Could Ben and Jerry’s go down like Bud light, or is their ice cream too darn delicious?
It seems Ben and Jerry's may be next in the firing line after they made waves with a provocative 4th of July tweet claiming the US is on stolen Indigenous land.
Could we witness a downturn similar to Bud Light?
Or is their irresistibly good ice cream strong enough to keep their ship afloat?
Edit: Side note - in the absence of B&J, what ice cream are you turning to?
I’m in AUS. So B&J was a game changer. Not anything else like it that I’m aware of.
Bud light saw a temporary drop in revenue because a big part of their market is right wing reactionary morons. Ben and Jerries doesn’t market towards those types, they’ve always been a relatively ethical and left(ish) leaning company. Saying something like ”the United States is on stolen indigenous land” will only make B&J’s more popular.
Also let’s not forget that Bud Light is just one of the several hundred brands that are owned by Anheuser Busch, the actual drop in revenue is basically nothing to them.
Well that’s not what they are saying. Dunno where you’re getting your data.
And why right wing?
I’m talking after the lgbtq+ push back, after they refused to stand by their convictions and abandoned Mulvaney and the whole movement.
I don’t believe you to be honest. I think you’re just saying that now to try to save face.
And if that was what you were talking about then your post makes even less sense than I thought. Why would an obviously true statement like “The USA exists on stolen indigenous land” made by a company that everyone already knows is sorta left leaning politically (and has been saying things like that for decades) ever piss off their market of the exact type of person who would agree with a statement like that?
It’s fascinating that you’ve decided to pigeonhole consumers and their reactions into simplistic ‘left’ and ‘right’ categories. As I stated before, Bud Light faced significant backlash. However, contrary to your assertion, it wasn’t just ‘right-wing reactionary morons’ but included a broad spectrum of customers, including those from the LGBTQ+ community. You might want to look into the reactions of Mulvaney herself. Is she too a reactionary moron?
You’ve conveniently chosen to focus only on left-leaning consumers when talking about Ben and Jerry’s, but customers are not monolithic. Their preferences, beliefs, and reactions to a brand’s actions are diverse and complex. Ignoring this reality is an oversimplification at best, and at worst, an arrogant dismissal of diversity.
(Also, congratulations on learning how to edit your comments Hahah)
The backlash that Bud Light faced from LGBTQ people was not for the same thing that they faced backlash from the right for, it was because they left Dylan in the dust to fend for herself against hoards of angry reactionaries. Or in other words they pretended to be progressive and then immediately dropped their sponsor like she was mouldy apple as soon as it became even slightly inconvenient for them to keep up with that progressive facade.
They did that because their main market in the United States has always been largely conservatives. Ben and Jerries ice cream has never really been marketed towards conservatives (and also people don’t really identify with brands of ice cream like they with brands of beer), and they’ve always been very public with their political ideology. So they are a) very unlikely to face any kind of backlash for saying something progressive and b) very unlikely to retract any progressive statement/action if they were ever to receive a backlash for it because they have at least a modicum of integrity.