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The Bud Light boycott continues. Anheuser-Busch is responding by sponsoring vet groups and commissioning ads that "will play heavily on themes such as football and country music". A glance at conservative comment sections reveals a few vocal consumers vowing that no amount of patriotic pandering will change their mind and that they will continue the boycott no matter what.
I am reminded of this apocryphical exchange between two Chinese officers late for battle:
That is to say, a proper incentive structure should not only contain costs for injecting woke politics into business but also rewards for backpedalling.
On the other hand, the undisputed champions of pushing business and people around do not seem too keen on accepting apology. Or do they? The bottom line seems to be: If your public kowtow is more valuable for the propagation of the movement than the display of your head on a spike, you may get another chance (unless and untilyou even slightly step out of line again).
This seems ideal because the incentives for the victim thus contain an effectiveness criterion. Mouthing platitudes is not enough, you need to actually further the cause of your attackers. The uncertainty ups the ante for the victim.
On the other other hand, woke shaming campaigns might not be the ideal blue print for convervatives, given their lack of clout and high-brow media capture.
They haven't even fired the executive most responsible for the ads or offered the nearest thing to an apology to the customers they offended. They can continue to shrink until at least those are complete. Their statements weeks after the event have been:
I translate these as we're not stopping how we market our beer; you need to stop being so divisive. When they admit they fucked up and ask for forgiveness they can be forgiven until then, honestly, I think it would be far better for the rightists if ABInbev were left a smoldering crater to serve as an example to other brands that can be forgiven should they offer more substantial changes.
Right, but "I might forgive once there is an actual apology worth considering" is a completely different stance from "I will never forgive, no matter what". The second is akin to the Chinese death penalty for tardiness.
Sure, but until the other party shows any real interest in apologizing, it's probably better to gird yourself for pushing all the way to their demise.
I suppose you have to prove that you are capable of killing someone before you can convincingly offer plata o plomo.
Then again, you also have to show that you are willing to part with some plata.
They have shown that already, which is why the company is as big as it is/was and why the boycott is hurting as much as it is (if they hadn't been spending money, the boycott would have no effect).
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