The strategy of the American Marxists seeking to impose a cultural revolution has been top-down, derived from the work of Antonio Gramsci, taking control of the "commanding heights" of institutional power and imposing their vision on what old-style Marxists called "the masses."  So long as the great unwashed remained passive, oblivious to what was happening, it was highly successful.

But something happened to disrupt this stealthy plan.  First, Donald Trump won the presidency, teaching the much-derided non-elites that they had more power than the ruling class believed possible.  Even though Trump was denied a second term through means both fair and foul, the panic remained and translated into parallel efforts to persecute him through the fully controlled DOJ and FBI, assisted by their media  helpers, and a rush to enact the rest of their agenda before a more substantial mass blowback could take form.

But this second track, the rush to transform the most basic building blocks of our culture, the family and the sexual mores that maintain it, appears to be a bridge too far, especially the attempt to impose as normal the transsexual agenda.  The reaction to Bud Light aligning with transsexual Dylan Mulvaney has evidently scared a lot of the fellow travelers occupying key posts in corporate America.  A multibillion-dollar decline in the market capitalization of a major corporation is the financial equivalent of Samuel Johnson's immortal aphorism: "Depend upon it, sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully."

It is too late for Alissa Heinersheid, no longer the V.P. of marketing for Bud Light, but her counterparts at Target, which also suffered a multibillion-dollar loss in market cap after blatantly pushing apparel aimed at physically enabling transsexuality among young children, enacted a sudden and dramatic change of policy, after at first censoring a conservative book by a true thought leader.  Aneeta Bhole of the UK Daily Mail reports:

Target has made a stunning reversal after Fox News host Mark Levin called out the retail giant for not carrying his new book 'The Democratic Party Hates America' because it 'may offend certain customers.'

Levin blasted the retail giant on Wednesday saying: 'Target has informed my publisher, Simon & Schuster, that it will not carry my new book when it is released on September 19.

'It claims that certain customers might be offended by the title. Imagine that! So, the corporatist leftwing censorship begins. I will discuss this in more detail on this evening's radio show.'

Even before Thursday's edition of Mark's show, conservatives, now aware of the market power that we wield, started using it.

The post was a linchpin for Levin's fans to start floating the idea of a boycott — another potentially damaging decision for the retailer after they lost billions after their controversial decision around their LGBTQ products.

Within 24 hours however, Levin's book was destined for shelves in what appeared to be an overnight U-turn by the retailer. 

'We've been offering this book for pre-sale since mid-June,' a Target spokesperson said to Fox News. 

'As we have with Mark Levin's past books, many of which are currently available for sale at Target, we'll offer his newest title for sale when it is available on September 19.

The spokesperson said that the company had initially taken issue with the book's title in which it uses the term 'hate.'

'The use of the word 'hate' in the title caused our team to reach out to the publisher, but as stated, we are continuing to offer this book for pre-sale now, and it will be available for sale on its release date,' they added. 

'We regret any confusion this situation caused.'

Loser (left) and winner (center and right).

Target is not the only corporate giant joining InBev, the Belgium-based owner of Anheuser-Busch, in licking its wounds after aligning itself with the nutty left.  Anglo-Dutch global marketer Unilever, one of the biggest companies in the world, bought Ben & Jerry's ice cream about two decades ago for $326 million, making its two lefty owners centi-millionaires, and decided to allow the subsidiary autonomy in its political stances.  That has now cost its shareholders a multiple of the purchase price.  This Independence Day tweet occasioned a fierce reaction:

This 4th of July, it's high time we recognize that the US exists on stolen Indigenous land and commit to returning it. Learn more and take action now: https://t.co/45smaBmORH pic.twitter.com/a6qp7LXUAE

— Ben & Jerry's (@benandjerrys) July 4, 2023

As market trading resumed and news spread, Unilever lost about $2 billion in market capitalization over the actions of one comparatively tiny operation among its hundreds of operating companies.

Shares of Unilever, the Anglo-Dutch multinational firm, slid 0.8% Thursday after closing down 0.5% the previous day.

The company's stock price has closed Thursday at $51.31, nearly $1 below its closing price of $52.28 during Monday's shortened trading — and the day before Ben & Jerry's posted its unpatriotic tweet.

The result has seen its market cap drop to $128.5 billion from $130.2 billion on Monday.

There are no signs yet of a corporate retreat from wokeism at B&J's, and there may be contractual reasons why Unilever may be powerless to affect the policies of its niche ice cream subsidiary.  Keep in mind that Unilever owns many other ice cream brands around the world and is, in fact, the world's largest producer and marketer of the fat- and sugar-laden product that is a guilty pleasure for people around the world.  If the damage continues or even worsens, à la Bud Light, I presume that there is no contractual impediment to selling the damn nuisance off or even closing it down.

The third example of the  market power of normal people appalled at the top-down effort to alter sexuality and destroy the family has yet to evoke a corporate response, but it may be even the most potent when the dust finally settles and shareholders at last force changes upon a management team that has devastated the market cap of their stock in Disney and ruined the expensive brand franchises that had been a mainstay of its corporate value.  It is a tale of two movies, both released over the critical Independence Day four-day holiday weekend.  Kristine Parks of Fox News reports:

Angel Studios' "Sound of Freedom" took the top spot in sales July 4th, surpassing Disney's widely panned "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny."

The action film starring Jim Caviezel is based on the true story of former federal agent Tim Ballard and his mission to save children from human trafficking. On its first day, the film took the number one spot at the box office, grossing over $14 million through "pay it forward" and direct box office sales.

The film has reportedly earned nearly all of its budget back on its opening day.

"Sound of Freedom" beat "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny," which played in nearly 2,000 more theaters and had a reported budget of $295 million. The franchise sequel took in $11 million and the second-place slot on July 4. (snip)

[C]ritics and fans skewered the latest installment of the "Indiana Jones" series as "weak" and "unfunny" with "woke" messaging that alienated its audience.

If this report is true, and shareholders get a hold of the information, efforts to mobilize a shareholders' revolt and install new management not committed to Disney's "not so secret gay agenda" may find success:

Angel Studios President Jordan Harmon recently detailed that The Walt Disney Company shelved the upcoming Sound of Freedom film after they obtained the rights in their merger with Fox.

The film, which follows the story of Operation Underground Railroad CEO Tim Ballard, has since been picked up by Angel Studios.

And a fourth sign that conservatives' views are being heard and heeded by entertainment giants comes from Netflix, which has already demonstrated that it fears conservative backlash.  Max Tani writes at Semafor:

In early 2021, the company [Netflix] contracted with Vox to create a series of videos that would run alongside movies or television shows featuring racist or stereotypical caricatures. The videos would explain topics like the use of blackface and "yellowface" in Hollywood, as well as the depiction of native Americans in classic films and westerns.

The task fell to Vox Creative, a brand studio within the media company that aims to "influence audiences from a position of truth and purpose, and to build a more diverse, inclusive, and welcoming brand experience," according to its website.

But as the political climate cooled — and corporate racial justice initiatives faced a growing backlash from the right — the project lost steam. First, Netflix told producers that the short videos should be pieced together into a lengthier explainer on race on screen.

Earlier this year, Netflix killed the project.

MAX'S VIEW

Netflix did not explain its decision to kill the project to the people who worked on it, and didn't respond to an inquiry from Semafor.

But the decision represents the latest retreat by a major brand away from the social justice messaging many companies adopted in the wake of Floyd's death in 2020.

This retreat makes sense in that once an alienated subscriber drops a subscription to Netflix, the move affects the company's revenue for every succeeding month.  For Disney, a boycott or loss of revenue for a new film like the Indiana Jones woke reboot has an impact only once, at least in fully traceable transactions.  The damage to the Disney or Lucasfilm brands is harder to compute, at least in the immediate timeframe.  But I do know many people who have vowed never to visit a Disney park, and reports are that Disney+, the company's streaming service, is losing money big time.

Truly, conservatives today are the new counterculture, battling an entrenched establishment intent on forcing its vision and policies.  The echoes of the 1960s and 1970s are loud and clear, only the poles have reversed.  Many of the members of the new radical establishment are veterans of the conflict of half a century ago.  Those who remember cannot be comforted by the past week or so of the great unwashed masses having their turn at exercising their power.

Photo credit: Twitter screen grab.