My apologies for showing that picture again but of course it’s what set off the massive reaction against Bud Light beer in the USA last year that saw the brand lose millions of customers, its place as the number one beer in America, and ultimately billions of dollars in stock market value for its maker, Anheuser Busch.
Disney had already been on the same course of failure, as had Hollywood in general, because of their executives stupid virtual signalling, being all “Woke” about Identity Politics.
But there were other firms pulling the same stunts who did not seem to be suffering, especially Nike, but also the less important Starbucks.
Starbucks and Nike are in corporate chaos, with declining sales and crashing stock prices. Both of these companies are scrambling to find remedies for their problems, with both having recently fired their CEOs.
Perhaps they might also consider apologizing to the half of Americans to whom they have made a point of showing their contempt.
…
– “As Nike bleeds market share, investors worry over relevance”
– “Nike warns of falling sales as upstarts crowd its business, stock sees worst day on record”
– “Starbucks Stock Plunges After Declining Same-Store Sales Weaken 2024 Outlook”
It’s that word “contempt” that is the real reason here, just as it was with Bud Light. If the executives there had simply pulled the stupid Trans stuff – which was a small marketing effort in the first place – and said nothing, they probably would have been fine, the stupidity would have been forgotten, as such things often are. Every company has made marketing mistakes.
The real trouble started when the Bud Light marketing executive was interviewed about the whole affair and revealed a dismaying attitude towards her existing “fratboy” customer base. Who wants to buy stuff from someone who despises you?
Nike and Starbucks have fallen into their problems more slowly but it comes from the same source:
- Nike in 2020 stood proudly by Colin Kaepernick while he kneeled all the time as an act of protest against the US national anthem and flag, with an ad campaign featuring his face and the quote, “Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything.“
- They canceled their Air Max sneakers with a Betsy Ross flag, after Kaepernick protested that it was racist. (It’s not the Confederate flag).
I was surprised that they continued to do well in the wake of all this. It was even being used as an argument that the US Right didn’t have as much pull as they thought and could thus be treated with equal contempt, as consumers and employees, by other businesses. But the chickens have finally come home to roost.
- Starbucks showed its support for the riots of 2020, by pledging $100 million to BLM.
- The company bashed the Supreme Court’s abortion ruling, and even offered to reimburse travel expenses to incentivise its employees to terminate their pregnancies. (I gather that paying for an abortion is cheaper than the cost of maternity leave.)
- Coffee cups were festooned with rainbows to celebrate LGBTQ.
- They pledged to discriminate against white employees and job applicants so as to get to 40% “Bipoc” (Black – Indigneous – People of Color) in retail stores and to 30% in its corporate offices.
Nike is probably going to survive this given its size and reach into sport, but Starbucks may not in its fast-paced retail world.
But the really good news is that Woke and Identity Politics, as implemented by DIE policies, appears to be in full retreat, driven back by the reality of companies losing money.
No Minister 
It’s the contempt for the average person thats the killer for me. It’s generally large corporates that have this attitude, which was encouraged by that woman during the covid scamdemic. All the large corporates went along with the mandates, and all that other weird crap. I once had a stand up argument with the manager at a Mitre 10 after they decided me following their own rules wasn’t good enough
This is why I support smaller friendly companies. -a friendly genuine smile goes a long way. (oh, and pay in cash)
Similar in Aus, our couzins seriously misjudged the beliefs of Joe and Josephine Average over the “Voice” debacle.
How often could such moronic decision makers gain some understanding of reality by just heading to a local for happy hour.
Yeah the bike American motorsickle company Harley Davidison has just capitulated and gone back to being an American icon. Question is , is it too late.
Like Air New Zealand appointing Luxon as GM, a dude who sparpened his skills selling soap for Unilever ,to something he knows nothing about, and promptly grows the woke Maori dept and the stupid video department.
Harley had appointed some German dude a few years ago, no experience in the company but good at board level, apparently
Well Harley were boycotted at Sturgis, South Dakota. the biggest motorsickle rally in the world. Apparently they had their usual massive stand and by common agreement everyone kept away.
Big shock to the German board room jockey, especially as their sales have stagnated at about $14b for the 4-5 years while their competitors grow like topsy.
I think Harley Davidson has been around for long enough that this blip will be forgiven as long as they stick to their core and behave themselves going forward. There’s no other Harley Davidson.
On the other hand, there are plenty of alternatives to Nike. I don’t buy Nike anymore… plenty of great alternatives available. Same for Bud Light. Too many ready alternatives. Burned.
I would avoid AirNZ like the plague if I could. Sadly their routes and schedules make them unavoidable so I am stuck with their irritating woke BS.
Harley have made giant misteps before and somehow made it back. They were owned by AMF in the 1970’s? and quality control and design was crap. It was the evolution mtr that saved them
The absolute worst in NZ is Kiwibank. Woke up the wazoo. The selected the execrable Shaneel Lal as a something. Everything is Maori despite the entire concept of banking being completely alien to pre-European Maori culture.
that they selected Shaneel Lal as their young New Zealander of the year (from memory) was nothing short of extraordinary.
5 minutes searching for their comments on social media would have shown what an deeply unpleasant person they are. To hold them up as some type of figure defied belief.
Why are you using its preferred pronouns?
Nike seem to have ignored the words of their own erstwhile spokesman and philosopher, Michael Jordan, who once imparted the wise words: “Republicans buy sneakers too.”
What helps Nike is that a lot of its core customer base is black, and there just aren’t that many black Republicans to piss off. Fashion is a fickle thing though.
Starbucks has a different problem – they used to be the only game in town here in the States, but now there’s several coffee chains, many of whom are drive through only and so don’t have sit down coffee shop overheads. I don’t drink coffee, but my wife now buys Dutch Bros instead.
Funnily enough, my first date with her was at Starbucks. We revisited the same branch a while ago, and were served by a he/him that, frankly, should have been wearing a bra.