GET READY FOR MORE ‘BUD LIGHTING:’

A lot of conservatives are very excited about “Bud Lighting”—a freshly minted term for boycotting companies that cater to various “woke” causes, particularly transgender issues.

The term derives from the spectacular implosion of Bud Light in the wake of their decision in March to enlist transgender social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney to promote the brand. Bud Light’s sales have plummeted, averaging weekly declines of about 25 percent. Parent company Anheuser-Busch InBev has lost more than $15 billion in value. Sales of rival brands have soared, even as many retailers have slashed prices for Bud Light. Some stores are even giving Bud Light away for free—or trying to.

I am very skeptical that the Bud Light example can be replicated over the long haul, but I’m convinced that we are entering a new era of Bud Lighting on the right and left.

First, some background. The most remarkable thing about the Bud Light boycott is that it worked, because boycotts usually don’t—if your definition of success is actually affecting sales and stock price in a significant way. PETA’s been boycotting KFC for 20 years to little or no effect. KFC’s biggest challenge hasn’t been from boycotters, but from rivals like Chick-fil-A, which has been going gangbusters despite facing plenty of boycotts of its own.

Bud Light exec Alissa Heinerscheid is the advertising equivalent of Pete Buttigieg: To paraphrase a Tweet about Buttigieg, Heinerscheid is so awful at her job that people actually know who the former(?) marketing vp of Anheuser-Busch is.

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): Heinerscheid’s notoriety is important here. Boycotts are fine when there’s a spectacular self-own like the Bud Light matter. But personalizing things with CEOs and managers, (freeze and isolate, in Alinsky methodology) is what the left does most of the time, and it’s very effective. Of course, the left has more traction with managers’ peer groups usually, but post-Bud Light there’s more fear there. And as Alinsky also said, you have the power people think you have in these matters.