Former Anheuser-Busch Executive Warns Disney Is Flirting with Disaster: He Watched the Same Thing Happen to Bud Light
A former Anheuser-Busch executive is sounding the alarm on Disney and claiming that the House of Mouse is making a Bud Light-type mistake of disastrous proportions — but even he might be underselling it.
Anson Frericks spoke to Fox Business’ “Varney & Co.” and warned Disney that it was treading on very thin ice after it partnered with a “gender-fluid” influencer to promote a line of clothing products … for children.
“I think they are making the same mistake as Bud Light, and I think they’ve been making the same mistake as Bud Light for over a year now,” Frericks said Friday.
The former Anheuser-Busch executive then used Disney’s own words, and its political activities in Florida, to illustrate his point:
“Take a look at Disney’s mission statement. What is Disney trying to achieve as a company? It is trying to be the world’s premier family entertainment company.”
“You go back one year, what does them getting involved in the parental rights bill in Florida have to do with them being [that] company? Has to do with nothing.
“If you take a look at it, they had an approval rating of 77 percent … it cratered to 33 percent after that.”
It’s easy to see why Frericks saw ghosts of Bud Light while describing Disney’s issues.
In case you’ve been living under a rock, Bud Light has been grappling with the catastrophic fallout from partnering with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney — a move that has hurt Anheuser Busch’s stock prices, its sales and its reputation.
Disney seemed to learn less than nothing from that debacle when it decided to partner Seann Altman, a man who apparently likes to dress up as Minnie Mouse.
WARNING: The following video contains imagery that some viewers may find disturbing.
@disneystyle a minnie moment 🫶 #mickeyfriendsstaytrue #disney100 #grwm #ootd #minniemouse #disneyoutfits #disneycosplay ♬ original sound – Disney Style
Here’s the sobering truth about Disney’s partnership compared to Bud Light, however: Disney is actually worse off.
Think about it. Bud Light knows exactly what it needs to do: Win back the conservative base it turned off with the Mulvaney fiasco (and the words of one of the company’s now-former executives).
Maybe it’s too late. But at least it’s an identifiable solution. And if it fails, Anheuser-Busch is much more than one beer brand.
Disney is a different case.
Disney’s issues go far beyond just any one public relations problem.
The company is in an obvious malaise of being bankrupt creatively, running their most beloved intellectual properties into the ground, suffering from a lack of innovation and a seemingly never-ending stream of self-inflicted wounds.
From theatrical flops, to streaming flops, to flopping attendance at its theme parks, this is as grim as things have looked for Disney, maybe, ever.
And Disney’s ongoing malaise isn’t just some vindictive chorus of conservative murmurs.
The company’s issues are public and significant enough that a report from The Hollywood Reporter earlier this month suggested that the House of Mouse could be contemplating the “once-unthinkable” scenario of being sold to Apple.
It’s that bad.
So, with all due respect to Mr. Frericks, he’s actually pretty wrong on this.
Disney hasn’t made the same mistake as Bud Light. The company has created a unique nightmare all unto itself that not even Bud Light is having to grapple with.
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