Downing: It’s pump-and-dump as the ‘woke bubble’ is about to burst

By
Suzanne Downing
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By SUZANNE DOWNING

With Father’s Day approaching, a surprising twist may bring good news for the dads of America: There are signs that the “woke bubble” is nearing its bursting point.

Last week, CNN reported a shift in the beer market: Modelo took over Bud Light as the top-selling beer in the United States, ending Bud Light’s 20-year reign. This change, among others, reflects a massive consumer revolt is working.

For years, the ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) scoring system has been touted as the new frontier for socially conscious business practices. It’s the bright, shiny object that started even before the creation of the “B corporation” concept — businesses certified by groups like B Lab as meeting certain standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. 

As with Bud Light, there is growing evidence that all this wokeness has jumped the shark and overstayed its welcome. Many companies that have prioritized ESG and DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) values have started to face an economic backlash.

Take Starbucks, for instance. The coffee giant, once the pride of downtown Seattle, went national a couple of generations ago, and is now just another corporation in a neverending public “struggle session” with its workers and unions. 

The coffee company and its unions are arguing over over the extent of Starbucks’ “Pride” displays: Did Starbucks really start pulling back the displays, as the unions claim, or has this become just another way for the unions to attack the corporation? It has become the War of the Roses, with both sides swinging from the woke chandeliers. 

Starbucks also faces a $25.6 million settlement with a woman who says she was fired because she’s white. A jury ruled in the woman’s favor last week. 

A month earlier, a woman who worked at a high-end gym said she was fired for being black. The jury awarded her $11.5 million. 

It seems ESG and DEI cultural norms have created a cannibalistic cycle, with companies, their workers, their investors, and their stakeholders in perpetual discord over what constitutes ‘enough’ wokeness.

The trajectory of this ‘woke bubble’ resembles a typical business bubble cycle. It begins subtly, as early adopters seize opportunities. Soon, institutional investors follow suit, sparking intrigue, building perceived value. As public awareness grows, so does the bubble, inflating values beyond what is sustainable. Ultimately, the bubble bursts, triggering a rapid disinvestment and leaving a trail of economic casualties. 

It appears that the ‘woke bubble’ may be on the brink of this final phase. Woke is about to crash.

Recently, S&P Global Ratings announced an upgrade in its ESG evaluation for Philip Morris International, pushing it to 62 from 60 on a scale of 1 to 100. 

Meanwhile, Tesla, an electric vehicle leader, received a disappointing score of 37 – this was after having been removed from the ESG ratings altogether the year before.

S&P Global Ratings rank cigarette brands higher on their scale than electric vehicles? It’s just more evidence the woke bubble has reached maximum inflation.

Target and Bud Light suffered a significant market loss of a combined $28 billion by the end of May, just as Pride Month commenced. Both companies are in panic mode, as they will have to answer to stockholders at the next quarterly meetings, which will come in August, when second quarter results are announced and when savvy stockholders will ask uncomfortable questions.

Meanwhile, in the energy sector, titans like Exxon, Shell, and BP have begun to scale back their climate change commitments.

The daunting reality is dawning on them: Transitioning to non-oil energy sources by 2030, or even 2050, could have severe global implications, including societal upheaval and widespread food shortages, particularly in impoverished countries.

Shell made headlines last year when then-CEO Ben van Beurden announced a bold target to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. Now, however, under new leadership, the oil and gas behemoth is retracting this commitment. 

While the coffee, consumer goods, and energy sector are taking hits, even the children of America have seen the woke agenda for what it is. They realize the emperor has no clothes.

In Burlington, Mass., middle school students organized a protest against forced participation in Pride Month activities, voicing their discontent with a resonating chant: Their pronouns are “USA.”

The signs are all there. Americans are growing weary of forced pronoun usage, aggressive virtue-signaling, and businesses co-opting social issues. The backlash is not just consumer behavior; it’s a national resistance against the dismantling of the solid values that built America.

We are witnessing the ultimate pump-and-dump. Overinflation of the ‘woke index’ suggests a looming crash is just ahead.

Suzanne Downing is publisher of Must Read Alaska.

102 COMMENTS

  1. As the bubble bursts, what remains as the pieces standing and what is the collateral damage? Is it a time for re-growth? If so, what is the end product of re-growth … something better or worse? Conservatives had better come up with a viable Game Plan for a better future!

  2. According to Johns Hopkins, a lesbian should now be referred to as a non-man attracted to non-men in it’s new LGBTQ glossary. Their term “gay man” is a man attracted to other men. So we contine down this vast delusional black hole of trans activism and erasure of women. Trans women are women, except women aren’t women and birthing people aren’t women, and non-men aren’t women because the word woman isn’t definable to liberal government or society unless you were once a man. Hopefully the woke agenda will die a slow, satisfying death, but I won’t hold my breath.

    • And if you could read and not just repeat some fear mongers hyperbole you would know: The LGBTQ Glossary serves as an introduction to the range of identities and terms that are used within LGBTQ communities, and is not intended to serve as the definitive answers as to how all people understand or use these terms. While the glossary is a resource posted on the website of the Johns Hopkins University Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI); the definitions were not reviewed or approved by ODI leadership and the language in question has been removed pending review.

      • Johns Hopkins can make whatever excuse it wants now that it has received backlash and taken it down. We all know how woke propagandists are trying to integrate these new terms into society and I seriously doubt many lesbians want to be referred to as non-men. Reporting factual information is not fear mongering.

      • Did you not read the article titled The Woke Bubble is About to Burst, with several examples of the woke mafia’s failing attempt to liberalize society into a progressive dumpster fire? Whether it’s boycotts, parental and women’s rights, pride over saturation while diminishing true hero’s on Memorial Day, or medical institutions laughably trying to convince us that lack of common sense doesn’t matter as long as you’ve been highly educated, it all comes back to the same movement. People have had enough and poll numbers show they’re shifting conservative. You may choose to ignore trans activists that are happily content referring to women as birthing people and trans women as women, but we will continue to fight this asinine “woke” agenda. It’s all encompassing and attacks every thread of modern decency and values. Don’t care if the correlation or significance doesn’t occur to you, probably most things don’t.

  3. Modelo is owned by the same parent company as Bud light. So if you want to make a stand on Bud light that’s fine but do your own diligence if you’re trying to make a point because the ownership is widespreading. Don’t like the Chinese? That’s fine don’t buy Smithfield ham next Thanksgiving or Christmas. I like Modelo beer and that’s why I drink it. If I needed a reason not to drink Bud light it would be because it tastes like piss water. A white woman the other day was awarded 27 million because she was fired because she was white. I never drank Seattle’s Best coffee because I thought they priced themselves out of the market at least in my wallet. I boycott California now religiously. But you got to do your homework. The company that you might be trying to boycott might be getting your coins in another purchase.

    • Modelo in the U.S.A is owned by Constellation Brands In the rest of the world Modelo is owned by Inbev the conglomerate that owns Anheuser Busch (this is due to some monopoly ruling by the SEC I believe) So as long as your buying Modelo in the U.S.A you’re not supporting AB or Inbev

    • There is a simpler way to make the point. But it gets lost in the furor.

      Since the parent company of Bud is an octopus with tentacles in many things, start cutting off the individual tentacles.

      Due to international corporations and finance practices taking down the whole company is nearly impossible.

      So bleed it to death by 1000 financial cuts. Destroy Bud Light as a viable business entity. Then, if necessary, move on to Bud. Then, if necessary move on to Modelo or whatever.

      It’s the same strategy the left uses. It’s effective. Use it on them.

  4. “……Modelo took over Bud Light as the top-selling beer in the United States, ending Bud Light’s 20-year reign. This change, among others, reflects a massive consumer revolt is working……..”
    Unfortunately, Grupo Modelo, the Mexican brewer, is owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev, the same parent company of Bud Light. The pushback would have been much more delicious had America’s beer drinkers gone to local craft beers instead of yet another corporate monster.
    But your Stages of a Bubble graph is accurate, and the crash of wokeness in the corporate world, society, and government is simply a matter of time. While I welcome it, it will not be painless, even for the righteous.

      • “Modelo in USA is owned by Constellation Brands…….”
        That is incorrect. On June 12, 2008, The Wall Street Journal stated that Anheuser-Busch InBev, which owned a non-controlling 50% stake in the company, might attempt to acquire the remaining 50%. On June 29, 2012, it was announced that Anheuser-Busch InBev would acquire the remaining 50% stake for an all-cash price of $20.1 billion. On January 31, 2013, the US Department of Justice filed an antitrust suit in an attempt to prevent the buyout. The matter was settled, and the two companies merged in June 2013, with the transfer of all United States rights to Constellation Brands. As a result, all the company’s brands are made in Mexico, and in the United States, Grupo Modelo brands are DISTRIBUTED by Constellation Brands.

      • No. It is imported by constellation brands. It is distributed by silver eagle beverages. You are still giving anheuser your money buying model. As they have to buy it from models in Mexico to have it imported. It’s not that hard.

    • I read a story that claimed the whole Mulvaney thing was deliberate by InBev.

      They were about to have union troubles with Bud and decided to cut the whole issue off at the knees by temporarily crippling the biggest seller. Lose a bunch of jobs, the union loses leverage.

      The source, Tomi Laren/Outkick, is dubious. The concept is so stupid as to easily be plausible.

  5. The artificial petals are falling off the Gender Pretender flower.

    For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven…

    • As far as the market is concerned; only petals falling is from those rotten trees that stay stuck in the past. Even this article couldn’t come up with any examples of woke companies floundering. Just fake bud lite.

  7. Suzanne, thank you for true independent and investigative journalism; this is great news for America!

      • Wayne Douglas, in your thinking how much of your ‘hope’ rests in the personage of one Donald John Trump getting elected? I ask this because you have indicated in previous comments that Trump is our Political Savior. Could it be possible that God might have raised up other leaders? I mean, Trump reminds me much of Saul, should we consider that there could be a David in our midst? Your thoughts please Sir.

        • “…….Could it be possible that God might have raised up other leaders?……”
          Sure. Do you see such leaders out there?
          I certainly don’t, including Trump……..although he is certainly the one that the current crop of “leaders” didn’t and don’t want.
          After the Resurrection of Christ, who was supposed to save Judea from Titus?

          • Reggie, I am encouraged by several leaders now seeking to replace Joe Biden. On the D side I find RFK Jr’s message encouraging. Bobby Jr. rightly points to the Corporate stranglehold upon our Government. Am I peachy with all of his platform, no but thank God for his diligent work in exposing the lies of the last 3 years. (lots of “R’s” still blind to it)
            Republicans DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy both have bold Constitutional ideas and in the case of DeSantis have put them in practice. I see these leaders espousing good things.
            As for Titus, well, I’m not a Roman Citizen, however my ancestors took care of the Romans at a place called the Tuetoburg Forest. We do have free will thankfully and it’s time some of these tyrants ran into to it! .

  8. The ultimate irony, and stereotypical radical leftist hypocrisy, of the whole so-called “woke” movement is that the wokesters are the exact opposite of what they self-style themselves to be, and are in fact the most intellectually, morally and rationally asleep. And they have been put into that sleep by the satanic and purposefully divisive lullabies of the neo-feudalistic globalist ruling class.

  9. One can only hope the adults are beginning to take charge once again. But, somehow, I do not think we have seen the end of this. The children…. errr… I mean the leftists will not be so quick to abandon their state of perpetual offense. They have yet to find a better tool to crybully their way into power.

  11. Well-written article, Suzanne. I switched beers to Alaskan Amber long before the Dud Light debacle with homosexuals. For Father’s Day, I bought a new gas-powered lawn mower, along with a new gas side-by-side sports vehicle. And then we drive up to our little piece of paradise near the river with the family’s new F-250 4×4. Then we go boating with two Merc gas engines that have combined horse power of 300.
    Next, we stoke-up the gas stove and slap big steaks on the grill. When we finish our weekend, we drive home and park next to our three other gas cars and four, covered snow-mobiles. Perfect weekend for our Alaska family of six. None woke here, and kids are all good students with zero LGBTQ indoctrination. Our left-over funds all go to our church and to the re-election campaign of Donald John Trump. Life is good!! Happy Father’s Day, everyone.

  14. sz- The school is Marshall Simonds Middle School in Burlington *Massachusetts*.

    ‘https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/education/massachusetts-middle-school-students-stage-protest-over-pride-event

    And from your pen/keyboard to God’s ears re:‘woke bubble’ is about to burst’.

  15. Well I hope Suzanne is right. We need a common sense direction to get back on track. The left is not going to give up the power and money laundering without a lot of crying and a spanking from the consumer. Let’s keep up the boycotts.

  16. Are we really that shallow??
    Modelo is owned by the same parent company that Bud Lite is. what that means is that in reality, INBEV has not lost a dime since when Bud Lite went down Modelo went up. As a matter of fact, thanks to all the free publicity, they might actually make money.

  17. Jim Minnery’s radio hour yesterday on 89.3fm his guest also gave encouraging opinion these medical practices who perform elective transgender surgeries on today’s American youth will ultimately go away because of litigations when families and the adult youth sue the doctors into oblivion.

    While we wait we just have to hold the line and keep pushing back. Every trend has its end.

    • But how many lives will be lost or permanently damaged before we figure it all out? We need to give detransitioners a bigger voice for starters.

      • We don’t want to focus on scarred bodies when God’s word gives us the promise those in Jesus Christ are promised a new resurrected body like Jesus’ promised a new body and a mansion. These people whom scarred their bodies by addiction, surgeries, or mutilations. They have to endure what they done to themselves for a little while. But! When they die they’ll have a new Body like the aged will have a body free of sickness, no weakness. The disabled and mentally handicapped will finally feel what Normal feels like what Gaither homecoming guest late David ring with cerebral palsy spoke there is coming a day when he won’t talk funny. Well ! David is in heaven and he no longer talks funny. You know the mature Christian don’t look at sufferings as a gloomy downpour. He doesn’t see the afflictions coming from his pain or poor choices once made, in the beginning he will hurt but overtime, Instead he sees raindrops of tenderness, love, compassion, patience, and a thousand other flowers and fruits of the blessed Holy Spirit that deepened and enriched his life. This is what those overcoming poor choices need to focus on what is at work in them not so much the humiliation, shame, fear, resentment. They are not a freak, they are a child of the King if they are in Christ made perfect by his death and resurrected life.

  18. Gay pride goeth before the fall. The fall into the bottomless pit of HELL for ETERNITY. Choices have consequences, so have a nice trip, we’ll see you in the fall.

      • Perpetrating crimes against nature and expecting normal people and healthy society to accept you and your sick behavior is also a choice, Maureen.

        Just sayin’.

      • “……..religion is a choice……….”
        Indeed. All actions and inactions are the decisions of choices presented to us. So why not choose goodness over evil?

        • Spent A LOTof time in church already. NO THANK YOU to more. you do you though. Go for the superstitions and old traditions vaulting guys over women.

          Case in point Southern Baptist Convention votes to not allow women to be pastors. Haven’t heard a word yet about what they are doing about the 700+ known accused sex offenders in that body of male pastors-which is a BIG problem for the Convention.

          Wanna talk who is choosing evil?

    • Kane, Yahweh tells us, “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” James 2:10. Accordingly, you and I are both homosexuals, even without engaging in the act. This is why the Son of Man told us not to judge others. I also read Him to understand we must oppose the sin and love the sinner. Hold the line; never agree that homosexuality is not a sin.

    • Sigh. So many people who have allegedly read the Word but didn’t actually understand it.

      All who genuinely ask for forgiveness are granted it. Even people who spent their whole lives doing the most vile things.

      Even gay people. Even Biden, if he was genuinely repentant (not likely I admit).

    • Only those who refused the gift from our God in Christ Jesus do they go into hell. The children of Adam can still get to Heaven IF one repents and recognize his need for salvation in Christ Jesus when we forsake our old life for a new life in Christ Jesus, which includes those who once were homosexuals. The unpardonable sin is the one that grieves the Holy Spirit when we hear the gospel in Jesus Christ and we do not receive him then we still die without him. People, like Maureen and me, are lucky they hadn’t died yet, she heard the gospel but she refuses it daily. Likely chance she’ll never receive Christ, since as far back as she been commenting she pretty hard hearted, a tough shell to crack.

      • True, unrepentent unbelieving folks go to that place we don’t like to talk about… But Jen, the “unpardonable sin” is claiming to Jesus’ face that the Holy Spirit in Him is the devil or a demon. Be careful how we judge, for in 1Corinthians the Bible says (after a list of condemning sins being a person’s character) that “that is what some of you were” (1Cor.6:9-11). They CAN change.

  20. CNN also lost its head honcho this week because of that former guy townhall that the honcho did in effort to swing CNN to the right. THAT right bubble burst there. So can’t say I’m in agreement here.

  22. While the discussion includes many references to businesses cycles and investments, the broad topic can be viewed as a trend/movement which is on the verge of intellectual bankruptcy. One of the markers are the many efforts to redefine words or reshape ideas to deprive them of normal understanding. Examples include trying to say that “trans women” are women. They are not. Other forms of nonsense are “anti-racism”, “identity” and perversions of “equity”. All of this stuff is garbage. The faster we move through the cycle, the better.

  23. Seems a bit of a hopeful stretch to me. The last 60 years in particular are a testament to the left winning by degrees and attrition.

    Propose something radical. Act radically. They sorta fade away. Then wait a few years and come back with a watered down version that seems “reasonable” based on earlier action.

    As little as 30 years ago gay marriage was damn near impossible. Today it’s been codified by SCOTUS. 50 years ago unmarried people living together was unthinkable. Today it’s the norm.

    Woke never goes away.

    • “……..Seems a bit of a hopeful stretch to me. The last 60 years in particular are a testament to the left winning by degrees and attrition………..”
      Their degradation of the culture was a strategy called The Long March Through the Institutions. But remember, “Pride cometh Before the Fall”……….Proverbs 16:18. Their “pride” is nothing to be proud of. Indeed, it is not pride at all. It’s aggression. And instead of conquest, it will bring them ruin.

  24. Why you all talking about that $hit beer by other names.
    Miller Light with “Beer Never Broke My Heart” cans!
    I’d buy it just for the cans…….
    Because that’s what the others guys expected…….
    Oooh I put a tranny dude on my can now Ima get rich because everyone loves tranny boys….
    …. isn’t working out so much for them I suppose.
    I stick to Miller. If they ever pull that $hit ima start making my own……

    • Perhaps you might want to review Millers guide “Cultivating Inclusive Spaces For All Bar Patrons.” The training materials within this guidebook incorporate some best practices to consider or implement at bar establishments across the country through the lens of the LGBTQ+ perspective.

  25. More. More. And More. This is a huge cultural moment.

    Let us help and encourage students here in Alaska to do this.

    It is spreading >

    ‘https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/education/high-school-students-canada-stage-walkout-protest-gender-ideology

  26. I’ll be a happy man when Holy Rosary starts a blog and the people who insist on putting their interpretation of Christianity into everything go there.

    But if Holy Rosary is smart, they’ll steer clear of this mess.

  27. Unfortunately I think the Masked Avenger is right. I dont see this crap disappearing when so many are wrapped up in thick blankets of it. Its the only thing keeping them from being exposed to reality. It has been bred into the entire web of society for too many years by way to many government institutions. We certainly wont be seeing “normal” again. There are way too many limbs on the tree of society to crawl out on.

    • Note the “return to mean” line on the graph… I don’t think anyone wants to return to the days when we beat homosexuals for no reason other than they were homosexuals.

      • I don’t know Rich. Clearly American religious ministries assisted Uganda in their new law to kill lgbtq+ citzens in that country.

  29. I can only assume that these corporations have mentally ill people managing their marketing.
    Anyone with half a brain knows it’s corporate suicide to pander to the less that 1% of your consumers.
    I always thought the rumors were just that regarding the deep state pedophilia rings…now beginning to think there may be some truth to that. Their practically flaunting it in our faces.
    Makes me really question the moral compass of anyone aligning themselves with Democrats these days.

    • You mean the Southern Baptist Convention who is not doing anything about their 700+ male pastors accused of abusebut throwing women from pastor roles.

      Seems pretty deep state to me LMF.

      • You do know that Southern Baptists have over 50,000 congregations and there are many ministers/pastors/youth directors in every single congregation, and that those 700 offenders stretch back over 20 years, which is indeed 35 per year or so, and that is not a happy number, but it’s not just one year. And this is from the SB’s own list of accountability. And you do know that humans sin, as a function of being human, churches notwithstanding.

        It’s obvious to everyone here that you hate Christians, hate Christianity, and believe the world would be a better place under satanic rule. Everyone here should pray for your soul. You are in a very precarious place in your life. Consider Christ, who washes away all sins. I wish you well in the afterlife.

        • Cover for them Celeste. Water it down. I thought this was about protecting the kids? Right. Only from others, not those in YOUR OWN COMMUNITY.

          It’s 700 who stand presently accused in that church system.

          I DON’t hate Christians, or Moslems or Jews or Hindus or anyone who takes on a religion.

          I have a REALLY BIG PROBLEM with folks who call themselves patriots and Christians and the don’t respect the first amendment and skew violence for godliness as explained by a guys in Georgia.

          I think YOU would do great to consider Christ. Not the words of a bunch of church administers trying to hold onto power whenwomen and especially young adultsare leaving their church in numbers too great to sustain the organization.

      • No I mean the sicko Democrats that are promoting legislation that supports the sexualization of children, grooming of children, sexual mutilation of children, can’t define a woman, victimization of women by allowing biological males to compete in women’s sports, and the destruction of the nuclear family.
        It’s pedophilia to support the sexualization of children.
        It’s also pedophilia what many of the churches have done to cover up child sex abuse, Catholic, Baptist, Mormon…they’re all guilty.
        Seems to me like you’re trying to deflect Maureen?!?
        I deal in facts not emotions or opinions. The truth hurts, huh?

        • It’s not the drag queens who are getting arrested for child abuse LMF. Seems a lot of youth ministers get caught abusing kids, lately though.

  30. This was all about the bucks. The graphic is a classic. All one has to do is take a lap inside Dimond Center and note the lack of pride displays and gear this year; virtually none unless it is well hidden. Companies are now afraid it will affect their bottom line. When the bucks stop flowing, so goes the virtue signalling

    • It was in concern of the safety of their staff that the sisplays went down. The physical safety of their staff especially.

      So in essence you are proud of bullying stores’ staff, threats of physical violence, accusations of heinous untruths to get your way.

      • Those threats were actually being made by people of the LGBTQA$+++ community because they were upset Target removed or moved the displays.
        Throwing fits as they weren’t getting their way…sound totally sane to me!
        They are the most protected community in society yet they still like to pretend their victims.

        • Not the videos I saw.

          Are you aware of how many trans folks are murdered for being trans? Obviously not or you would understand your own disregard and a whole lot of others differently than you sttated aboout their protestedness.

  31. Maureen , bullying, by whom? Certainly not by consumers who are free to make their own choices regarding where to spend their money and on which products.

  32. Righteo then, one lovely Guinness on the tilt!
    Such spirited, strident discourse, bits of hubris too. Outstanding!

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