WEBVTT - Why Big Companies Hate You with Will Hild 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:04.479 Bud Light recently came under fire for partnering with transgender 0:00:04.519 --> 0:00:09.720 influencer Dylan mulvaney. The company lost billions in backlash with 0:00:09.840 --> 0:00:12.960 you know, even country stars speaking out, people like Travis Tritt, 0:00:13.039 --> 0:00:16.599 Kid Rock Bradley Gilbert did a concert recently where he 0:00:16.640 --> 0:00:20.079 took bud Light to task. But you might ask yourself, 0:00:20.440 --> 0:00:24.079 why would bud Light do this? Does anyone honestly believe 0:00:24.160 --> 0:00:28.920 that Dylan Mulvaney, this transgender influencer, sits around and drinks 0:00:29.000 --> 0:00:32.680 bud Light? Does anyone honestly believe that bud Light's customer 0:00:32.760 --> 0:00:37.040 base likes someone like Dylan mulvaney. How does this happen 0:00:37.440 --> 0:00:40.479 where a company like bud Light would choose someone to 0:00:40.560 --> 0:00:44.000 partner with, which is essentially giving their customer base the 0:00:44.000 --> 0:00:46.760 middle finger. Well, talk to Will hild who's the executive 0:00:46.800 --> 0:00:49.640 director of Consumers Research. He deals with this stuff on 0:00:49.720 --> 0:00:53.520 a daily basis. Consumers Research also launched something called Woke 0:00:53.520 --> 0:00:56.120 Alert where people can sign up and find out which 0:00:56.160 --> 0:00:59.800 companies are engaging and this kind of woke left wing nonsense. 0:01:00.000 --> 0:01:04.440 I've also previously launched television ads taking companies like American 0:01:04.440 --> 0:01:08.520 Airlines in Coca Cola to task for their policies and 0:01:08.600 --> 0:01:10.520 going woke. But we're going to talk to him about 0:01:10.560 --> 0:01:14.560 this bud Light controversy. Also, when did companies start getting 0:01:14.600 --> 0:01:17.679 so woke and why do they continue to ignore us 0:01:17.760 --> 0:01:26.960 as a customer based conservatives? Stay tuned for Will hild Well, 0:01:27.000 --> 0:01:28.920 thanks so much for coming on the show. It's the 0:01:28.920 --> 0:01:32.679 first time. This is an important topic. Obviously, Anheuser Busch 0:01:32.760 --> 0:01:37.039 has come under fire for partnering with a transgender influencer, 0:01:37.120 --> 0:01:41.480 Dylan mulvany. The company's lost billions of dollars in the backlash. 0:01:42.040 --> 0:01:45.039 Why do you think this one was different in terms 0:01:45.080 --> 0:01:47.840 of the company taking a financial hit when when sometimes 0:01:47.880 --> 0:01:48.840 that doesn't always happen. 0:01:49.120 --> 0:01:50.720 Well, I think there are a couple of factors that 0:01:50.800 --> 0:01:53.840 played a key role. One, I think the egregiousness of 0:01:53.880 --> 0:01:56.080 what they were doing. I mean, it's in soulid If 0:01:56.080 --> 0:01:59.200 you just even watched the video of what Mulvainy did, 0:01:59.520 --> 0:02:04.000 it was insulting to bud Light customers. Most people don't 0:02:04.000 --> 0:02:08.080 want to be portrayed as bud Light drinkers, you know, 0:02:08.120 --> 0:02:11.320 pretending to be a woman, sending in a bathtub, pretending 0:02:11.360 --> 0:02:13.560 to be a woman like that. From the average Bludlight customer. 0:02:13.600 --> 0:02:16.160 It's like the opposite of how they think of themselves 0:02:16.480 --> 0:02:18.760 as some weirdo in a bathtub pretending to be a woman. 0:02:18.919 --> 0:02:21.079 And so I think that that played a huge role, 0:02:21.200 --> 0:02:24.160 just the egregiousness, how in your face it was what 0:02:24.200 --> 0:02:25.440 they were trying to do. The second thing is that 0:02:25.520 --> 0:02:27.799 it's a it's a very much a retail product, right. 0:02:27.840 --> 0:02:28.400 I mean, this is. 0:02:28.400 --> 0:02:31.000 Something that people go and they buy at gas stations 0:02:31.000 --> 0:02:33.840 and grocery stores day to day. So it's very easy 0:02:34.080 --> 0:02:36.200 and very quick they can make a purchasing decision. It's 0:02:36.240 --> 0:02:38.520 not a little bit different than you know, you know, 0:02:38.600 --> 0:02:41.680 stopping flying an airline or something. You make those kind 0:02:41.720 --> 0:02:43.720 of plans, you know, weeks or months out. So I 0:02:43.720 --> 0:02:46.520 think that that played a role. And then sometimes there's 0:02:46.520 --> 0:02:48.560 just a magic ingredient of why things go viral. 0:02:48.680 --> 0:02:50.120 And you know, once the ball. 0:02:49.919 --> 0:02:51.880 Gets rolling, it that it becomes a snowball, and I 0:02:51.880 --> 0:02:54.120 think that that, you know, turns into an avalanche. I 0:02:54.160 --> 0:02:55.400 think that played a role here too. 0:02:55.560 --> 0:02:57.280 I Mean I think a lot of people are wondering, 0:02:57.360 --> 0:03:00.440 you know, how would a company like bud Light come 0:03:00.480 --> 0:03:04.240 to this conclusion of yes, let's partner with Dylan mulvany 0:03:04.400 --> 0:03:06.800 and put our you know, finger in the eye of 0:03:06.840 --> 0:03:10.360 every know of our customer base, right, like basically just 0:03:10.400 --> 0:03:12.880 giving a middle finger to the customer base. So clearly 0:03:12.960 --> 0:03:16.200 they had to have known that. So like, how would 0:03:16.240 --> 0:03:18.680 that be approved? You know, how did this even happen? 0:03:19.160 --> 0:03:20.400 It doesn't make a lot of sense. 0:03:20.520 --> 0:03:22.440 It's a great question, and I think you know, the 0:03:22.480 --> 0:03:24.919 average person has been scratching their head increasingly over the 0:03:24.960 --> 0:03:28.000 last decade is more and more companies have taken positions 0:03:28.000 --> 0:03:30.200 and done things like this, where you're going, are you 0:03:30.240 --> 0:03:32.520 just going out of your way to insult your customer base? 0:03:32.919 --> 0:03:35.560 I think what you really have to do to understand 0:03:35.560 --> 0:03:38.640 this is to look at the ecosystem of a corporation 0:03:38.680 --> 0:03:41.440 and the ecosystem that they they're within. By that, I mean, 0:03:41.680 --> 0:03:45.400 the corporation doesn't make decisions right. People within the company 0:03:45.640 --> 0:03:49.800 make these decisions, and increasingly there are different portions of 0:03:49.840 --> 0:03:52.760 these companies that have different interests. By that, I mean, 0:03:52.880 --> 0:03:55.280 for example, a lot of companies have adopted what they 0:03:55.280 --> 0:03:58.480 call a DEDI department, a diversity, equity and inclusion department. 0:03:58.960 --> 0:04:01.200 And you know, this was kind of build is like 0:04:01.240 --> 0:04:04.360 the next evolution in human resources and just you know, 0:04:04.800 --> 0:04:09.000 supposed to be more conscientious of racial disparities. What it is, 0:04:09.040 --> 0:04:12.040 in effect, and I mean this both in the pejorative 0:04:12.240 --> 0:04:16.000 in the technical sense, is a cancer on the corporation. 0:04:16.680 --> 0:04:20.400 These departments exist solely to soak up as much resources 0:04:20.400 --> 0:04:22.200 and control over the company as they can. 0:04:22.520 --> 0:04:24.599 They don't care about the company's customers. 0:04:24.600 --> 0:04:28.640 In fact, they often resent and dislike them, and they 0:04:28.720 --> 0:04:32.320 see their purpose as utilizing their position within the company 0:04:32.600 --> 0:04:36.520 to push an ideology inside and out of the company. 0:04:36.680 --> 0:04:37.600 And so that's part of it. 0:04:37.640 --> 0:04:41.000 And nothing's been confirmed, but there are rumors swirling on 0:04:41.040 --> 0:04:43.960 Twitter that this had been approved inside. Sources had said 0:04:44.000 --> 0:04:48.200 that this was approved by a lower level marketing employee 0:04:48.440 --> 0:04:51.080 who didn't get top level provement. Whether that's true or not, 0:04:51.520 --> 0:04:54.640 I think the entire incident speaks to the powers that 0:04:54.720 --> 0:04:57.440 some of these DEI and woke portions of the corporations 0:04:57.480 --> 0:05:00.440 have gotten. They're aided by another portion of that system, 0:05:00.440 --> 0:05:02.640 and that is a lot of times coming from above. 0:05:03.040 --> 0:05:07.320 These large asset managers like black Rock, State Street, Vanguard, 0:05:08.000 --> 0:05:10.880 they have been using their assets under management, meaning the 0:05:11.360 --> 0:05:14.400 shares they own on behalf of their clients, to push 0:05:14.720 --> 0:05:17.720 wokeness in a lot of these companies. So even though 0:05:17.720 --> 0:05:20.440 it's not their money. You know, Blackrock has about ten 0:05:20.520 --> 0:05:23.440 trillion dollars under management, but none of it technically belongs 0:05:23.480 --> 0:05:26.880 to them. It's there, it's in their custody as a fiduciary, 0:05:27.279 --> 0:05:30.360 but they use it to pursue political objectives. 0:05:30.520 --> 0:05:32.960 And they go to these companies and they. 0:05:32.800 --> 0:05:38.440 Push you know, uh, racial quotas, far left social issues, 0:05:38.520 --> 0:05:44.400 the LGBQQ stuff, pro abortion stuff, and they are effectively 0:05:44.800 --> 0:05:48.080 the owners of those shares until their customers retrieve them 0:05:48.080 --> 0:05:50.039 from the company stuff you know, fire black Rock or 0:05:50.040 --> 0:05:52.880 State Street, Vanguard, and so for right now, you know, 0:05:53.279 --> 0:05:57.040 they they control large portions of these companies, and so 0:05:57.440 --> 0:06:00.360 you see that being pushed on them from above, addition 0:06:00.440 --> 0:06:02.320 to these d I departments pushing it from within. 0:06:02.360 --> 0:06:04.840 But it does seem to be more interface. Now when 0:06:04.880 --> 0:06:07.240 we saw this with Disney as well, you know, again 0:06:07.560 --> 0:06:10.880 a company pushing values that are the antithesis of their 0:06:11.160 --> 0:06:13.680 customer base, you know, with them trying to push the 0:06:13.760 --> 0:06:18.120 LGBTQ agenda. So when did it become so interface? And 0:06:18.720 --> 0:06:20.440 I guess when did this all start happening? 0:06:20.560 --> 0:06:23.680 Well, as there was an increasing push to enlarge these 0:06:23.760 --> 0:06:26.160 d I departments, They became larger and larger portions of 0:06:26.200 --> 0:06:29.320 the corporation and a lot of decision making now runs 0:06:29.320 --> 0:06:32.240 through those portions of the company, which is surprising because 0:06:32.279 --> 0:06:33.560 they don't generate. 0:06:33.200 --> 0:06:34.560 Any revenue for the company. 0:06:34.640 --> 0:06:37.560 Right, It's like it's not like the d I department 0:06:37.760 --> 0:06:41.000 increases sales or creates new products. But there was this 0:06:41.080 --> 0:06:43.919 huge push up over the last you know, five to 0:06:43.960 --> 0:06:47.840 seven years to really start having all decision making at 0:06:47.839 --> 0:06:50.720 the company run through these departments. So whether it's hiring 0:06:50.760 --> 0:06:55.480 and trying to increase you know, minority representation at the companies, 0:06:55.600 --> 0:06:58.440 or making sure that their marketing was in align with 0:06:58.480 --> 0:07:01.640 whatever the social trend of you know, political issue of 0:07:01.680 --> 0:07:02.159 the day is. 0:07:03.400 --> 0:07:06.840 You know, they've they've gotten a lot of. 0:07:06.839 --> 0:07:08.599 Power over the last ten years that they didn't have, 0:07:08.680 --> 0:07:10.400 and so you're seeing them flex it more and more, 0:07:10.480 --> 0:07:14.240 even though you would think is you know, instance after 0:07:14.280 --> 0:07:17.000 instance of it backfiring on the companies, But it takes 0:07:17.040 --> 0:07:20.120 a long time once these kind of people are entrenched. 0:07:20.240 --> 0:07:22.880 We've seen this in academia as well, right, how many 0:07:22.960 --> 0:07:26.960 universities have had disgraceful incidences because of these same types 0:07:26.960 --> 0:07:29.360 of individuals. But it takes a long time to get 0:07:29.400 --> 0:07:31.480 Once they're entrenched, it takes a long time to get 0:07:31.520 --> 0:07:32.000 them out. 0:07:31.920 --> 0:07:33.760 Well, you know, and it obviously seems like they're not 0:07:33.840 --> 0:07:36.640 concerned about, you know, diversity, They're they're more concerned about 0:07:36.640 --> 0:07:37.760 pushing an ideology. 0:07:38.080 --> 0:07:40.000 What a conservatives do about it? 0:07:40.000 --> 0:07:41.600 I mean, part of the challenge too is even if 0:07:41.640 --> 0:07:44.120 you look at the response to bud Light and this 0:07:44.400 --> 0:07:47.560 campaign that they did with Dylan mulvaney, you know, there's 0:07:47.600 --> 0:07:51.400 a split among Republicans as well. You know, some Republicans said, hey, 0:07:51.440 --> 0:07:54.720 they give us money, leave them alone, and then others said, oh, 0:07:54.760 --> 0:07:55.960 let's put the screws to them. 0:07:56.080 --> 0:07:56.240 You know. 0:07:56.280 --> 0:07:59.080 So, I guess, how do we fight back when it 0:07:59.120 --> 0:08:01.160 seems like not everyone has the stomach for it. 0:08:01.280 --> 0:08:03.680 Yeah, it's a great question, and you're right. I think 0:08:03.680 --> 0:08:06.640 it kind of shows that there's even division within the 0:08:06.680 --> 0:08:10.080 Conservatives on how to push back. I would argue I'm 0:08:10.120 --> 0:08:12.360 in the put the screws to them camp, and not 0:08:12.520 --> 0:08:16.040 just purely out of spite, but there needs to be 0:08:16.120 --> 0:08:17.680 measurable changes. 0:08:17.320 --> 0:08:19.080 Made at the company that are articulable. 0:08:19.480 --> 0:08:22.840 Right, tell me, CEO of Van Howerer Busch, how have 0:08:22.960 --> 0:08:25.120 you made sure that this will never happen again. If 0:08:25.120 --> 0:08:27.880 you read his apology letter, but it was completely milk toast. 0:08:28.160 --> 0:08:30.120 It wasn't even really an apology. It just kind of 0:08:30.200 --> 0:08:32.240 was like, I'm sorry that this caused such a such 0:08:32.240 --> 0:08:35.160 a kerfuffle. That's not going to you know, I want 0:08:35.160 --> 0:08:37.760 to know. You know, we've we've revamped our marketing department, 0:08:37.920 --> 0:08:40.680 We've gotten rid of our DEI department. So and so 0:08:40.800 --> 0:08:43.440 has been fired. Those are the kinds of things that 0:08:43.480 --> 0:08:46.320 the left has. That's how the left got to where 0:08:46.320 --> 0:08:48.120 they're at in terms of the power that they have 0:08:48.160 --> 0:08:52.440 within corporate America. They asked for definable changes in either 0:08:52.840 --> 0:08:59.160 power structure, or staffing or policy. And that's basically the 0:08:59.240 --> 0:09:03.360 right should not be satiated until we see, you know, 0:09:03.720 --> 0:09:06.800 articulable moves to our side on these things. The other 0:09:06.840 --> 0:09:09.960 thing we can do is start, and we're working on 0:09:10.000 --> 0:09:12.880 this at Consumers Research. We're pushing this in about twenty 0:09:12.880 --> 0:09:15.760 to twenty five states, is start taking away those big 0:09:15.800 --> 0:09:19.040 cools of capital, namely the state pension funds from these 0:09:19.080 --> 0:09:21.719 big asset managers. So you know, companies like black Rock 0:09:21.760 --> 0:09:24.640 again and State Tree and Vanguard, they should not be 0:09:24.679 --> 0:09:26.280 managing red state pension funds. 0:09:26.280 --> 0:09:30.160 They have policies on the books to push all. 0:09:30.000 --> 0:09:33.600 This progressive left policies with their entire asset portfolio. So 0:09:33.720 --> 0:09:36.840 states like South Carolina and Florida that have money with 0:09:36.960 --> 0:09:41.000 these companies, those assets are being used to push these 0:09:41.040 --> 0:09:44.559 progressive left positions. And so we need to start working 0:09:44.840 --> 0:09:47.040 those and move those two asset managers that that will 0:09:47.080 --> 0:09:49.880 respect their fiduciary duty to these states and stop, you know, 0:09:50.520 --> 0:09:54.880 using them to simply push Democratic Party platform agenda items. 0:09:54.960 --> 0:09:57.360 The only place I would disagree with you is I 0:09:57.400 --> 0:09:59.320 would also want to do it out of spite, So 0:09:59.360 --> 0:09:59.880 that would be the. 0:10:03.480 --> 0:10:04.920 I would be pro spite. 0:10:05.200 --> 0:10:06.959 Well, that's a nice fringe benefit. 0:10:07.480 --> 0:10:08.560 I would be pro spite. 0:10:08.600 --> 0:10:10.680 I often say the only reason I wouldn't drive an 0:10:10.720 --> 0:10:12.840 electric vehicle is just because people are trying to push 0:10:12.880 --> 0:10:17.360 me to do it. So but you know, so you 0:10:17.480 --> 0:10:19.840 talked about the state pension funds, so that would obviously 0:10:19.920 --> 0:10:23.560 take you know, the governor, and take the state being 0:10:23.640 --> 0:10:25.640 interested in doing that as well. 0:10:25.720 --> 0:10:27.960 Right, Yes, And you've seen a ton of states start 0:10:28.000 --> 0:10:29.280 to take action on that. 0:10:29.600 --> 0:10:32.040 Florida in particular, has moved West Virginia. 0:10:32.880 --> 0:10:36.120 Texas has passed a law that says if you have 0:10:36.240 --> 0:10:39.000 as a company policy you're going to try and discriminate 0:10:39.000 --> 0:10:41.600 against the particular industry, in their case, fossil fuels. With 0:10:41.640 --> 0:10:44.360 all these net zero targets, then the state is no 0:10:44.800 --> 0:10:46.440 longer going to do business with you. You're not going 0:10:46.480 --> 0:10:48.760 to do our bond issuances, you're not going to manage 0:10:48.760 --> 0:10:51.560 our state's pension funds. You know, your persona on Granta 0:10:51.679 --> 0:10:56.040 to us as a vendor. And you're seeing that start 0:10:56.120 --> 0:10:58.600 to spread throughout. Like I said, there's about twenty to 0:10:58.640 --> 0:11:01.839 twenty five states this legislative session this year that are 0:11:01.880 --> 0:11:05.520 considering similar legislation on that issue. And that's what it's 0:11:05.520 --> 0:11:08.360 going to take to turn the market, because other states 0:11:08.360 --> 0:11:11.240 like California and Illinois and New York and New Jersey 0:11:11.760 --> 0:11:14.440 for years started saying that if you wanted to if 0:11:14.480 --> 0:11:16.360 you wanted to be a customer of CalPERS, for example, 0:11:16.400 --> 0:11:19.640 the California pension system, then you had to agree to 0:11:19.760 --> 0:11:23.080 use all of your assets under management to push net zero. 0:11:23.480 --> 0:11:27.880 So they basically allow to hijacked all of the Red 0:11:27.880 --> 0:11:30.760 state pension funds by doing that, because the Red state 0:11:30.800 --> 0:11:33.520 pension funds didn't subject until now, so putting it into 0:11:33.559 --> 0:11:36.000 that bifurcating the market, saying you can't serve two masters. 0:11:36.000 --> 0:11:38.839 You can't you can't use our money to do California's 0:11:38.880 --> 0:11:41.400 bidding and New York's bidding. That's gonna that's going to 0:11:41.880 --> 0:11:44.680 hugely dampen the ability of Black Rock. 0:11:44.640 --> 0:11:47.640 And other big asset managers to push push this kind 0:11:47.640 --> 0:11:48.160 of nonsense. 0:11:48.280 --> 0:11:51.040 I do think I don't think people always realized how 0:11:51.040 --> 0:11:54.160 smart Governor DeSantis is here I live in Florida, in 0:11:54.200 --> 0:11:57.400 the way that he uses government to fight back and 0:11:57.480 --> 0:11:59.920 against you know, some of these you know, the woe 0:12:00.200 --> 0:12:03.040 right and trying to defeat them. But it does seem 0:12:03.080 --> 0:12:06.320 like more and more Republicans are finally coming to the 0:12:06.320 --> 0:12:09.800 conclusion that, you know, playing nice like we used to 0:12:10.320 --> 0:12:12.360 is not going to get the job done when the 0:12:12.480 --> 0:12:15.520 Left is capturing every institution in America. 0:12:15.760 --> 0:12:20.360 It's absolutely true, and as a fellow Floridian Sarasotan myself, 0:12:21.600 --> 0:12:23.920 I couldn't agree more. I think what Governor DeSantis has 0:12:23.960 --> 0:12:26.600 done has been fantastic and it should be a model 0:12:26.679 --> 0:12:30.880 for all other Republican governors who care about defending freedom 0:12:30.880 --> 0:12:33.640 and liberty in the country. One of the pushbacks we 0:12:33.720 --> 0:12:35.880 sometimes get in our efforts is that this is somehow 0:12:35.920 --> 0:12:38.480 anti free market. You know, you've got the government coming 0:12:38.520 --> 0:12:41.120 in and saying, you know what companies can and cannot do, 0:12:41.320 --> 0:12:44.160 or they'll stop doing business with them. But that's already 0:12:44.200 --> 0:12:47.199 what's happening. California and New York and New Jersey are 0:12:47.320 --> 0:12:50.280 telling the market, the asset managers that if they want 0:12:50.320 --> 0:12:52.000 to do business, if they want to get these huge 0:12:52.000 --> 0:12:55.240 amount of billions of dollars that their pension funds have, 0:12:55.600 --> 0:12:58.120 that they have to sell out the interests of these 0:12:58.120 --> 0:13:00.520 other states. There's only one way to solve that. If 0:13:00.559 --> 0:13:02.880 you had a lawyer that was giving away, you know, 0:13:02.920 --> 0:13:06.920 private information of yours to another client of theirs in 0:13:06.960 --> 0:13:10.160 return for money, you would fire that lawyer. Well, that's 0:13:10.160 --> 0:13:13.280 what's happening. These big asset managers and big banks are 0:13:13.360 --> 0:13:15.960 selling out the interests of red states on behalf of 0:13:15.960 --> 0:13:18.679 their blue state paymasters. And so there's only one way 0:13:18.720 --> 0:13:19.120 to solve that. 0:13:19.160 --> 0:13:19.800 You have to fire them. 0:13:19.880 --> 0:13:21.840 I see, I look at it as survival. You know, 0:13:21.880 --> 0:13:24.280 what hope do we have if we have no power, 0:13:24.880 --> 0:13:27.160 you know, moving forward? So you know, I think the 0:13:27.200 --> 0:13:30.600 battle lines look different than they used to when you 0:13:30.640 --> 0:13:33.280 know we've got you know, every institution working against us 0:13:33.320 --> 0:13:36.400 and trying to punish us just for simply being conservatives. 0:13:36.679 --> 0:13:42.200 Quick commercial break more with will Hild. What else would 0:13:42.240 --> 0:13:46.520 you like to see from governors or see from Republicans 0:13:46.600 --> 0:13:49.040 to try to push back on some of this nonsense, Like, 0:13:49.160 --> 0:13:51.239 what else could they be doing effectively? 0:13:51.640 --> 0:13:54.360 Well, I think they basically need to look at enforcing 0:13:54.400 --> 0:13:56.880 a lot of existing law around fiduciary duty. The other 0:13:57.000 --> 0:14:00.440 thing that I think really raised question this is an 0:14:00.440 --> 0:14:03.840 anti trust violation. Many of these asset managers are members 0:14:04.240 --> 0:14:06.920 of groups like something called Climate Action one hundred and 0:14:06.960 --> 0:14:10.200 another one called the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero. 0:14:10.240 --> 0:14:13.240 I know that's a mouthful. Sometimes it's usually just referred 0:14:13.240 --> 0:14:16.319 to as g fans. But in order to join these organizations, 0:14:16.320 --> 0:14:19.320 what you promised to do is to pursue net zero 0:14:19.400 --> 0:14:23.960 targets coordinating with all the other members in this organization. 0:14:24.280 --> 0:14:25.800 Well, what effectively that means? 0:14:25.800 --> 0:14:28.640 That's like if you got together all the owners of 0:14:28.920 --> 0:14:31.000 all the oil companies in the world and said, hey, 0:14:31.280 --> 0:14:33.400 we're all going to agree we're going to decrease production 0:14:33.480 --> 0:14:36.440 by ten fifteen percent. Well, if you put it that way, 0:14:36.520 --> 0:14:40.120 everyone would recognize that's obviously an anti trust conspiracy. 0:14:40.640 --> 0:14:44.680 That's textbook. They've effectively done that. They just call it 0:14:44.680 --> 0:14:46.240 net zero, but it's the same thing. 0:14:46.720 --> 0:14:50.320 And I think increasingly states looking at that looking at 0:14:50.360 --> 0:14:54.120 that avenue. The Sherman Anti Trust Acts allows states the 0:14:54.200 --> 0:14:56.920 right to the right of action against these companies, and 0:14:56.960 --> 0:14:59.200 I think if you start seeing a bunch of lawsuits 0:14:59.200 --> 0:15:02.400 against Black Rock in State Street and Vanguard and even 0:15:02.440 --> 0:15:04.600 the big banks that have also signed onto this stuff, 0:15:04.640 --> 0:15:09.160 like City and Vathan Morgan, Chase and Boa and Wells Cargo, 0:15:09.720 --> 0:15:12.640 I think it will it will end very quickly. The 0:15:12.640 --> 0:15:15.080 good news for us is on this front is a 0:15:15.080 --> 0:15:16.680 lot of this will capitalism stuff is. 0:15:16.640 --> 0:15:19.120 Pushed by conspiracies that are illegal. 0:15:19.280 --> 0:15:24.400 They're violations of you know, long existing fiduciary duties and 0:15:24.840 --> 0:15:27.000 long existing federal statutes against anti trust. 0:15:27.320 --> 0:15:28.160 But we haven't to. 0:15:28.120 --> 0:15:31.440 Your point, we haven't had the political will to simply 0:15:31.520 --> 0:15:33.400 enforce the law, and that has to change. 0:15:33.640 --> 0:15:37.320 I'm looking now and I think where is it. There 0:15:37.360 --> 0:15:41.680 are twenty two Republican trifectas in the country right now, 0:15:41.800 --> 0:15:46.320 seventeen Democrat trifectas, eleven divided governments, So there is absolutely 0:15:46.360 --> 0:15:49.560 no excuse for twenty two of those Republican States to 0:15:49.600 --> 0:15:52.360 be doing everything they can under their power to push 0:15:52.400 --> 0:15:55.680 back against the stuff and tomate companies, you know, punished 0:15:55.720 --> 0:15:58.520 companies that are pushing a woke agenda and pushing an 0:15:58.520 --> 0:16:02.960 agenda that's actually you know, hurting Americans as well with 0:16:03.040 --> 0:16:05.240 what we see with the you know, some of these 0:16:05.320 --> 0:16:08.120 environmental stuff that they're doing. You know, I don't you 0:16:08.400 --> 0:16:12.320 guys just launched recently, you know, woke Alerts. Talk a 0:16:12.360 --> 0:16:14.320 little bit about what that does in some of the 0:16:14.320 --> 0:16:17.560 specific things that you guys are doing at Consumers Research 0:16:17.880 --> 0:16:20.680 to push back against this stuff absolutely well. 0:16:20.680 --> 0:16:22.320 On in twenty twenty one, we want something called the 0:16:22.320 --> 0:16:26.200 Consumers First Initiative. It's an ongoing multimillion dollar ad campaign 0:16:26.640 --> 0:16:30.000 to name and shame companies that go woke in order 0:16:30.040 --> 0:16:32.120 to distract from their misdeeds in the market or their 0:16:32.160 --> 0:16:34.600 mistreatment of their customers. We spend millions and millions of 0:16:34.600 --> 0:16:38.800 dollars blasting the brands of companies like American Airlines, Nike, 0:16:38.960 --> 0:16:44.080 Coca Cola, Blackrock, obviously, ticket Master MLB and the next 0:16:44.080 --> 0:16:46.160 phase in that. One of the things that that when 0:16:46.200 --> 0:16:48.800 we launched, these people kept coming to us like where 0:16:48.840 --> 0:16:50.720 can I find out what companies are woken up? 0:16:50.760 --> 0:16:51.680 When when how can. 0:16:51.600 --> 0:16:53.560 I can you guys tell me, you know, who should 0:16:53.560 --> 0:16:55.600 I be shopping with? And so we came up with 0:16:55.640 --> 0:16:58.960 this idea of woke alerts, meaning it's a text message 0:16:58.960 --> 0:17:00.680 based system. You can sign up on our website at 0:17:00.680 --> 0:17:04.640 consumers Research dot org and we will text you when 0:17:04.640 --> 0:17:07.320 there is a a company that goes woke. Sometimes it's 0:17:07.320 --> 0:17:09.600 a big story like the bud Light. Sometimes it's a 0:17:09.640 --> 0:17:11.800 company that's flying under the radar. They're going woke and 0:17:11.960 --> 0:17:13.359 they hope no one finds out about it, and we're 0:17:13.359 --> 0:17:15.840 going to put it into that So it allows consumers 0:17:15.840 --> 0:17:20.320 who care about when corporations are undermining their their values 0:17:20.600 --> 0:17:21.040 to know. 0:17:21.000 --> 0:17:22.679 About it and to be able to do something about it. 0:17:22.840 --> 0:17:24.800 So, like I said, people who would like to sign 0:17:24.880 --> 0:17:27.280 up can visit our website at consumers Research dot org. 0:17:27.560 --> 0:17:32.800 And you've also previously launched ads against companies like Coca Cola, 0:17:33.359 --> 0:17:36.320 American Airlines. You know, talk a little bit about some 0:17:36.400 --> 0:17:38.800 of that work in terms of trying to you know, 0:17:38.800 --> 0:17:41.560 target them and ads on cable stations as well as 0:17:41.600 --> 0:17:42.440 local markets. 0:17:42.640 --> 0:17:44.080 Yeah, absolutely so. 0:17:44.080 --> 0:17:49.040 So, yeah, we've spent millions of dollars tarnishing these companies' brands, 0:17:49.080 --> 0:17:52.000 because what we realized was the companies that were the 0:17:52.040 --> 0:17:55.720 wokest and most likely to go woke, they often had 0:17:55.760 --> 0:17:57.800 some of the worst skeletons in their closet, and it 0:17:57.840 --> 0:17:59.960 became very clear that what they were really trying to 0:18:00.160 --> 0:18:02.560 do the real game here was they wanted to distract 0:18:02.800 --> 0:18:05.520 from those issues. They would cozy up to woke activists 0:18:05.520 --> 0:18:08.280 and woke politicians. They get really glowing coverage in the 0:18:08.280 --> 0:18:10.960 New York Times the Washington Post for signing onto a 0:18:11.040 --> 0:18:15.320 letter condemning Georgia election integrity legislation or Texas election integrity 0:18:15.400 --> 0:18:19.000 legislation or whatever the key issue was. But in reality 0:18:19.240 --> 0:18:21.480 they were some of the worst defenders. Like take Nike 0:18:21.560 --> 0:18:25.359 for example. Obviously they're famous for having Colin Kaepernick. You know, 0:18:26.080 --> 0:18:29.600 you know, call America white supremacist nation, and compare the 0:18:29.680 --> 0:18:32.600 NFL combined to the slave trade. 0:18:33.000 --> 0:18:35.480 Nike has had decades of issues with. 0:18:37.200 --> 0:18:40.560 Sweatshop labor, and right now they have a huge problem 0:18:40.840 --> 0:18:43.720 with slave labor in China being used to make their shoes. 0:18:43.760 --> 0:18:48.080 And that's according to Congressional Congressional report. In fact, at 0:18:48.080 --> 0:18:51.800 the same time that they were attacking the Georgia election 0:18:51.880 --> 0:18:56.480 integrity legislation. They were quietly lobbying against a federal law 0:18:56.920 --> 0:19:00.920 that would have barred products made using slave labor in 0:19:01.000 --> 0:19:03.960 China from entering US markets. They wanted an exception so 0:19:04.000 --> 0:19:07.080 that their shoes could continue to create the hypocrisy. I mean, 0:19:07.240 --> 0:19:09.400 I'm not one for pointing out hypocrisy because it doesn't 0:19:09.400 --> 0:19:12.359 really do much. These people are pretty pretty blatant sociopath 0:19:12.760 --> 0:19:15.240 But I do think the average consumer needs to understand 0:19:15.440 --> 0:19:17.760 that when they see a company go woke, what that 0:19:17.920 --> 0:19:21.600 usually means is they it's projection. They're doing something probably 0:19:21.640 --> 0:19:24.320 worse than what they're accusing the other side of and 0:19:24.600 --> 0:19:26.640 and we we were simply going to call that out. 0:19:26.680 --> 0:19:29.520 It's not going to work. Our idea is simply to you. 0:19:29.440 --> 0:19:31.239 Know, there's no reason to go woke now because if 0:19:31.240 --> 0:19:33.280 you're if you're trying to distract from those issues, We're 0:19:33.280 --> 0:19:35.639 going to put a spotlight on those issues. Coca Cola 0:19:35.720 --> 0:19:38.159 also had issues with the same thing, and American Airlines 0:19:38.200 --> 0:19:40.679 is one of the worst run airlines in America. The 0:19:40.720 --> 0:19:44.000 same you know, the same year that their CEO got 0:19:44.000 --> 0:19:47.720 a ten million plus pay package, they had to go to. 0:19:47.640 --> 0:19:49.720 Congress for a four point five billion dollar bailout. 0:19:50.040 --> 0:19:52.320