Should companies get involved in politics? : a study inspired by the 2023 Bud Light boycott
Creators: name: Pilat, Sebastian Ryszard
Publisher: name: ZHAW Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften
Year: 2024
Subjects: 320: Politik
658: Allgemeines Management

description: This study has been inspired by the 2023 Bud Light boycott, whereby following the brand’s collaboration with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney the resulting backlash from its predominantly sport-loving, white, rather conservative, American male consumers (Ward, 2019) cost the company as much as USD 1.4 Billion (Ziady, 2024). Thus, the Bud Light boycott inspired this research to reevaluate whether companies should get involved in politics. 
The reviewed literature has revealed that while most experts and some brand consulting firms support the notion of companies taking a stand on political issues, other independent research – which focused on consumers’ perception of firms’ political involvement – provides sufficient counterarguments to reassess whether brands should engage in political discourse or not. In any case, the presented data and opinions were conflicting and called for further research and discussion. 
Consequently, a survey of 170 participants from Europe, the U.S., and Canada has been conducted to contribute to the debate about whether companies should get involved in politics. In addition to their general attitudes towards firms’ political involvement, respondents were questioned about their likelihood to boycott and buycott, potential factors such as brand loyalty, price, quality, availability, and peer recommendations that could mitigate their boycott motivation, as well as their boycott experience and behavior. Furthermore, the results were assessed by participants’ gender, age, and political affiliation to determine whether significant differences exist based on the demographic parameters regarding respondents’ opinions. 
Some differences have been identified while others were too vague to determine. The survey results have shown that it is generally the more conservative respondents, men, and those aged 35 and older who hold more critical views on companies voicing political opinions. Furthermore, these groups have been identified to be more committed to boycotting in the long term. However, regardless of differences in demographics, respondents were critical towards firms’ political involvement, on average. Especially, they believe that companies’ involvement in politics has gone too far and that they ought to revert to making their marketing and PR campaigns less political.
The findings of this study were then put into perspective with the previously reviewed literature. A conclusion has been reached, that while there is a time and place for companies to take a stand on sociopolitical issues, there are some guidelines they must adhere to. In essence, firms ought to only engage in political discourse when the issue at hand is either of immediate concern to their business environment or challenges their values, or else they might risk being perceived as disingenuous or opportunistic. Are these prerequisites not met, companies might also negatively contribute to the increasing political polarization and partisanship not only among their consumers but the wider public too.