Do you remember the Bud Light controversy?

It erupted back in April 2023.

 

Source: New York Post

 

What was all the fuss about? Well, at the time, Bud Light’s parent company —Anheuser-Busch Inbev [NYSE:BUD] — launched a promotional campaign. It featured transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney:

  • Apparently, their goal was to broaden the sales appeal of their beer. Reach a younger demographic. Look cooler.
  • But — whoops — it didn’t turn out that way. Because what the promo actually looked like was a shallow attempt at diversity, equity, and inclusion.

The backlash against Bud Light was immediate. Conservative consumers reacted with moral outrage, calling for a boycott:

  • In particular, singer Kid Rock led the charge. He filmed a video of himself leaning into an MP-5 submachine gun. He fired the weapon on full auto, blowing apart cans of Bud Light. Oh yeah. The crunchy bullet impacts and hissing beer spray made for a striking image. Kid Rock was expressing his anger in the most visceral way.
  • In the aftermath, sales for Bud Light reportedly fell as much as 26% in just one month. Meanwhile, the stock price for Anheuser-Busch also suffered a slump, plunging 20%.
  • For the first time in 20 years, Bud Light was unceremoniously knocked off its perch as America’s bestselling beer. Ouch.

The consensus was this: ‘Stop the virtue-signalling. Stop pushing ideology. Just focus on delivering a quality product. Otherwise, you’ll get punished.’

  • Perhaps this was a reasonable argument to make? You shouldn’t mix business with politics. You should keep the two issues separate. Ignore this lesson at your peril.

 

Source: Wikimedia Commons

 

Well, it’s now April 2025. And guess what? This time, it’s liberal consumers who are going a little stir-crazy. They are foaming at the mouth, reacting with moral outrage of their own. Their target? Elon Musk:  

  • As I write this, reports of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships, and charging stations are on the rise. We’re not just talking about simplistic damage, but rather, increasingly sophisticated attacks involving firearms and incendiary devices.
  • This has become so serious that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has launched a new task force to investigate this recent upheaval.

 

Source: Kash Patel / X

 

Some analysts believe that Tesla [NASDAQ:TSLA] may be experiencing a Bud Light moment:

  • Between December 17, 2025 and March 10, 2025, Tesla’s stock price fell over 50% from peak to trough. This has made Tesla the worst-performing member of the Magnificent Seven.
  • Is this a case of ‘Trump derangement syndrome’? Has the anger and ill-will been exaggerated by the media? Or…is this actually symptomatic of much deeper problems with Tesla’s branding?
  • I want to take an uncensored, uncompromising look at what’s really happening here…

 

Your first Quantum Wealth Report is waiting for you:

⚡🌎 Start Your Subscription: NZ$37.00 / monthly

⚡🌎 Start Your Subscription: US$24.00 / monthly