I have often pondered the principles of marketing.
Whether we are talking about McDonalds, Coca Cola, the NFL, Target, or Anheuser-Busch—and its previously popular Bud Light beer—I would think the most important consideration would be to successfully target (no pun intended) the most likely consumers of the product and then do everything to gain, keep and increase the greatest market share possible.
In other words, as has always been the case in the corporate world before the “social justice” and Woke movements, the fundamental fiduciary duty to shareholders was to maximize profits. Period.
Well, corporate America has changed, and not for the better.
What we are seeing and hearing as Target, Anheuser-Busch, and others lose billions and irreparably damage their brands is the economic “roar” of millions of Americans that we will no longer accept corporate elites shoving cultural imperialism down our throats.
Millions of tolerant, patriotic Americans have finally said enough– “stop force feeding us liberal sexual orthodoxy.”
As a result of these boycotts, Target and Anheuser-Busch have now lost a combined $40.8 billion in market value over their LGBTQ Pride-focused marketing campaigns. (S. Perry. The Daily Signal, 6-6-23). In short, they are bleeding value with no end in sight.
Why have American consumers responded in this way?
Because we’re sick of being bombarded by and graphically exposed to—and we are way past being asked to merely accept alternative lifestyles—“Pride” and transgenderism.
We fundamentally reject the idea that young children are prepared to receive or process any information about human sexuality or have even the slightest capacity to decide—often without their parent’s knowledge—whether they should amputate their own bodies at age 6 because a boy may think for a while that he’s a girl.
Or be forced to tolerate Target’s policy of allowing our young daughters to be followed into the girl’s bathroom by a full-grown man who “identifies” as a woman.
Or the farce that biological men who are “transitioning” to “female” can fairly be allowed to compete against biological females.
Well, the roof blew off when Target “released nationwide Pride-focused merchandise targeting children, including ‘tuck friendly’ swimsuits for boys who identify as girls, but have not yet amputated their sexual organs. For good measure, it also offered kid-friendly products designed by a self-identified “trans Satanist.” (S. Perry, The Daily Signal, 6-6-23).
We really shouldn’t be surprised by Target’s action. After all, this is the same company that was caught partnering with an organization—the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN)—that hides children’s gender transition from parents and advocates teaching gender ideology at all grade levels. (N. Silverio, Daily Caller, May 26, 2023).
So, why do millions of Americans object to such offensive products and messaging?
It’s because we reject the cold, sterile, and godless view of life, faith and family which distorts gender and biology beyond all recognition. Quite to the contrary, we view ourselves as made in the image and likeness of God and are the creation of the Creator who defined us, body and soul.
And we believe that while the two genders are morally equal in every sense, males and females are vastly different physiologically and acting as though they are the same is not only a Big Lie but it’s a cruelty to confuse the most vulnerable among us about themselves in order to advance a toxic ideology through chemical castration or genital mutilation in order to fill the bank accounts of doctors and hospitals who profit from the billion dollar Sex Change Industrial Complex. According to research, the U.S. sex reassignment surgery market size was estimated at $ 1.9 billion in 2021 and was expected to reach $2.1 billion in 2022.
That’s why parents are so concerned about the targeting of young adolescents on social media to confuse and then persuade them that they are transgender. Parents feel that their children are under siege, and as children have become more isolated and more tied to their telephone screens, there’s been an explosion of children identifying as transgender.
These children are vulnerable to messages that say their problems fitting in can be solved by recognizing that they were born in the wrong body. Tragically though, the puberty blockers and surgeries being handed out to adolescents will cause a lifetime of physical health problems which has led to laws against gender assignment surgery.
May the boycotts continue until this lesson is learned.
Royal Alexander is a Shreveport attorney.