Former Bud Light workers are taking two conservative organizations, Public Sq. and RedBalloon, up on their offers to help find them new employment after being laid off.
“We hope that this results in more and more positive actions that hopefully send a strong counteracting message to the actions of Bud Light over the past few months,” PublicSq. CEO Michael Seifert told FOX Business. “It’s pretty amazing to witness this parallel economy that’s emerging that’s based upon meritocracy and excellence.”
Bud Light’s parent company, Anheuser-Busch, announced last week that it was laying off 2% of its U.S. workforce, primarily corporate and marketing roles rather than frontline workers. Conservative job board RedBalloon and patriotic online marketplace PublicSq. published an open letter to laid-off Bud Light workers, offering to help them find new jobs at “pro-America businesses.”
Laid-off Bud Light workers were ‘caught in the crossfire’:
“We’re sorry that Anheuser-Busch leadership prioritized left-wing ideology over sound business practices,” the letter states. “You are the ones that suffer for Bud Light’s disastrous decision.”
“People like to say ‘go woke, go broke’ and in reality, the economic consequences rarely fall on the wealthy liberals that make the woke decision,” it continues. “Both PublicSq. and Red Balloon will distribute your resumes to our respective networks of tens of thousands of pro-America businesses.”
Bud Light sales have plummeted since the beer maker partnered with Dylan Mulvaney in April to celebrate the transgender influencer’s “365 Days of Girlhood.” The move prompted online outrage and nationwide boycotts that are hitting the wallets of retailers, distributors, bars and contracted companies.
Seifert said they have already received “quite a few” resumes from laid-off Bud Light employees since releasing the letter last week and have been brokering relationships between them and businesses within their network looking to hire.
“I can tell you that we have placed some incredible interviews and are very excited that the ball is rolling down the court with more than a few of these folks,” he told FOX Business.
While he generally agrees with the consumer-driven backlash Bud Light is facing, Seifert said lower-level employees losing jobs is an unfortunate consequence of a free, value-driven market.
“Consumers carry a lot of buying power, and they should move their money to brands that share their values. And we’ve learned that Bud Light doesn’t,” he said. “But a lot of the people caught in the crossfire are these innocent employees that had nothing to do with the decisions made by upper management.”
Seifert said some of the laid-off Bud Light staff have told him “very explicitly and clearly that the values at the top of Anheuser-Busch that have led to marketing decisions like this do not represent their employee base.”
As a CEO himself, Seifert blames the Bud Light boycott and its effects on Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth.
“My encouragement to him is, rather than laying off 350 workers, why don’t we start with your payroll?” Seifert said. “Ultimately, it’s on him to turn this brand around.”
He added that if the brand was serious about repairing the damage to its image, Whitworth would have been removed or stepped down.
“Any good board or CEO would have already done that by now,” Seifert said. “The fact that they’re not willing to do that and it’s been months shows me that they’re there aren’t any lights left on.”
“I think that this brand is ultimately facing its dormancy and that it’s not going to see a course correction any time soon,” he said.
Bud Light did not respond to a request for comment.
This story originally appeared on NYPost
