The Bud Light boycott is a classic example of right wing activists not taking organizing seriously enough. It can still be salvaged but we have to stop pretending politics is solely a contest of wills and ideas and not a contest of organization.
The bud light boycott immediately resonated with the base. They LIKED the idea and they were having fun with it. If your side ENJOYS a tactic keep doing it is textbook Alinsky. It was good.
Turns out AB InBev is a huge GOP and Trump donor. Shouldnโt have been a surprise, and could have been an advantage. Did activists do a power mapping exercise to determine these relationships and to prepare a response when they were inevitably deployed? (Spoiler: probably not)
Who has leverage over AB InBev who could have been secondary targets of pressure for more leverage? Whoโs their banker? Aluminum supplier? Are those people big fans of BLโs boneheaded politics?
And what do you want AB InBev to do? What represents victory? Firing the offending marketer? Public apology? Donating 20 million dollars to a NGO led by Riley Gaines to support women in sports? All three? This has to be worked out in advance.
You can move the goal posts later after extracting initial concessions if you need to, but at least have it planned out in advanced. And not rhetorical wins but physical and political costs exacted.
But the target of your action needs to know what is required to make the pain stop. Because thatโs what they will want initially. If there is confusion on this point, or if there is no way to make the pain stop, they are incentivized to resist.
These things are all basic organizing 101. And there is a bunch more to know. Every leftist affinity group of like 4 people knows these things by heart. The right has to stop pretending we donโt need to know the rules to play the game.
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