Cockburn has witnessed firsthand how many Americans are opposed to corporations forcing them to fund radical, progressive ideologies. His fellow barflies are still shunning Bud Light months after the Dylan Mulvaney sponsorship SNAFU that saw the company’s stock values plummet. Yet, as tired as many Americans may be of Woke, Inc., Cockburn senses voters are growing just as sick of Governor Ron DeSantis talking about it.
DeSantis took to Twitter this morning to announce, “We’ve kneecapped ESG in Florida. So I’m calling for an investigation into AB InBev’s actions regarding their Bud Light marketing campaign and falling stock prices. All options are on the table and woke corporations that put ideology ahead of returns should be on notice.”
At first glance, you gets the impression DeSantis is considering suing Bud Light’s parent company simply for being “woke.” As most “anti-woke” consumers would likely agree that punishing “woke” companies is the prerogative of people who choose to boycott them, DeSantis’s tweet may incite “enough already!” eye rolls.
Yet reading DeSantis’s letter in full reveals he is calling for an investigation into whether AB InBev’s “woke” advertising campaign “breached legal duties to its shareholders,” leading the State Board of Administration, which had invested in AB InBev, to lose funds on behalf of state workers (firefighters, teachers, police officers, etc.).
DeSantis, it turns out, is looking out for his state’s public servants, but the way he’s going about it makes it look as though he’s waging a political war against a company he personally abhors and is obsessed with dismantling. Whether the optics turn voters off or not will be revealed soon enough.
Reaction online, however, has been mixed. “Why?” asked blogger Jim Treacher. “The marketplace is taking care of it.”
“Everyone who ever told you this guy was serious lied to you,” tweeted Republican strategist Luke Thompson.
While Trump is selling Bud Light at his resorts, DeSantis is wielding state power to investigate it. Cockburn would love to see Republican candidates… ignoring it. And drinking anything else.
