How Disney, Bud Light, and Other Big Companies Are in the Middle of America’s Culture War.

As conservatives mobilize around social issues, the Republican Party clashes with corporate America. Will the differences break their historic alliance with big business?

At the home of Sarah Fields, a conservative activist and mother of three from Texas, some of America’s biggest brands are no longer welcome.

She first walked away from Disney, disgusted by children’s shows featuring gay couples.

Boycotts of Olay skincare products and Anheuser-Busch Bud Light beers followed due to working with transsocial media star Dylan Mulvaney.

“My thing is to protect the kids. I started paying attention when I first saw that the companies promoted any kind of LGBTQ ideology or trans among minors,” says Fields, 36. “There are so many more, I can hardly keep track.”

Fields became a political activist during the pandemic, protesting isolation policies she is now a delegate from her state’s Republican Party.

He is one of the people pushing the party to unite around social issues such as gender identity and confront the companies described in some sectors as “awakened” in the United States.

In the midst of political interests

Companies are caught in the crossfire of the American culture war.

As the country polarises, companies are under pressure from employees, customers and shareholdersboth left and right, to choose a side.

But the legislative measures aimed at companies mark one new agency among the Republicanswho traditionally side with big business on issues like lower taxes and less government regulation.

In Florida, state legislators voted in favor of removing Disney’s power over the district where the Disney World park is located. The decision came after Disney criticized a law banning discussions of gender and sexuality in schools.

In Georgia, lawmakers have threatened to revoke a tax break for Delta Airlines after the CEO called changes to election laws “unacceptable.”

Meanwhile, dozens of states are studying various proposals to preventing the government from signing contracts or making arrangements with financial companies that take environmental, social and governance factors into account when making investments.

Moves like these had cost BlackRock, a New York-based American multinational investment company, more than $4 billion in client money as of January.

The measures have been controversial, even among Republicanssome of whom say the proposals go too far by interfering in private matters.

The arguments of the defenders

“It’s my job to protect taxpayers and my constituents from excessive outreach wherever they come from,” said Blaise Ignoglia, one of Florida’s senators who supported the state’s new action against Disney, a battle that has now changed. in a battle. expression.

“They turned their backs on parents and children when they decided sexualization of our most vulnerable youth”.

That’s what Ignoglia says he’s not worried about going up against Disneya company that has supported him in the past and has great economic and political weight in Florida.

On the contrary, he confirms: “I live in the second reddest district [republicano] of the state. My constituents are of the same opinion.”

According to Professor Mark Mizruchi, a sociologist at the University of Michigan, Big business has lost control of the Republican Partywhich has chosen to turn more to the right and add voters with no college education.

In 2022 only the 26% of Republicans said big business had a positive impacta figure similar to that of the Democrats and well below the rate three years ago, according to the Pew Institute.

But Professor Mizruchi says that politicians’ attacks on companies “mainly a smoke screennoting that on issues such as unionization, taxation and regulation, corporate America and Republican leaders remain closely aligned.

The most official corporate political donations in 2022 went to Republicansas has been the case for nearly three decades, according to data from OpenSecrets.

“Republicans need to play this very careful game of supporting the rich and big business behind the scenes, but making it appear publicly that they are on the side of the common man,” Mizruchi said.

“For this reason, waking up is a good way to do it, because it’s not a matter of first necessity [para las empresas]”.

How big is the impact?

The financial impact of conservative attacks seems to be limited until now.

black rock lost less than 2% of your portfolio.

The drop in Bud Light sales in the first three weeks of April represented only 1% of Anheuser-Busch’s total volume.

But the outcry has changed the mood, says Martin Whittaker, CEO of Just Capital, a nonprofit organization that ranks companies on issues such as workers’ compensation and environmental impact.

Many companies are making progress with their internal initiatives. For Whittaker, public debates have calmed down. “You don’t see CEOs showing their faces.”

Disney, which ruled on the Florida law under pressure from its employees, has taken legal action against the Florida government. But other companies seem to be pulling back.

one step back

This year’s annual BlackRock letter barely mentions climate risks, though the company acknowledges the challenges posed by “differences of opinion between regions.”

Credit card companies have made this known will not continue with the changes activists hoped for that would help track arms purchases, leading to legal uncertainty.

Some major financial firms such as Vanguard have withdrawn their support for climate change initiativesreferring to the “confusion” about his views.

Will Hild is CEO of Consumer’s Research, a group that since 2021 has spearheaded multimillion-dollar ad campaigns targeting companies like Nike, American Airlines, Major League Baseball and Levi’s.politics aroused consumer interests”.

“People forget that in 2021 there were companies that publicly participated in the state-level election integrity debate in Georgia and Texas,” says Hild.

“It didn’t happen again in the years that followed. For us, that is an indication that our campaigns have been successful.”

Last month, after weeks of attacks from conservative politicians and analysts over its association with Dylan Mulvaney, Anheuser-Busch suspended two executives and launched a barrage of Bud Light ads peppered with images of American flags and horses galloping across open fields.

The company, which did not respond to the BBC’s request for comment, said it did not intend to “engage in a conversation that divides people”.

“What happened with Bud Light is a great start. That’s how it should be for all companies,” says Sarah the change in the position of the companywhich is seen by many as a victory.

“We need to be less afraid and make our voices heard more.”