It appears that some companies have failed to learn anything from the collapse of Bud Light and its parent company Anheuser-Busch. The North Face outdoor apparel company has joined the ranks of Nike, Adidas, and other companies that have partnered with controversial left-wing activists to promote their products.
North Face announced its “Summer of Pride” with a video starring drag queen Pattie Gonia, who encourages viewers to “come out.” Dressed in all-rainbow North Face gear, makeup, and mustache, Gonia says, “Hi, it’s me, Pattie Gonia, a real-life homosexual.”
“I’m here with The North Face. We are here to invite you to come out… in nature with us!” Gonia continues. “This tour has everything: hiking, community, art, lesbians, lesbians making art,” Gonia says. (Trending: Trans Women Wins Major Sports Event)
North Face’s 2023 Pride collection is also targeting children with a wide selection of rainbow-clad clothes, including a T-shirt that says “outdoors together.” The brand is reaching out to children between 2 and 7 years old.
North Face is pushing this for 2-7 year olds pic.twitter.com/jhKbdRyAAT
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) May 24, 2023
North Face has promoted the video to its 5.3 million followers on Instagram. Clothing for adults in the collection goes up to $165. The company says its 2nd yearly Pride event includes plans to “gay sashay across the nation.” The events are held in Portland, Ore., Denver, Colo., Columbus, Ohio, San Francisco, Calif., Salt Lake City, UT, and Atlanta, GA.
“Atlanta G-A…Y? because you’re there,” Gonia says. Many American have vowed never to wear to North Face again over the company’s blatant activism and targeting of children. (Trending: Biden Family Operated Like Organized Crime)
“No more northface gear for us,” one person responded. “I don’t buy any of their stuff but I won’t start either,” another person said.
“Nooooo!!! Not my NorthFace too!!!” one person lamented. “Well, I guess it’s Columbia and Patagonia for me goin forward.”
No more northface gear for us
— 🇺🇸Travis🇺🇸 (@Travis_in_Flint) May 24, 2023
High-profile investor and “Shark Tank” star Kevin O’Leary says he believes the historic collapse of Bud Light will be a topic for business schools moving forward. “This is an extraordinary case, and one I’ll be teaching in business schools across America this fall,” O’Leary explained. “In the history of beer, in the history from when it was marketed, because remember, you’re dealing with a commodity. Beer is essentially the same. What differentiates it is brand.”
“So you spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year building up a brand, and then you have to ask yourself on a campaign that really brings you into a discussion around gender identity, ‘is that the right thing for my beer brand?’” O’Leary continued. “Well, apparently not, because if you spend $200 million a year, the biggest moves in the beer market were measured by 1 to 5% in a year. That’s an extraordinary volatility.”
Kevin O'Leary explaining the Bud Light problem.@kevinolearytv https://t.co/yvrnnfQCHD pic.twitter.com/LKAqNv0ZMs
— Renato Lopes (@renatopllopes) June 4, 2023
“To lose 25% market share has never been achieved, and it’s impossible to even dream it,” he said. “So what have you learned? Social media – a widely held view amongst my CEOs is that if you get a bad social media story, it’s going to go away in 24 to 48 hours. But that didn’t happen here. We’re still talking about this situation months later, and they continue to lose share. That, number one, is an issue. Number two, you’ve really got to understand who your constituency is. What they did there was very damaging,” he concluded.
A poll by Rasmussen Reports in May 2023 found that the majority of American adults at 54% support a boycott of Bud Light. The poll also found that the boycott is more popular among Republicans (66%) than Democrats (42%).
Bud Light sales have plunged in recent months amid backlash to the brand’s decision to partner with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. In the four weeks ending May 28, Bud Light sales fell 23% from the same time period the year before, according to data from Nielsen. This decline is even more pronounced among younger drinkers, with sales down 30% among those aged 18-24.
