If finally happened. A reaction to a company against the Left. Anheuser-Busch, manufacturers of the ever-popular Bud Light, consumed by serious beer guzzlers throughout the country, ran into unexpected trouble recently.
Like all companies, Anheuser-Busch decided to make a pitch to the progressive Left when it featured a transgender person posing with her/his/their can of Bud. Usually, this kind of promotion comes at little or no risk to the company. The calculation is that the company’s base consumers will stay with them while they try to gain additional growth coming from the latest new audience. They could always count on the Right or conservatives keeping quiet as the new Leftists get the attention. This is a formula that has always worked for companies (e.g., Nike’s endorsement of Colin Kaepernick), politicians, and institutions. The appeal is to the newest craze while most traditional citizens keep their silence.
With their seemingly cool pitch of using this kind of individual, Anheuser-Busch thought they struck gold. An entirely new market. Unexpectedly, however, Anheuser-Busch ran into a buzzsaw. Their customers said, enough is enough! “We ain’t gonna order beer at the bar or the game with nobody like that pushin’ it!”
Bud sales plummeted by a staggering 26% within a week of the new ad. Anheuser-Busch, so far, is still at a loss to figure out how to dig out from under. What went wrong? Why did this campaign backfire when all others succeeded?
The answer is that in the case of beer, the great majority of consumers are red-meat-eating, flag-waiving, belly-laughing, boot-strapped, hardcore men. Now that Anheuser-Busch trampled on their macho manhood, that is a serious poke in the eye.
Interestingly, in Israel, a similar reaction is taking place. Angel Bakery, likely the most popular commercial bakery in Israel, stepped into the nasty political scene. Recently, a tweet was posted by the chairman of the board at Angel, Omer Barlev, in which he was depicted protesting Judicial Reform in front of the home of the venerated and elderly Rosh HaYeshivah Rav Gershon Edelstein shlita. The fact alone that they are blaming chareidim in particular for this broad-based movement displays awful bigotry. The words used by Barlev against the chareidim would be considered vile anti-Semitic rhetoric had it been stated by a non-Jew. That they chose the home of this gadol makes it utterly reprehensible. Another red line the Left ignores.
But the chareidim struck back. They now have united in refusing Angel goods in their community. It would be great if others would join them as well. Angel was taken by surprise by this reaction. Correctly, one of the chareidi tweeters wrote that we are giving the Left a taste of their own medicine. They boycott, protest, and disrupt civil and military life with impunity. We will show them that the religious are capable of reacting, as well.
The Left has gone off the rails in this country, as well. People like Rashida Tlaib and AOC say what they want – whether about Israel or a subway incident – with no facts and no adversity, save a statement by the CJV about Tlaib’s insane claims about Israel and ethnic cleansing.
Recently, legislators in California have pushed for a bill in which every African American would be awarded about $1.5 million as reparations for slavery. The total bill for this program would be in the many billions.
Never mind that California never participated in slave trade. That’s irrelevant. Wait till the citizens of California realize it’s money out of their pocket. They just may want to rethink it.
More importantly, let’s say the reparation money is well deserved. Will that not serve to keep African Americans free from learning to get a profession? What about the next generation; how will they get by? Like all liberal solutions, this just creates bigger problems. In fact, it is the way that Democrats keep the Blacks on the plantation, ironically enough. Perpetuate their dependency. It’s plain evil disguised as magnanimity. Yet it is encouraging that Blacks are beginning to realize this, as polls show they are not as loyal to the Democratic Party or its leadership as they once were.
So, take the lead from the Budweiser beer revelers and chareidi bread consumers. React. Don’t take the insults anymore. Yes, even though the elite of the politically correct control the country’s agenda, it can be resisted. And it will be pleasantly shocking.
Rabbi Yoel Schonfeld is the Rabbi Emeritus of the Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills, President of the Coalition for Jewish Values, former President of the Vaad Harabonim of Queens, and the Rabbinic Consultant for the Queens Jewish Link.
