Somebody needs to check on Kid Rock - meltdown re: trans influencer

Fair enough. In what I saw it was trending up. I just hate the hatred

 

I was actually musing over this last night, where the anger comes from. I think the difference in treatment between trans and gays has a whole bunch of roots.
First is that a gay person can just be seen in their day to day life, that’s not overly offensive to anyone. Two dudes in a commercial, BFD. But everything with trans feels forced. Nike had an ad for a trans person in a sports bra, when they don’t even have breasts? That’s insulting to many women. Second, it feels like the ad campaigns go out of their way to celebrate it. America is accepting of it by and large, but not celebratory. The Bud ad had something like “365 days a woman”. I saw a comment from one woman saying “I’ve been a woman my whole life, what do I get?”
Which to me is the major underlying part that the more hard core supporters aren’t accepting…much of this is seen as impeding on a space that has been safe for women for the whole of human history. Women have been marginalized, made to be second class, abused, used etc…the only thing they truly had was their gender space and the support within that. And now even that’s being taken away. It’s not even biological women doing sports bra commercials any longer for heavens sake. Forget about sports, the bathroom issue, among a bunch of other things. And all for a group that’s likely less than 1 percent of the population. Everything happening right now is out of whack with reality.
Put another way, how many true trans people does anyone on here even know? And compare that with how many we see in media, or the number of things that are being asked of everyone else to facilitate it? Someone being gay requires none of that, go live your life.

 

I don't think TERFism is driving the Bud Light backlash. More over, it's always a bit reductive to say were were OK with prior change but this one goes too far. It is a continuous cycle

 

Again, I would argue that over time it’s much easier to accept someone doing something in their own home than sharing a bathroom or giving up to losing out on things to a person.
But even with that, that text from 1977 furthers my point. From 1977, it was almost 40 years before gay people started showing up regularly in commercials or other media. This timeline here has been sped up dramatically. Quite literally, it wasn’t even part of the discussion until the last few years, and now it’s “accept it, even with all of the unique societal issues that come with it, or you’re just not an accepting person”.
A whole lot of things need to be sorted out (bathrooms, athletics etc.) before a good chunk of the country comes on board to the level where it will be a net help for a company like Bud, even if most people generally accept the basic idea of trans people.

 

That is no doubt true as a matter of sociology. But I have a very difficult time telling someone trans, and I do know some very well, that they need to be patient because society cannot adapt to them yet. It may be a reality of human acceptance of change, but it doesn't mean it's fair. I both want to be sensitive to some people's good faith reluctance to accept rapid change while at the same time not justifying in the name of justice of those that are being excluded and shunned, and sometimes put in danger.

And I would press on two ends on that timeline. There was gay visibility in growing amounts all throughout that timeframe. But even in the fight for gay marriage about 20 years ago, there was debate within that community whether society would accept trans individuals as part of the quality movement.

And it has happened somewhat fast. But everything happens faster in terms of social change.

And I still maintain that that is more aimed at the younger generation. I'm 61 years old, and my generation may have a bit of a hard time. I felt that on occasion. But I can tell you among my daughter's generation, they don't feel any ambiguity at all and it doesn't seem to be happening too fast. And that's why companies like Bud Light reach out to them, and make some of the marketing decisions they do. The companies may suffer some backlash from the older generation(s). But they can also see what a reasonable company needs to do to thrive in the future. They are not reaching out to people like me; we are not the future purchasers.

 

One more thing. I have no problem with individuals boycotting companies whose values they do not believe reflect theirs. I do it all the time. I don't even have a problem with trying to organize boycotts on social media.


However, when you start shooting cans and doxing executives, you're not trying to use economic measures but the threat of violence. I have zero sympathy for that response or for anyone who even aligns themselves with such individuals. There is no gray area in that instance

 

I get it, just saying that if hypothetically, using some purposely Large numbers…but if 80 percent of your audience are males over 50 and you alienate 25 percent of them…you have to double your share of the other 20 percent demos just to break even. It’s just not smart marketing given where their core audience is today. If they want to stand on principle and say “we did the right thing by running that ad”, have at it I guess. But business wise it’s not smart, there are a thousand ways to reach out to women and younger folks other than a trans influencer (and I despise the term influencer).

 

I also despise the phenomenon of influencers. It doesn't mean it's not a thing. And it doesn't mean it's not smart to use them to your benefit if you are trying to sell things.

And I suspect that AB didn't realize that this very limited attempt at social media outreach which is not supposed to be a broad effort, would go viral. I don't really care about Anheuser-Busch that much. They may have misplayed it, although I still think it's a smart strategy in the long run. They probably should have been more thoughtful about the short term damage that would occur.

But my main concern is how scary it must feel when so much of society is just fine with public expressions of violence to communicate to you that you are despised because you are unacceptable and don't count as a human worthy of dignity.

 

I honestly think it’s a combo of what’s happening in sports, bathrooms, and how it seems to be celebrated. And how it’s disproportionate attention for a tiny segment of the population. But would love to see some honest polling or focus groups on it.

 

saw this comment on instagram and I lol'd

"Kid Rock makes music for people who know exactly how much Sudafed you can get for a catalytic converter."

 

I like it!

 

Someone makes a good point.

As a marketing “influencer”, I wonder what sort of people Mulvaney influences?

 

This is most concerning …