I don’t think “boycott” is the correct mechanism to explain the woke woes of Bud Light and Disney. A boycott is an economic embargo where consumer funds are denied until the desired revision is capitulated. Initially, it definitely looked like a boycott, but it’s more powerful than just that.

What’s been exacted is a rebranding of Bud Light and Disney. How people think of the brand is fundamentally changed. Where Bud Light once represented lighthearted weekends, football, and Americana, now Bud Light represents culture conflict and ruined weekend fun. Disney squandered their generational family fun goodwill to push woke messaging Americans didn’t ask for and don’t support in children’s entertainment.

Bud Light and Disney are rebranded. It’s not as easy as Americans resuming spending money with Bud Light and Disney. The woes of Bud Light and Disney are beyond the simple economics of a boycott. Their entire identity must be rehabilitated. And this only happens if alienated Americans agree to give Bud Light and Disney a second chance.

Rebranded. Not boycotted.

And by the by, businesses like Bud Light and Disney provide the unavoidable cautionary tale that they need us more than we need them.