This may be one of the weirdest pastoral messages ever written.

My message is: You should consider Budweiser brands if you drink beer and reconsider Altria brands if you smoke or vape.  Stick with me.

So, your minister did not just tell you to drink beer and smoke.  Let’s say this, if you’re going to have beer, consider a Budweiser (AB InBev) brand…specifically Bud Light, and if you are going to smoke, reconsider Altria products.  (A list of common brands of both InBev and Altria are linked below.)

What happened and how is this a religious issue in which a minister might get involved?

What happened was that AB InBev (the $128B Belgian company that owns Budweiser brands, amongst others) featured a trans gendered “influencer” in its advertising.  America, not wanting to appear “woke” cut back on its consumption of Budweiser’s most popular brand, Bud Light, which actually featured a picture of the influencer on cans as well as in its advertising for a while.  The “cutting back” is putting it lightly—$1.4B (that’s right, BILLION) dollar drop in sales, most of it in the good ole, absolutely, positively non-woke US of A.  the drop actually moved Bud Light out of the #1 spot in beer sales, now held by Modelo (which is NOT owned by InBev).

Altria, a $77B American tobacco producer, for its part, announced that it will be selling its stake (worth $2.2B) in InBev, which is fine and within its rights.  The way Altria did it though was harmful to AB InBev and can be best described as a publicity stunt, apparently preferring to take the financial hit of disrupting the market for InBev stock in exchange for buying the appearance of siding with the anti-wokers.

So, that’s what happened.  Now, why is this something into which a minister should poke his or her head?  It’s because what we do matters.  Sometimes, due to the complexity of this world, all we really have is our intention.  The world is so complex that sometimes, the best we can do is catch a glimpse of our impact.  Other times, we get some information that does allow us to have a stronger measure of our impact.  One of those areas is Responsible Consumerism.

People are surprised when I tell them “that company’s product you’re consuming right there supports this or that politician”.  It’s hard to know because companies are allowed to hide behind naming and politicians are allowed to hide behind “PAC’s”.  It is not a requirement to be honest about who is tied to whom and by extension who benefits from your consumption.  

If this area is of interest to you…voting with your dollars, you know, the way all those very non-woke Bud Light drinkers did to the tune of $2.2B, then I would love to help someone to create a Responsible Consumerism group here to make sure that the word does get out and that we are as a group able to align with our intention.

Also, if you’re out this week and a beer seems like the right thing to do, hoist a Bud Light.  I know it’s awful beer and I shudder to think of it, but I’m going to have one this week, and maybe one every week I have a beer just to remind myself that trans lives matter and that in this one, small gesture, I do have some control over both my intention and my impact.

Respectfully,

Rev Ed

Click here for a list of AB InBev Brands

Click here for a list of Altria companies and then click on the subsidiary to see its brands.