The general rule about consumer boycotts is that they rarely work, at least in terms of taking a real bite out of a company’s bottom line.
Take some recent examples. Plenty of coffee drinkers still love their Keurigs, despite a handful of people smashing their already-purchased machines in 2017. In 2018, Nike got a sales boost after angering some conservatives for doing an ad campaign with former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick. In 2020, calls among progressives for a boycott of Goya products semi-backfired — the hullabaloo actually resulted in a brief bump in the food company’s sales.
This year, though, the boycott outlook in the United States has been a little different. Conservative consumers, specifically, have been able to do some damage.
Bud Light’s decision to embark on a small-scale marketing campaign with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney sparked vast outrage on the right this spring. It cost the company millions of dollars in sales and ultimately contributed to Bud Light’s dethroning as the most popular beer in the country.
Then, over the summer, conservatives took aim at Target and its annual Pride collection. Many called for a boycott of the retailer, and some consumers took to going into Target stores to destroy displays and harass employees. Target’s earnings were down for the second quarter. While the Pride backlash wasn’t the only or main issue in play, in an earnings call, a company executive cited “the strong reaction to this year’s Pride assortment” as headwinds during the period. Target now says it’s going to “pause, adapt, and learn” so that its future approach to Pride “balances celebration, inclusivity, and broad-based appeal.”
Neither brand is in dire straits, but they would probably much rather not be in this position.
Conservatives aren’t winning every battle with corporate America — I’m signed up for a service…
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