For a long, long time in this country, it was one of the cardinal sins of marketing to ever find yourself espousing politics at the expense of your brand. We simply believed that making the best product available, (or making a tolerable product widely accessible), was the way in which companies blossomed.
All that has changed in recent years, however, as social justice has begun to weigh heavy on the minds of the marketing gurus of the world, as they attempt to capture the empathy dollar, the activism dollar, and the guilt dollar. These days, you can’t go more than an hour or so before being bombarded with information about how your favorite laundry detergent company is fighting racism, or how the regional grocery chain is helping replant the rainforest.
Now it appears as though the folks behind Budweiser are getting a bit political as well, as they weigh in on the highly controversial push to vaccinate as many Americans as possible against the novel coronavirus.
President Biden on Wednesday declared June a “national month of action” to take aim at the coronavirus pandemic, urging Americans to get vaccinated.
Aiming to reach his goal of getting at least one COVID vaccination shot into the arms of 70% of the nation’s adults by July 4th, the president unveiled a five-part plan to reach that goal, which included steps to make it easier to get the vaccine and incentives such as free food, beer, and tickets.
And then, to hammer it home, Biden got one of the nation’s most historic beer makers involved.
The president also said the administration would make it easier for companies to receive tax credits for giving workers time off to get their shots. And he said that more incentives and fun rewards would be used to encourage people to get vaccinated. He pointed to Ohio’s use of a lottery and spotlighted a partnership with Anheuser-Busch, the nation’s largest brewing company, to offer free beer on July 4th for everyone 21 and over who’s been vaccinated – if Biden’s goal is reached.
Of course, the presence of this bribe in the first place is an indicator of just how many Americans have been opting out of receiving the vaccine thus far.
