How Disney, Bud Light and other big firms are in the middle of America’s culture war.

As conservatives mobilize around social issues, the Republican Party is clashing with corporate America. Will the differences end up breaking their historic alliance with big business?

At the home of Sarah Fields, a conservative activist and mother of three from Texas, some of America’s biggest brands are no longer welcome.

She first walked away from Disney, disgusted by children’s shows featuring gay couples.

Boycotts of Olay skincare products and Anheuser-Busch Bud Light beers followed for working with trans social media star Dylan Mulvaney.

“My thing is protecting children. I started paying attention the first time I saw that the companies promoted any kind of LGBTQ ideology or trans among minors,” says Fields, 36. “There are so many others, I can barely keep track.”

Fields became a political activist during the pandemic, protesting isolation policies, and toNow she is a delegate of the Republican Party of her state..

He is one of the people pushing the party to unite around social issues like gender identity and to take on companies that some quarters label “woke” in the United States.

Businesses are caught in the crossfire of America’s culture war.

As the country polarises, companies face pressure from the employees, customers and shareholdersboth left and right, to choose a side.

But the legislative measures aimed at companies mark a new instance between republicanswhich have traditionally sided with big corporations on issues like lower taxes and less state regulation.

In Florida, state legislators voted in favor of take away to Disney the power over he district where it is located disney world park. The decision came after Disney criticized a law that bans discussions of gender and sexuality in schools.

In Georgia, lawmakers have threatened to withdraw a tax break for Delta Airlines after its chief executive called changes to election laws “unacceptable.”

Meanwhile, dozens of states are studying various proposals to prevent for the government to sign contracts or make agreements with financial companies that consider environmental, social and governance factors when making investments.

Moves like this had cost BlackRock, a New York-based American multinational investment firm, more than $4 billion in client funds as of January.

The measures have been controversial even among republicanssome of whom say the proposals go too far by interfering in private business.

“My job is to protect taxpayers and my constituents from overreach wherever they come from,” says Blaise Ignoglia, one of the Florida senators who backed the state’s new measures against Disney, a fight that has now turned into a battle. law for freedom of expression.

“They turned their backs on parents and children when they decided sexualize to our most vulnerable youth“.

Ignoglia says that he doesn’t care stand up to disneya company that has supported him in the past and has great economic and political weight in Florida.

On the contrary, he affirms: “I live in the second reddest district [republicano] of the state. My constituents are of the same opinion.”

According to Professor Mark Mizruchi, a sociologist at the University of Michigan, Big business has lost control of the Republican Partywho has chosen to turn more to the right and add voters without university education.

In 2022, only the 26% of republicanthey told you that large companies had a positive impacta figure similar to that of the Democrats and well below the percentage of three years ago, according to the Pew Institute.

But Professor Mizruchi says that politicians’ attacks on companies are “above all a smokescreen“, noting that on issues like unionization, taxes and regulation, corporate America and Republican leaders remain closely aligned.

The majority of official political donations from companies in 2022 they were stop the republicansas has been the case for almost three decades, according to data from OpenSecrets.

“Republicans have to play this very careful game of supporting the rich and big business behind the scenes, but making it appear publicly that they are on the side of the common man,” Mizruchi said.

“For this reason, going for the woke is a good way to do it, because it is not a matter of first necessity [para las empresas]”.

The financial impact of conservative attacks seems to be limited until now.

blackrock lost less than 2% of your portfolio.

The decline in Bud Light sales in the first three weeks of April accounted for just 1% of Anheuser-Busch’s total volume.

But the outrage has altered the mood, says Martin Whittaker, chief executive of Just Capital, a nonprofit that ranks companies on issues like worker compensation and environmental impact.

many companies continue with their internal initiatives. For Whittaker, public debates have become calmer. “You don’t see CEOs show their faces.”

Disney, which ruled on the Florida bill under pressure from its employees, has taken legal action against the Florida government. But other companies appear to be in retreat.

In BlackRock’s annual letter this year, climate risks are barely mentioned, although the company acknowledges the challenges posed by “divergence of views between regions.”

Credit card companies have announced that they will not advance with the changes activists hoped for that would help track arms purchases, alleging legal uncertainty.

Some large financial companies as Vanguard they have regressed in support of initiatives against climate changealluding to the “confusion” about his views.

Will Hild is CEO of Consumers’ Research, a group that since 2021 has spearheaded multi-million dollar ad campaigns targeting companies like Nike, American Airlines, Major League Baseball and Levi’s which he points to putting “politics woke consumer interests above“.

“People forget that in 2021 there were companies publicly joining the debate on election integrity at the state level in Georgia and Texas,” says Hild.

“In the following years it did not happen again. For us that is an indication that our campaigns have been successful.”

Last month, after weeks of attacks from conservative politicians and analysts over its association with Dylan Mulvaney, Anheuser-Busch suspended two executives and launched a barrage of Bud Light ads peppered with images of American flags and galloping horses across open fields.

The company, which did not respond to the BBC’s request for comment, said it did not intend to “be part of a conversation that divides people.”

“What’s happened with Bud Light is a wonderful start. That’s the way it should be for all companies,” Sarah says of the change of posture of the companywhich has been seen by many as a victory.

“We need to be less afraid and start making our voices heard more.”

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