Boycotting Is a Slippery Slope

Discussion in 'Article Comments' started by BeerAdvocate, Aug 8, 2017.

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  1. surfcaster

    surfcaster Initiate (0) Apr 20, 2013 North Carolina
    Trader

    I guess I don't find it hypocritical for me to personally not buy InBev, to advocate for local beer or to try increase to awareness of potential business practices that seem harmful for my community BUT at the same time not turn away from a TV station that accepts advertising $$$ or reject a website/magazine that does the same or not "boycott" a bar or store that chooses to sell BIG beer.

    It is also not hard for me to let others do their own thing---

    --- but I can express my opinions in a courteous manner.
     
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  2. Greyvtrayn

    Greyvtrayn Savant (1,034) Feb 17, 2017 New Jersey
    Trader

    I don't see the problem with accepting advertising money from ABI. I think the proprietors of BA have made their position pretty clear on what they think of ABI acquiring some big name craft breweries to the readers that pay attention. Why would anyone care what advertisements appear when we (I) actively try to avoid them? Is 'Sadie' subscribed to get exposed to the advertising? Doubtful.
    As a side note, I firmly believe that anyone who subscribes to the BA publication 'for the ads' probably also subscribed to Playboy for 'the articles'.
    I find it more interesting why the brewery (see? I already forgot the name of the brewery!) would choose to advertise in a publication that condemns their business practice. "Hey, so I understand you have a problem with our business decision to sell to ABI and suggest your readers educate themselves on the rapidly increasing frequency that it is happening in the craft beer industry. How much can I pay you to advertise in that space where those articles appear?" Take their money. As long as you continue to hold the same beliefs despite the financial support you are receiving it's on the reader to decide whether or not to support ABI back.
     
  3. nc41

    nc41 Initiate (0) Sep 25, 2008 North Carolina
    Trader

    Business is still business, and if the Bros sell space it's not an Endorsement. Their business is craft beer not Budweiser. I don't care about InBev, they're a conglomerate with shares to sell, nothing more. Beer is their business, but whatever it could be anything that's disposable and in demand. The chagrin over InBev IMO borders on ridiculous. I can't think of a acquisition they're ruined, if there is please tell me. They're kept up the beers and increased distro.
     
  4. LeRose

    LeRose Grand Pooh-Bah (3,509) Nov 24, 2011 Massachusetts
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Well, there seem to have been some mild leanings as of late, but as has been pointed out they are not always consistent. I haven't seen anything that appears to be an open call to arms, so to speak, and I reckon the magazine is allowed to editorialize like any other publication. As is anyone who posts, for that matter, and lord knows we are as full of opinions as anybody else. So as long as we remain an open collection of varying opinions, the community works - we read thngs, hear things, we discuss, people decide for themselves. Honestly, I think there have been more attempts at promoting agendas in the forums than we have seen from the magazine or web site in general.
     
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  5. CassinoNorth

    CassinoNorth Initiate (0) Apr 5, 2013 New Jersey

    Wonder how many of you guys denounced RB for selling a stake to ABI a few months ago.

    It's a slippery slope indeed. Lots of grey area...money can influence lots of things.

    Most people don't care about quality when they boycott. They care about their dollars going to bills like this and this.
     
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  6. BergBeer

    BergBeer Maven (1,405) Aug 21, 2013 Hawaii

    I have had some conflicting thoughts about this recently, and this thread seems a better place then most to spill them all out.

    I find it some what farcical that people living in a society that thrives under capitalistic principals get ready to burn the whole town down whenever the system works the way it is supposed to.

    The whole beer industry, as we know it today, exist because of the nature of our economy. This industry is exactly that a business industry. No one is making beer for charity. At the end of the day it is to make money. No matter how "artistic" or "craft" it is.

    The craft beer we all love was born from a hole in quality product the giants in the industry left behind in pursuit of expansion and domination. Craft brewers realized there was a pretty penny to be made catering to a beer drink who wanted more. If this wasn't true a lot of today's head brewers would still be making beer out of buckets in their basement.

    When these breweries get too big for their markets (or as I believe expand way to fast) they enter vast new areas of the beer industry. Packaging, distribution, marketing, new state laws, etc. Each new challenge to bring our product to wide swaths of people are incredibly complex and intricate. That isn't even mentioning the potential loss of quality the product you poured your soul into might experience inherent in distribution. Then by the time you finally get your product to somewhere you are satisfied with there might not even be a demand for it.

    In an attempt to avoid singling out a brewery I'll keep this vague but we have all seen this. A hyped up small regional brewery that people trade and obsess over announces it will expand to nation wide distribution. When that distribution starts people are so excited they buy it blind. Then people realize that there is better local beer, cheaper alternatives, or the hype just naturally dies. So this brewery that just spent millions and innumerable amounts of man hours to not see a return on that investment.

    Once you see this picture come into focus you can understand why it's so tempting to take the pay check upfront and off load all that work onto a group of suits. You get to keep your craft while they gamble.

    I'm not condoning any of this per say but if someone slipped a 15 million dollar payday across that desk... well I fear for my soul.

    Finally, back to the thread. This site is all about educating people on beer so that in turn they will respect the craft of it all. There are more then enough digital ink spilled on acquisitions by ABI and their shady business practices that a modern consumer in touch with the craft industry should know what their dollars are going too. An advertisement on a site, with a large segment of the user base that is more then willing to expose it for what it really is, should work against the nature of that advertisement.

    Business is business. Money talks. Beer Advocate could have a huge ad for Budweiser. I wouldn't want to purchase a 30 rack all of the sudden. Vote with your wallet. Think critically about your purchases. Let the site do what it needs to do to stay open so we can continue to discuss the thing we are all here for.
     
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  7. TongoRad

    TongoRad Grand Pooh-Bah (3,848) Jun 3, 2004 New Jersey
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    If people want to do something more productive than boycott, they could become more engaged in pushing their states for distribution franchise reform, and encourage the growth of more craft oriented distributors.

    The vast majority of that type of legislation is being instigated by the independent distributors, and they're only calling 'big beer' in for some lobbying muscle when needed.

    Boycotting AB-I doesn't do anything, and only serves as a distraction from who the real bad guys are.
     
  8. HouseofWortship

    HouseofWortship Pooh-Bah (2,629) May 3, 2016 Illinois
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Taken to farcical extremes, wouldn't the best way to get back at ABI be to boycott all beer and shrink the segment so they start looking at buying things other than breweries?
     
  9. drtth

    drtth Initiate (0) Nov 25, 2007 Pennsylvania
    In Memoriam

    Generally I agree lots of what you say, but where I'd differ with you is in one major point.

    Big beer left that "hole" because it very small and hardly for a long time. They followed popular tastes as those tastes shifted over the years. The reason craft brewers grew was because of a regrowth in the size of that "hole" with some major shifts that took place. In other words, popular taste was not ignored it was followed until Big Beer was forced to confront the reality of some major shifts in popular taste and a regrowth in the size of that "hole."
     
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  10. drtth

    drtth Initiate (0) Nov 25, 2007 Pennsylvania
    In Memoriam

    The segment is already shrinking and, as has Boston Brewing, they have been branching out into other beverages. In addition, as we know, they have been buying into the one segment of the beer market that has been showing growth while the overall market for beer has been shrinking.
     
  11. BergBeer

    BergBeer Maven (1,405) Aug 21, 2013 Hawaii

    See I interpret Big beer's strategy in the 80's/90's as dominate the market with a few products and keep the quality (read freshness) as high as possible. There were slight variations in that they chased the Japanese dry style for a bit and a few more. Yet, for the most part they were laser focused on getting as much of the market as they could. Keep up growth for the shareholders.

    Then craft came in to offer a quality product that was less mass marketed and more flavor oriented. You can see it in multiple industries as time has progressed. Fast food with the whole farm to fresh industry. Music as the industry has moved away from 90's pop. Big bland business was good in the 80/90's and we are continuing to see consumer backlash to it.
     
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  12. drtth

    drtth Initiate (0) Nov 25, 2007 Pennsylvania
    In Memoriam

    I'm not saying they weren't doing that in the 80s and 90s, rather that the reason flavorful beers exist is a major shift in popular taste that they ignored in the earlier stages and so could not dominate for quite a while. (Effectively they are playing "catch up.")

    So yes, call it consumer backlash if you prefer. But my point is that the reason that "backlash" exists in beer and the other areas you mentioned is because of the big corporations (and their marketing groups) failure to recognize that the shift in popular tastes was taking place. Small focused businesses are almost always more nimble than large corporate entities.
     
    #52 drtth, Aug 10, 2017
    Last edited: Aug 10, 2017
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  13. BergBeer

    BergBeer Maven (1,405) Aug 21, 2013 Hawaii

    I totally agree with you here. They are playing catch up. It is way easier to gobble up small breweries with their built in infrastructure then it is to create a brand and product from scratch.

    There is a great figure of speech for this. It's way harder to turn an ocean liner then a sail boat.
     
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  14. drtth

    drtth Initiate (0) Nov 25, 2007 Pennsylvania
    In Memoriam

    Exactly! The winds shifted and the sail boats were winning while the ocean liner was still not attending to the need to turn.
     
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  15. EvenMoreJesus

    EvenMoreJesus Initiate (0) Jun 8, 2017 Pennsylvania

    Indeed. It's disingenuous to point out the splinter in someone else's eye when you have a board in yours and if you take a stand for something and state that ethics are the reason that you are doing so, it's better if your ethics are not for sale.
     
  16. EvenMoreJesus

    EvenMoreJesus Initiate (0) Jun 8, 2017 Pennsylvania

    While I agree with all of this, don't rail against ABI and then turn around and take their money just because they offered it to you. That weakens your initial stance to a point that it is no longer tenable.
     
  17. BergBeer

    BergBeer Maven (1,405) Aug 21, 2013 Hawaii

    I agree to an extent. I believe it all falls on to the consumer. In the end we are the ones all this advertisement is for. It is our dollars they want. It is up to us to think critically about our purchases.

    Business is tricky. There are a lot of compromises that we will never see. It is easy for us to cry out and say this is BS. However, when it comes down to keeping your business running and food on your employees table there are greasy things that must be done.

    All I'm saying is I'd rather see ABI advertisements on BA (and all the contradictions it comes with) then not have this forum to express my opinions and discuss a hobby I love. For a extra little zest, it is fun to see ABI blow their marketing dollars on me in futility.
     
    #57 BergBeer, Aug 10, 2017
    Last edited: Aug 10, 2017
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  18. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,181) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah Society

    My suggestion it that we all "Respect Beer".

    Note that in the statement of "Respect Beer" there is no adjective in front of the word beer.

    Cheers!
     
  19. EvenMoreJesus

    EvenMoreJesus Initiate (0) Jun 8, 2017 Pennsylvania

    Personally, I couldn't care less if BA has ABI advertising or not. I simply wanted to point out the hypocritical nature of the situation. Have all the ABI advertising that you want, just don't piss in our pockets and tell us it's raining. Be honest and rescind your previous comments about ABI being bad for craft beer BEFORE you take their money. If you don't you are essentially holding two opposing beliefs at the same time and that's not a positive thing for anyone. Especially people that hold sway over others.
     
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  20. EvenMoreJesus

    EvenMoreJesus Initiate (0) Jun 8, 2017 Pennsylvania

    "Respect Truth" > "Respect Beer"
     
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