaney [for] more visibility.’
“But it’s very, very clear that Mulvaney has become this very useful tool in their operation.”
But perhaps Lindsay’s most sobering revelation, at least for any conservative Bud Light drinkers, came on Twitter when he pointed out that Bud Light and Anheuser-Busch have been beholden to these left-leaning doctrines for years now:
There truly is very little mystery to this, which makes it frustrating to see so many prominent people who think they know how this stuff works completely clueless to it. They’re under the threat of a mafia, like every major corporation in the ESG economy. pic.twitter.com/VPCoN6XtuP
— James Lindsay, wrongest person on this site (@ConceptualJames) April 5, 2023
Citing a 2015 article from San Diego Pride, Lindsay noted that Bud Light “has been very interested in maintaining a perfect CEI for several years.” In a subsequent tweet, Lindsay noted that Anheuser-Busch “was already completely captured by this indexing racket in 2008.”
“There truly is very little mystery to this, which makes it frustrating to see so many prominent people who think they know how this stuff works completely clueless to it,” Lindsay added. “They’re under the threat of a mafia, like every major corporation in the ESG economy.”
Lindsay ultimately concluded that the CEI is actively being weaponized by LGBT advocates… and that Mulvaney was merely the beginning.
Transgender activists have been using the Corporate Equality Index to manipulate corporations for the better part of two decades. Dylan Mulvaney is just the tip of the iceberg. pic.twitter.com/MWnpah01dH
— James Lindsay, wrongest person on this site (@ConceptualJames) April 5, 2023
“Transgender activists have been using the Corporate Equality Index to manipulate corporations for the better part of two decades,” Lindsay said.
“Dylan Mulvaney is just the tip of the iceberg.”
