The Tesla backlash of March 2025 and the Bud Light controversy of 2023 both ignited swift, ideologically charged consumer reactions amplified by social media. Bud Light’s woes began with a Dylan Mulvaney ad, sparking a conservative boycott that cratered sales by up to 26%, while Tesla’s stem from Elon Musk’s Trump ties, alienating liberals and moderates as its stock plummeted over 40%. Both cases show how fast brand loyalty can erode when politics collide with commerce.
Yet, the responses differ sharply in tone and tactics. Bud Light faced a peaceful, effective boycott—think Kid Rock’s viral gunplay—focused on wallets, not violence, with sales dipping hard but stabilizing later. Tesla’s backlash has veered into chaos, with arson and vandalism targeting cars and dealerships, reflecting a rawer fury possibly fueled by Musk’s outsized persona and Tesla’s physical presence as a punching bag. The right shunned Bud Light; the left now torches Tesla.
Bud Light retreated, tweaking its image to appease critics, while Musk doubles down, flaunting Teslas at the White House amid Trump’s support. The beer brand took a hit but survived as a commodity; Tesla’s premium status and Musk’s defiance make its crisis more existential, blending economic rejection with a destructive edge. These sagas reveal how political tribalism can punish brands—one with a cold shoulder, the other with Molotovs.





4 comments
March 20, 2025 at 11:20 am
tildeb
The difference shows the enduring and deepening hypocrisy of the left in action.
Where are the demonstrations against bringing back the stranded astronauts by Musk’s SpaceX? Where are the virtue peddling champions cancelling Ukrainian reliance on their Starlink high speed internet in the fields of battle? Where are these brave activists burning down quadriplegics Neurolink connections to computers, destroying similar research so the blind can see and the deaf hear, so that spinal cord injuries can be bypassed and a return to physical function?
I am so sick and tired of the incredible hypocrisy and dishonesty and self-lying extremes of these so-called ‘green’ and ‘environmental’ champions going after the ONE FUCKING COMPANY that has successfully and sustainably reduced carbon emissions across an entire energy sector and is creating capacity to store zero emission energy for entire networks. Tesla has been under sustained attack by the left and its political wing for over a decade creating two tier administrative hurdles that consistently punish Tesla alone (not unionized, you see). And Musk was a major Democrat funder until the left lost its mind, embraced the authoritarianism of the progressive wing, censored social media, and couldn’t believe one guy would dare stand up to these ‘allied’ fucking bullies and buy Twitter. Free speech was just one principle too many for the left wing deluded to tolerate, the same bullies and sanctimonious fuckwads who knew better than everyone else that their self-appointed authority to control the narrative must not be questioned.
Which of these left wing moral hypocrites is burning their Lulu Lemon yoga pants? Where are the organizers and ‘public’ events responding to the use of Chinese slave labour by crushing their Apple products in an equivalent demonstration of moral outrage for saving American taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars in waste (80%) and grift (20%)? Beyond the pale to interfere with the left wing gravy train. So Teslas must burn for the Self Anointed to maintain their esteemed hypocrisy and put into practice their moral capitulation.
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March 20, 2025 at 11:39 am
The Arbourist
@Tildeb- Tell me how you *really* feel. :)
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March 20, 2025 at 12:10 pm
tildeb
Anger is mostly what I have remaining after literally decades of criticizing step by step so much of the vast yet unyielding stupidity undertaken by so many leading to lead all of us to right here, right now. And the grand prize earned by so many is a level of hypocrisy that is unparalleled. The violence shown to Tesla vehicles and dealerships today by such hypocrites proudly demonstrating Stupid Is As Stupid Does is the cherry on top. It’s so stupid, so counterproductive, so hypocritical that it isn’t even stupid. It’s just a public display of vast ignorance and the religious power of such moral certainty that we see such hypocrisy at scale. You simply can’t miss it unless you have eyes that cannot see, ears that cannot hear, and mouths that cannot speak the truth. Loot at them all! Wow.
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March 22, 2025 at 7:49 am
Carmen
@ Tildeb – well, you’ll have your great satisfaction when anyone caught is charged with domestic terrorism (as per mango Mussolini’s latest ‘edict’). That’ll teach em! (Too bad about all those innocent school kids who are at the mercy of angry white men – they’re probably all patriots, like the Jan. 6th fellas). I am shaking my head)
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