I Told You So

Too bad I can’t use my newfound talent for prognosticating the stock market.

Last month in this space I predicted a gun company would suffer the same fate as Bud Light. If you are among the one or two people who still haven’t heard, the former number-one light beer destroyed its market share by partnering with an unbelievably cringe-worthy trans influencer, then failed badly at damage control. At this point, Budweiser has become synonymous with corporate hubris, confusion, butt-covering and general ineptitude.

Now, Miller Lite has gone down the same road with an advertisement asserting 1) bikinis are bad and 2) women were the real founding fathers of the beer industry. The preachy assertions, true or not, weren’t well received and there are calls for a boycott.

I predicted a similar self-inflicted wound would affect at least one company in the gun industry. Now, please turn to May 16 and see how HK stepped in a pile of doo-doo yet saved itself from a major PR crisis.

“If you or your team ever think jumping into the whole social justice/identity politics issue is somehow good for the gun industry, keep something in mind: In business, the company and its reputation matter — you don’t.”

On that Tuesday, HK’s Twitter account posted the opinion of “An actual woman typing this,” in which it took social media users to task for not supporting Miller Lite’s new advertisement by declaring, “Using bunnies to sell products is trash marketing.” To be fair, it also criticized the ad, saying, “For them to isolate a huge part of their target consumer base makes no sense. Annnd (sic), their virtue-signaling ad doesn’t even make me want to drink their beer. But at least they used actual women for it (presumably).”
To say HK’s consumer base wasn’t amused is an understatement. I was at a large media event and tongues were flapping, primarily asking, “Why go there???”

Then, overnight HK removed the post and replaced it with a road sign declaring, “HK does not engage in identity politics. A policy was violated. Changes were made.”

While some were still calling for a formal apology, most folks seem satisfied with HK taking ownership and — apparently — giving walking papers to whoever made the tweet. Many point at Angela Harrell, the HK marketing manager, though it’s not been officially stated she was behind the post. One social media user dug into her internet history and found a photo of her competing in a skimpy black bikini, thus adding a dash of hypocrisy to the dustup.

Ultimately, HK dodged a major bullet here but who will be next? It’ll happen.

Ending on a cautionary note, if you or your team ever think jumping into the whole social justice/identity politics issue is somehow good for the gun industry, keep something in mind: In business, the company and its reputation matter — you don’t.

If you can’t abide by this hard truth, simply start your own business then you can publicly pontificate to your heart’s content. Let me know how it goes …

Contact me if you have a gun story to tell brent.wheat@fmghq.com.

CLICK HERE for more June 2023 FMG Inside News