I think the Bud Light thing started as shareholder primacy in two ways:
1. Budweiser is a massive company that is in search of new markets to maximize revenue. Pretty much any new revenue is going to be on the way out margin of society because they have been swamping the airwaves targeting the main stream markets (i.e. white males) for decades. Transgender people are less than 1% of the population, so a pretty small market segment. but LGTBQ overall is probably about 10%. When you already own much of the mainstream market, that is a pretty big new market. In the wake of Obergefell etc., they probably thought they were ok to go after it. The recent conservative push to demonize that market segment probably caught them totally flat-footed with a totally unexpected response by their regular customer base.
2. Similar problem with staffing. Labor participation rate of 25-54 year olds is currently 83%, near the highest value recorded. If you want to hire people, you need to tap into people you wouldn't even have thought of 20-30 years ago. LGBTQ is such a segment.
I think the Bud Light thing started as shareholder primacy in two ways:
1. Budweiser is a massive company that is in search of new markets to maximize revenue. Pretty much any new revenue is going to be on the way out margin of society because they have been swamping the airwaves targeting the main stream markets (i.e. white males) for decades. Transgender people are less than 1% of the population, so a pretty small market segment. but LGTBQ overall is probably about 10%. When you already own much of the mainstream market, that is a pretty big new market. In the wake of Obergefell etc., they probably thought they were ok to go after it. The recent conservative push to demonize that market segment probably caught them totally flat-footed with a totally unexpected response by their regular customer base.
2. Similar problem with staffing. Labor participation rate of 25-54 year olds is currently 83%, near the highest value recorded. If you want to hire people, you need to tap into people you wouldn't even have thought of 20-30 years ago. LGBTQ is such a segment.
The most marginalized (and demonized) group in America today is White heterosexual men.