“It’s very clear that consumers are running out of money. They’re increasingly stressed by inflation and the exhaustion of their pandemic-era savings. When you take a look over the last several years, what you see month after month, everyone talks about, the consumer’s still spending. They might be, but they’re spending less than the growth of inflation,” Storch Advisors CEO Gerald Storch told Fox Bussiness’ Maria Bartiromo on Thursday during an interview.

This chart sums up the consumer’s dire state.

We noted earlier this week that the National Retail Federation’s annual Prosper Insights & Analytics survey showed lower forecasted spending trends for Halloween among consumers nationwide. The last time this happened was just before the Covid crash. All eyes should be on upcoming Black Friday and Cyber Monday to gauge holiday shopping trends.

One last thing: perhaps mounting economic hardships are some of the drivers as to why US drinking rates have surged to the highest levels since the 1970s inflation storm.

Millions of Americans feel stressed in this disastrous Bidenomics era—it’s only a matter of time before something gives.

(Daily Caller)—Companies’ bottom lines are set to recover from conservatives collectively staging boycotts in 2023 after a number of different marketing campaigns and products pushed left-wing ideals, but the backlash has ultimately changed the trajectory of corporate marketing, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Bud Light, owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev, lost its spot as the top-selling beer in the U.S. in June to Modelo Especial after conservatives boycotted the brand due to a promotion in April featuring transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, similar to other backlash faced by companies like Target and Disney for left-wing marketing tactics. Conservative boycotts have lacked effectiveness in past years, but the backlash delivered in 2023 may discourage future left-wing marketing ideas as businesses seek to avoid controversy, even if those companies have so far been able to weather the storm, according to experts who spoke to the DCNF.

“Regardless of what InBev’s senior management or board members believe in their hearts about transgender activism, it seems clear that they are now committed to stepping away from political controversy to the greatest degree possible,” Richard Morrison, senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, told the DCNF. “No company — especially no consumer products company with a wide customer base — wants to be the next InBev, and no one wants one of their flagship brands to be the next Bud Light. I strongly suspect that the Bud Light boycott — and how to avoid one like it — has been the #1 topic of conversation in every big corporate marketing team in 2023.”

Sales for Bud Light have yet to recover following the backlash, down 30% weekly compared to last year, according to CNN. U.S. revenue in the third quarter for Anheuser-Busch declined 13.5% per 100 liters, and sales to retailers declined 16.6%.

Consumer boycotts, particularly from conservatives, have in the past failed to affect businesses and their marketing strategies, with calls to boycott home coffee machine maker Keurig in 2017 after pulling advertisements from Sean Hannity’s show on Fox having little effect, according to Vox. Nike received a bump in profits after conservatives sought to boycott the shoemaker following an advertisement with former NFL quarterback and activist Colin Kaepernick in 2018.

“With respect to the boycotts, I would say they have had mixed success,” Paul Mueller, senior research fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research, told the DCNF. “On the one hand, Budweiser saw instant and significant backlash that led to change. Target has made some changes on the margins. Disney has mostly dug its heels in but they are certainly still feeling heat. Consumer boycotts tend to be transitory. People initially stop buying products and services because of shock or anger. But they rarely change their long-term buying habits.”

Top retailer Target lowered its sales and profit expectations for the rest of the year in August after its third quarter sales fell for the first time in six years. The decline in sales followed conservative backlash due to the company releasing a pride month collection that included LGBT merchandise marketed to kids.

Target has since appeared to double down on its marketing strategy, hiring Erik Thompson as a senior LGBTQIA+ segmentation and pride lead in November. The company recently sold pride-themed merchandise like rainbow nutcrackers and Christmas ornaments during the holiday season.

Disney faced conservative backlash in 2023 over its inclusion of LGBT characters and left-wing narratives in its new movies, like “The Marvels” in November, which had poor reception and box office performance. In Disney’s 10-K financial statement made public in November, the company recognized its social activism as a risk factor for future performance, noting that profitability could be affected due to environmental and social goals being misaligned with consumer tastes.

Bud light stock seems fine at this moment. pic.twitter.com/MQ8GOrYiMh

— OneALL (@bifta9) December 27, 2023

“Many times the eventual outcome is relatively proportional to the offense,” Mueller told the DCNF. “Budweiser, for example, has basically recovered its stock price for its ill-advised commercials. Target and Disney, however, have faced longer and more significant consequences for continuing in behavior that many consumers don’t like. That being said, both Target and Disney face broader market and industry pressure beyond backlash from their political and social advocacy and stances.”

Anheuser-Busch’s stock price has mostly recovered from the investor pullback following its deal with Mulvaney, after declining rapidly in May from $65.90 a share to $53.40 a share, according to Yahoo Finance. The company’s stock remained depressed below $60 a share until November when it climbed to near previous levels.

Financial institutions have also faced backlash for their use of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors when making investments, resulting in a decline in market share of new bond issuance for ESG investments in 2023.

“There has definitely been a decline in enthusiasm for ESG investing in general in 2023, but that’s likely because of both its own internal contradictions and association with unpopular left-wing policy goals,” Morrison told the DCNF. “ESG in general is much more likely to be focused on climate change and energy use than sex and gender identity politics, but the general association with entities like the World Economic Forum, ‘degrowth’ economics advocates, the UN’s sustainable development goals, and big-government management of the economy has caused a populist rejection of ESG much greater than even a couple of years ago, when the term had very little awareness outside of academic and business conferences.”

ESG investing has gained scrutiny from Republican officials as well, prompting Ohio Republican Rep. Jim Jordan, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, to subpoena top financial firms Vanguard, Arjuna Capital, BlackRock and State Street Global in December over allegations of ESG collusion violating antitrust law.

Republican-led states, like Florida and Texas, have previously pulled their money from investment firm BlackRock over the company’s use of ESG investments, totaling $4.5 billion in withdrawals in 2022.

Anheuser-Busch, Target and Disney did not respond to a request to comment from the DCNF.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact [email protected].

Target Corp., the popular American department store chain, may be in for another round of lessons in the consequences of annoying its consumers with “Pride” merchandising. With the Christmas season approaching quickly, Target has a special gift for Americans: a woke Christmas.

Shoppers can expect to see “gay Santas and LGBTQ-themed nutcrackers” on Target’s shelves of this season, the Washington Examiner reported.

Erik Thompson, identified as a “Senior LGBTQIA+ Segmentation Strategist & Pride Lead,” announced he would be joining Target in an Instagram post earlier this week. His post appears to have been deleted.

In the post, which decried the devastating consumer boycott over the summer after Target sold creepy LGBTQ-themed merchandise marketed to minors, Thompson promised “Glitter & Hellfire” to “rip that old world to shreds.”

Quite frankly, I’m almost awestruck at the doubling-down amid what has been, unequivocally, the most powerful year for boycotters of absurdly liberal business promotions.

Lest we forget, the conservative backlash against Anheuser-Busch for partnering transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney with its Bud Light brand cost the company at least $15.7 billion. It also resulted in lots of Bud Light sitting unpurchased on thousands of pallets around the country.

Benoit Garbe, Anheuser-Busch’s former U.S. chief marketing officer, was removed Nov. 16 after Bud Light sales refused to bounce back.

Target suffered similarly, with stock losses of nearly $14 billion and sales slumps of 5.4% in stores and 10.5% online in the second quarter. Target’s CFO blamed the losses on the “reaction to our Pride assortment.”

The Walt Disney Co.’s woke strategies met similar reactions, with streaming subscriptions slumping, park attendance abysmal, and movie releases failing box office expectations. Releases of the live-action “The Little Mermaid” and Disney-owned Marvel’s “The Marvels” lost hundreds of millions apiece for the megacorporation.

In September, Disney CEO Bob Iger told investors that he would endeavor to “quiet the noise” of Disney’s previous political posturing, and since has delayed release of the live-action version of “Snow White” by a full year, following leaks that revealed a serious departure from Disney’s original animated movie from 1937.

Despite crystal-clear indicators that this is the perfect time for companies to quit political posturing and pushing liberal propagandistic efforts, it looks like Target will take the same lessons yet again—and stubbornly so.

The reaction to Luke Gentile’s reporting in the Washington Examiner already looks bad for Target.

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., calls it an insult to his constituents and warns of legislative consequences.

“When companies like Target that insult conservatives seek Republicans’ help on Capitol Hill,” Cotton said, “our response will be: ‘I’m sorry that’s happening to you. Best of luck.’”

In a market where traditionally brick-and-mortar stores face increasingly threatening competition from online retailers, Target can’t afford to play so loosely during the holiday season. Anheuser-Busch’s decision to double down after the Mulvaney fiasco cost the beermaker far more than profit margins; such arrogance cost many of its employees their jobs because of the brewery company’s unwillingness to appease the market.

The answer to such inflammatory shenanigans is deceptively simple: Apologize and get back to doing what you do best.

Heckler & Koch, a German arms manufacturer I’m quite fond of, previously employed a social media manager who had begun to use her platform at the brand to lecture H&K fans about sexism.

The backlash began to build following a Twitchy article, with boycotts almost certain. But Heckler & Koch then broke the mold. It fired the woke social media manager and issued a statement on X, formerly Twitter: “H&K does not engage in identity politics. A policy was violated. Changes were made.”

Since that post, H&K sales have risen comfortably. No boycotts, no drop in sales, no problem.

If Target wants a merry Christmas and a happy new year, it only has to stop with the identity politics that have fatigued millions of Americans. We don’t need to hear about Santa’s sex life or which gender the nutcracker is pretending to be.

As one consumer posted on X: “This is so annoying, I just want to shop.”

How executives can miss the forest for the trees in such a monumental blunder is truly beyond me. If Target wants to learn the same lesson again, then by all means we will deliver until the corporation’s leaders get the message.

Target’s products are going to get more expensive this fall. The company’s CEO is warning about tougher conditions for shoppers and also raising the alarm about the state of the U.S. economy. The retailer is one of the biggest general merchandise companies in America, and its household goods, groceries, and clothing are about to face some of the steepest price increases since 2019.

If you are a frequent shopper at other retail giants, you probably have noticed that Target’s prices are already notably higher. Even after offering deep discounts to get rid of inventory in 2022 and bearing a 90% profit drop, the company still had to pass higher supply chain costs to shoppers over the past year. And now, it is trying to stabilize its balance sheet by introducing significant price markups on thousands of products.

The Minneapolis retailer’s chief executive officer has issued a dire warning to U.S. consumers for the second half of the year. Brian Cornell said he expects rising interest rates, which makes credit cards more expensive to use, and higher prices on food and energy to continue to put a strain on shoppers.

The big-box store chain missed sales expectations in the second quarter, and according to its latest earnings report, revenue also came lower than expected. Executives pointed to a growing economic malaise, and uncertainty from the restart of student loan repayments as some of the reasons for the deteriorating outlook for the months ahead. Despite falling sales volumes and a tighter environment for consumer spending, Target says it will have to continue hiking prices to improve profitability and meet its financial goals.

Fiddelke noted that price increases are “always the last lever” the retailer pulls, but “external conditions led us to raise prices across a broad set of items in multiple categories,” he added.

Other retailers are doing the same. Home Depot, the nation’s largest home improvement retailer, reported declining sales in its second-quarter earnings results. The company noted that it’s seeing weak sales volumes in several big-ticket items like patio furniture and appliances. For that reason, it has decided to raise the price of smaller home-improvement items to offset its losses.

At this point, Target is considered as one of the highest-priced retailers of 2023. A Business Insider comparison between Target and other major retailers found that Target’s prices are on average 15% to 25% higher than some of its competitors. With consumers having to cover for the company’s financial losses via higher prices, it’s understandable why Wall Street isn’t seeing a bright future for the retailer in the months ahead.

Americans are sick and tired of price increases, and they are likely to search for better deals at other stores instead of going to Target. Even though the markups may help Target to boost revenue in the short term, it will hurt consumer confidence, and ultimately, do more harm than good to its bottom line in the long run. At a time when big retailers are facing a heightened risk of bankruptcy, Target should be actively considering better strategies to bolster its performance and avoid experiencing even more hardships in the future.

Video and article via Epic Economist.

This is a good thing, because the only way these companies are going to willingly change their behavior is if they see that pushing a radical social agenda dramatically affects the bottom line.

Bud Light is a perfect example.  On April 1st, Dylan Mulvaney sent shockwaves all over the Internet by promoting Bud Light on social media…

On April 1, Mulvaney posted two pictures on social media.

In one picture, she held a can of Bud Light with her picture on it, and in another picture, she sat in a bubble bath with Bud Light cans around her.

At first a lot of people thought that this was a joke.

After all, it seemed extremely unlikely that a company like Bud Light would actually hire Dylan Mulvaney to promote the brand.

But that is precisely what happened, and the backlash was furious.

To this day, millions of conservatives are refusing to purchase Bud Light, and sales have fallen “by more than 25%”…

After four months of hiring freezes and layoffs — with some beer truck drivers getting heckled and harassed even as Bud Light sales have dropped by more than 25% — Anheuser-Busch wholesalers have accepted that they have lost a chunk of their customers for good — and need to focus on a new crop of drinkers.

“Consumers have made a choice,” said an executive at a Texas-based beer distributor who did not want to be identified. “They have left [Bud Light] and that’s how it’s going to be. I don’t envision a big percentage of them coming back.”

Target is another example.

It turns out that millions of conservative parents were absolutely disgusted by the sick clothing and accessories that the retailer was promoting to their children, and so many of them simply stopped shopping there. As a result, sales results for the second quarter were extremely dismal…

The second quarter just wrapped up for the 2024 fiscal year, meaning it’s time to dive in and see who crushed it … and who got crushed.

Target, as you can probably guess by now, falls into the latter category.

“Target was our worst performer in the quarter, primarily driven by customers and public reaction to in-store promotions for the month of June,” Smead Capital Management wrote in a letter to investors this week.

Over the past year, shares of Target are down more than 20 percent, and the outlook for the future is not good at all.

Netflix is another company that has learned that it does not pay to go woke.

After coming out with a very twisted slate of “woke” programming over the past couple of years, the streaming giant has begun to hemorrhage subscribers.

In fact, the company lost nearly a million subscribers during the second quarter alone…

The carnage at Netflix keeps getting worse. On Tuesday, the far left-wing streamer revealed that it lost close to 1 million subscribers in the second quarter — the largest quarterly loss of customers in the company’s history.

I fully expect the “carnage” at Netflix to continue, but there is one company that has all of the other examples that I have shared with you so far beat by a mile.

Once upon a time, parents all over America trusted Disney to produce family-friendly content for their children. As a result, Disney became one of the largest entertainment companies in the world.

But then Disney went “woke”, and results started to turn sour.

Here in 2023, Disney movie after Disney movie has absolutely flopped at the box office, and it is being projected that the company’s film losses so far this year could be around a billion dollars…

Disney have faced a summer of box office disasters bringing the studio’s total losses to almost $1 billion. This includes Harrison Ford’s Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny being set to go down as one of the biggest flops in Hollywood history.

Unfortunately, even after everything that we have already witnessed, some companies out there continue to insist on pushing “woke” propaganda.

Earlier today, Costa Coffee was making national headlines for all the wrong reasons…

Anti-LGBTQ social media users are threatening to boycott the world’s second-largest coffee chain after a photo of one of its mobile cafe vans, which bore an illustration of a transgender person, began to circulate online Monday.

The hashtag #BoycottCostaCoffee garnered traction after outspoken critics took issue with the illustration, which shows a trans person with scars from a double mastectomy, also known as top surgery. Others tweeted in support of the illustration, saying it brought visibility to trans people. It was not immediately clear when the illustration was first displayed or how many cafe vans it was printed on.

This certainly isn’t going to help them sell coffee.

So why are they doing it?

Our country is so divided today, and CEOs know that getting involved in politics will likely alienate a substantial portion of the consumer base.

But some CEOs just continue to make self-destructive decisions anyway.

Needless to say, it isn’t just companies that are going “woke” and paying a price for it.

Entire states have chosen to embrace “woke” ideology, and this is one of the reasons why so many people and businesses have been migrating from blue states to red states…

With a single tweet, Chamath Palihapitiya, the CEO of Social Capital, recently became the provocative main character of the day on Twitter (now rebranding to X).

Palihapitiya sent out a screenshot of a Bloomberg article based on how six southern states had contributed more to U.S. gross domestic product than the northeast corridor of Washington-New York-Boston for the first time in history.

But it was his accompanying caption that sparked hot debate: “Go woke, go broke,” he said, implying that the ongoing culture war and economic policies of northeastern states had facilitated the migration of wealth and economic power to the South.

Of course the largest “woke” institution of all is the federal government.

And it deeply grieves me to write that.

The Republic that our founders established is unrecognizable today, and thanks to our deeply liberal spending policies we are now 32 trillion dollars in debt.

On Tuesday, Fitch announced that it had decided to officially downgrade U.S. debt from AAA to AA+…

President Biden’s administration is placing the blame for the U.S.’ drop in credit rating on former President Donald Trump and the Jan. 6 riots.

Fitch announced Tuesday it has officially downgraded the U.S.’ long-term foreign-currency issuer default rating to “AA+” from “AAA,” saying the downgrade “reflects the expected fiscal deterioration” and the nation’s heavy debt burden.

This is a really big deal, especially if the downgrade turns out to be permanent.

Our entire society is on a deeply self-destructive path, and we desperately need to wake up from all of this “woke” nonsense.mWill that happen? Let us hope so, because the clock is ticking…

Michael’s new book entitled “End Times” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can check out his new Substack newsletter right here.

Article cross-posted from The Economic Collapse Blog.

That’s their story according to conservative commentator Mark Levin. His book, aptly titled “The Democrat Party Hates America,” is being sold just about everywhere other than Target. Even woke companies like Amazon and Walmart know a bestseller when they see it.

Target has informed my publisher, Simon & Schuster, that it will not carry my new book when it is released on September 19.  It claims that certain customers might be offended by the title.  Imagine that!  So, the corporatist leftwing censorship begins.  I will discuss this in…

— Mark R. Levin (@marklevinshow) July 5, 2023

According to The Blaze:

Many on social media pointed out the hypocrisy of Target allowing merchandise into its stores with extremist messages supporting the transgender agenda while refusing a conservative book with merely a provocative title. Some had already previously called for a boycott against the store over its support of the far-left agenda.

Levin says the book is intended to lay out the sinister history of the Democratic Party and call on Americans to reject and dismantle the organization.

“If we are going to save this country, and I truly mean it, the Democrat Party must not just be defeated, it must be obliterated,” said Levin about his book.

Levin responded on his Fox News show as well as on Twitter:

Target will not carry THE DEMOCRAT PARTY HATES AMERICA because it might offend Democrats. Pathetic. You can go to Amazon.com and order directly, without going through Democrat-Party corporatists. I want to thank Barnes & Noble, Walmart, and Books-A- Million for order copies upon the book’s release.

Target will not carry THE DEMOCRAT PARTY HATES AMERICA because it might offend Democrats.  Pathetic.  You can go to https://t.co/qUZvhEf1BI and order directly, without going through Democrat-Party corporatists.  I want to thank Barnes & Noble, Walmart, and Books-A- Million for… pic.twitter.com/pqzZVgGqAC

— Mark R. Levin (@marklevinshow) July 6, 2023

If you needed another reason to never shop at Target again, this is it.

He used as his example the story below about 645 employees of glass plants losing their jobs because their biggest customer was Anheuser-Busch and business is tanking.

“Should we move on to someone else?” he continued. “Redirect our efforts towards more worthy targets? Ease off on Bud Light to demonstrate forgiveness over a minor transgression compared to more egregious wokeness by other companies?”

Again, all of these questions/arguments are logical. They’re also wrong.

As unfortunate as it is that there are hundreds of employees of a company that lost their jobs because of our push against Anheuser-Busch, now is not the time to ease up. The pressure must be kept on Anheuser-Busch for two reasons. First, they haven’t actually learned their lesson as they continue to support wokeness with or without Dylan Mulvaney. Second and more importantly, the company’s ongoing pain is sending a message to other companies to tread lightly on woke issues. That’s a start. They need to be made to fear us more than they fear leftists.

The left has been able to take over much of corporate America’s mindset through fear. Radical activists have put tremendous efforts into bullying campaigns that harm businesses who aren’t woke enough. Granted, these efforts are heavily funded by people like George Soros and Mike Bloomberg, but that’s no excuse for the right’s inability to match them. We have the numbers. They have the billionaires and the radicals. We need to use our strengths, just as we’ve done with Bud Light.

Rather than give Anheuser-Busch a reprieve, we need to put the same efforts toward boycotts of other companies and organizations. It bugs me when I see conservatives on social media lambasting the radical messaging coming out of Hollywood, for example, then posting their thoughts about the latest Marvel movie they just paid to watch in theaters or on Netflix.

We’ve seen minor changes at one of the wokest companies in the world, Disney, as a result of some pressure. That pressure needs to be a full-blown boycott by anyone who loves America. The message needs to be that any movie or show they put out is going to bomb horribly. We don’t need to wait until it’s declared that the latest movie or show is woke. Just boycott them. And it’s not just a message to them. It’s a message to their investors.

But even boycotting is not enough. The left hasn’t found success by simply avoiding not-woke-enough companies. Their success is in the way they organize protests, send letters, make phone calls, and otherwise make news about their cause. By no means am I suggesting we should glue our hands to paintings in museums like the climate change cultists. That’s just dumb. But we should be applying far more pressure on those around us to join in boycotting and protesting woke companies.

We need to be activists in our own ways.

For some, activism can be as bold as changing our lives to benefit the cause. Missionaries are the original religious activists, following in the footsteps of the Apostles, who were willing to make bold changes in order to spread the Gospel. That’s the type of dedication we need from some if we’re going to make the right changes.

For others, activism can be as simple as boycotting loudly. Not shopping at Target is a start, but if losing your business is all you make them feel, it’s just a drop in the ocean. We need to  not only boycott companies like Target but tell others they should do the same. We’ve all seen leftists wearing ludicrous T-shirts declaring their cause du jour. We should act similarly, either literally or figuratively, by spreading the word about companies whose actions we need corrected.

I’m not offering solutions. I’m just prompting thoughts. There are others out there who have the skills and resources to properly organize the types of actions we need. I’m just a guy behind a keyboard who no longer watches movies and never orders Chipotle. But I am hopeful that patriotic Americans can learn the lesson from what’s happening to Bud Light and come to the conclusion that we need to double our efforts, not back down. Here’s the article about the “Casualties of Wokeism” from Discern Reporter:

Casualties of Wokeism: Glass Bottling Plants Forced to Shut Down Over Bud Light Debacle

Anheuser-Busch’s botched promotion featuring transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney has led to the closure of two glass bottling plants operated by Ardagh Group, a global glass producer and contractor for the company. As Bud Light continues to face significant financial losses and declining sales, approximately 645 employees will be laid off as a result of the plant closures in North Carolina and Louisiana, according to WRAL.

While the bottling company did not officially disclose the reason behind the closures, an investigation by WRAL revealed that the plants are shutting down due to plummeting Bud Light sales. Nationwide boycotts in response to the controversial Bud Light partnership with Mulvaney, known as “365 Days of Girlhood,” have adversely affected retailers, distributors, bars, and contracted companies associated with the brand.

Workers at the affected bottling plants reportedly observed a decrease in production after Mulvaney’s video announcement of the collaboration on social media gained attention in April. The impact of the boycott resulted in some machines being taken offline at the Louisiana and North Carolina plants, as noted by a machine repair mechanic interviewed by WRAL, who attributed it to “the Bud Light situation.”

An internal memo from Ardagh Group obtained by WRAL stated that the decision to close the two plants was due to slow sales with Anheuser-InBev. Longtime employees expressed little surprise at the closures, given that a significant portion of their business at those plants involved producing bottles for Budweiser and Bud Light.

Employees at the Wilson, North Carolina plant reportedly confirmed that their manager attributed the closure to the Bud Light boycott, with David Williams, a machine repair mechanic, stating, “‘Because of Budweiser no longer selling the bottle, they no longer needed our product.'”

Since the controversial promotion featuring Mulvaney and the subsequent backlash, Bud Light sales have suffered a decline that shows no signs of recovery. The brand has experienced substantial losses in market value and has taken various measures to mitigate the fallout. These steps include significant beer discounts, consumer rebates that make Bud Light practically free in certain markets, support for distributors, increased marketing efforts, a new summer ad campaign, and CEO Brendan Whitworth’s appearance on “CBS Mornings” to address the situation.

Despite these efforts, the negative sentiment surrounding the Bud Light brand persists, resulting in ongoing sales slides. NielsenIQ data provided to FOX Business by Bump Williams Consulting revealed that Bud Light sales were down 24.4% compared to the previous year for the week ending June 3. During the same period, Modelo Especial surpassed Bud Light as the top-selling beer brand on a dollar basis.

Mulvaney recently criticized the controversy surrounding Bud Light, highlighting the increased bullying and transphobia faced as a consequence. The transgender influencer also expressed disappointment with the lack of support from the company while dealing with transphobic incidents.

Sound off about this story on my Substack.

New York Attorney General Letitia James is apparently not a fan of Target shifting its position on its “Pride Month” merchandise—which included a “tuck-friendly” swimsuit for men who want to wear women’s suits, an LGBT-themed onesie, and items designed by a company known for its “Satan Respects Pronouns” pin.

In a move that would generally elicit frantic cries about the end of democracy, James, a Democrat, has decided that she and other elected officials, not Target’s customers or employees, should decide the retail giant’s marketing strategy.

“Target’s decision to pull some of its pride merchandise because of backlash from anti-LGBTQ+ customers is wrong,” tweeted James on Wednesday.

“Hatred and bigotry can’t win: New York elected officials and I are urging @Target to reverse its decision and stand up for #LGTBQ+ rights,” she added, saying that she and other elected officials had sent a letter.

.@Target's decision to pull some of its pride merchandise because of backlash from anti-LGBTQ+ customers is wrong.

Hatred and bigotry can't win: New York elected officials and I are urging @Target to reverse its decision and stand up for #LGTBQ+ rights.

— NY AG James (@NewYorkStateAG) June 14, 2023

How is this James’ or other New York elected officials’ business?

Before you bring up Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ war with Disney, remember this: Disney started that by speaking out against the Parental Rights in Education bill, legislation that had the audacity to limit what could be said about sexual orientation or gender identity among kids in kindergarten through third grade.

Target, as far as I know, has taken no positions on New York legislation. Nor did James cite any examples in her tweets.

No, this is just straight-up a politician trying to intimidate a private business because that private business isn’t acting the way the politician prefers.

And by using her government Twitter account and citing a letter signed by her and other “elected officials,” James is making no pretense of acting as a private citizen. No, she’s talking as one of the most powerful people in one of the most influential states in the U.S.

She’s also taking a move straight from the playbook of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who tweeted earlier this year that “California won’t be doing business with @walgreens” after Walgreens announced it wouldn’t sell abortifacient drugs in some states.

California won't be doing business with @walgreens — or any company that cowers to the extremists and puts women's lives at risk.

We're done.https://t.co/OB10cYfm8H

— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) March 6, 2023

Three months later, Newsom’s threat appeared to be mostly bluster. California has now reportedly allowed Walgreens to bid for a major contract again. The state also continues to let Medicaid patients use Walgreens. (But don’t think Newsom had a change of heart. Apparently, it’s likely illegal to ban Medicaid patients from Walgreens.)

Walgreens’ move, mind you, came when 21 states’ attorney generals announced they didn’t think it was legal for pharmacy chains to sell abortifacient drugs in their states.

Still, though, Newsom clearly tried to use California’s economic muscle to force pharmacies in red states to uphold blue state’ values.

Again, democracy is not in fashion when it comes to people who don’t hold the “right” views.

That brings us to the real reason James (likely) is taking this completely inappropriate step: The Left is suddenly in real danger of losing the culture war.

Sure, leftists may have forced same-sex marriage on all 50 states in a 2015 Supreme Court decision that went against the votes of 31 states’ residents. Yes, they might be manipulating laws and regulations to promote the trans agenda, even at the expense of women’s safety and privacy. And yes, they may have captured the boardrooms, Big Tech, the universities, Hollywood, and so many more institutions.

But as the Bud Light boycott and the Target backlash shows, people are beginning to wake up—and realize they’re not alone.

In fact, there are a lot of Americans who have an issue with a man who “identifies” as a woman promoting womanhood. There are a lot of Americans who think that they shouldn’t have to explain to their kids when running errands what a “tuck-friendly” swimsuit is. There are a lot of Americans who think that teen girls shouldn’t have to risk their safety and compete against teen boys in girls’ sports, just because the boys want to say they’re now girls.

Bud Light is no longer the top-selling beer in the country. (Congratulations to Modelo Especial, which took the crown.) “Bud Light sales have been roughly 25% lower year-over-year in every single week since it partnered with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney for an Instagram post in early April,” reports CNN. Things are so dire that Bud Light is planning to “provide financial assistance to its wholesalers” and “reimburse fuel for distributors’ trucks,” CNN also reported.

Meanwhile, Target’s stock was at its lowest price in three years Wednesday. It got dinged by Bank of America, which “lowered its price objective from $180 to $145 while saying the reduction is a response to weakened peer multiples, decelerating traffic, and modest mobile app engagement,” reported Fox Business.

Other companies are no doubt taking note.

That’s what leftists like AG James can’t stand.

The Left doesn’t just accept losses. Whether it’s through an activist Supreme Court, lawmaking by bureaucrats, or other moves, the Left is always trying to find some way—no matter how absurdly unconstitutional it is—to get its objectives through.

So, James is trying something new, and effectively saying to Target, “shame if anything happened to that nice business you got.” Even more amazingly, this comes at a time when Target is reportedly getting bomb threats from someone who “accused Target of betraying the LGBTQ+ community,” per The Washington Post.

For once in recent years, the Left is losing a battle in the culture war. But instead of doubling down on their arguments for their views and making the case democratically, they’re resorting to thuggish intimidation.

Article cross-posted from Daily Signal.

Shareholders were hit with lowered projections, according to a report from Bank of America’s Global Research division on June 14, as Target faces the worse downgrade in three years.

Many customers have been boycotting Target over its pro-LGBT stance since May, ahead of June Pride Month, leading the retailer to take losses.

The backlash against corporate activists has forced many executives at other companies to think twice when it comes to potentially divisive issues due to fear of public backlash from all sides.

Target Offends Both Sides of Transgender Wars

A boycott by conservatives forced the retailer to remove or relocate several controversial items, including what was described as “tuck-friendly” children’s swimsuits, which are regularly worn by transgender individuals.

“It’s hideous. It’s exactly what a dude pretending to be a woman would wear,” comedian Chrissie Mayr told Fox News Digital.

Other products, such as a “Gender Fluid” mug and a variety of adult clothing with slogans such as “Super Queer” among other items, were also targets of the boycott.

The retailer had already sparked an earlier boycott in 2016 after it publicly allowed “transgender team members and guests to use the restroom or fitting room facility that corresponds with their gender identity.”

After a social-media backlash and protests by conservative shoppers, Target pulled some of the objectionable LGBT retail displays from its stores, causing some gay and transgender activists to attack the brand for backing down ahead of Pride Month.

The move even sparked employee safety issues at several locations, including bomb threats from LGBT supporters.

Retailer Loses Billions Over Conservative Boycott

Target had lost over $15 billion in losses at one point, as the protests began to affect its market value last month.

The company’s market value recovered slightly, to $63 billion, on June 15, after falling from its high of $74 billion at the beginning of May, right before the backlash, according to market data.

Meanwhile, Bank of America lowered Target’s price target from $180 to $145.

“Downside risks to our price objective are gross margin pressures from labor costs, investments, and the rapid growth of the lower-margin e-commerce channel as well as aggressive competition from competitors,” Bank of America analyst Robert Ohmes wrote in the report.

Target’s CEO also warned last month in an earnings call that the company was expecting $500 million in losses for 2023, blaming violent crime and a surge in shoplifting in its stores.

“Worsening shrink rates are putting significant pressure on our financial results,” CEO Brian Cornell told investors, adding that “violent incidents are increasing” at Target and at other retailers.

Last week, Citi analyst Paul Lejuez lowered Target’s stock to “neutral” from “buy” and recommended that investors put their money into its rival Walmart, which he predicted would begin absorbing its market share.

“We believe Walmart is likely to continue gaining market share, and Target’s high exposure to discretionary sales will not serve them well in the current macro backdrop,” Lejuez said a note.

To make things worse,  JPMorgan Chase downgraded Target’s stock at the start of the month, as analysts predicted a decline in sales due to persistent inflation.

On June 5, KeyBanc Capital Markets reduced the retailer’s shares to “sector weight” from “overweight,” after the debt-ceiling agreement and the resumption of student loan payments led to projections of a sizable headwind regarding shoppers’ future discretionary spending.

Article cross-posted from our premium news partners at The Epoch Times.

Just this week, the Los Angeles Dodgers invited a full-fledged hate group called the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence to stage an event at its upcoming “Pride Night” on June 16. Said hate group performed a blasphemous mock-up of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ using homosexuals and transgenders to recreate the scene.

It is about the most disgusting and perverse type of thing you can imagine, and this is what passes for an “American pastime” in 2023, with the full endorsement of the MLB.

“This hate group calls itself the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, but all it really is is a bunch of degenerate perverts who engage in blasphemy,” warns John Nolte, writing for Breitbart News. “Its whole reason for being is to attack and defile the Christian faith. This group of cruel gays and transvestites exists only to shove its hatred of Christianity into the face of Christians.”

“The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence is nothing more or less than a vicious hate group, and Major League Baseball has extended it an invitation, has brought it under the umbrella of the MLB imprimatur, and is legitimizing and normalizing hatred of Christians.”

Like any skilled child molester, corporate America has refined the art of corrupting and destroying children with LGBT grooming and programming

Anheuser-Busch is another corporate mouthpiece for pushing Sodom and Gomorrah “values” on America with its recent Bud Light Dylan Mulvaney stunt – anything to corrupt your children by luring them into sexual perversion as early as possible.

The Walt Disney Company is much more sinister, churning out children’s cartoons and other programming that are indelibly laced with brazen wickedness and grooming tactics designed to brainwash children into joining the Cult of LGBT.

Since said cult cannot reproduce on its own, it has to recruit, which is what Disney, Anheuser-Busch, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and many other perverse institutions have made their primary focus.

“After spending decades gaining the trust of you and your children (which is what all child molesters do), Disney is now exposing your children to the ‘joys’ of being gay, a transvestite, a drag queen, or a transsexual,” Nolte says.

“Disney is openly and aggressively interfering with the normal sexual development of your children as a means to allow degenerates to exploit and abuse them. Disney is desperate to normalize exposing children to adult sexuality, to normalize the path to unhappiness, disease, suicide, and Hell.”

Target, meanwhile, is trying to recruit children into not just the Cult of LGBT but also blatant Satanism. While we have received word that Target is backtracking, at least for now, on its latest “Pride Collection” clothing offerings for children, suffice it to say that Target wants as many children to become little Baphomet posers wearing its grotesque clothing.

“We are so far beyond live and let live,” Nolte writes.

“No, what we have is some of the world’s largest and most powerful corporations … actively abusing our trust to expose and normalize hate and to target innocent children with perversions, Satan worship, innocence-shattering images, and men so evil they want to dress up as women and behave sexually in front of little boys and girls.”

The fall of Rome is nothing compared to what is happening to the United States in real time. To learn more, visit Collapse.news.

Sources include:

• Breitbart.com
• NaturalNews.com
• NATURAL NEWS