Immigrants Call for National Bud Lite Boycott Against Hensley
Tim Paynter, Technorati (San Francisco), January 4, 2011
Arizona Immigrant’s rights activists plan to call for a boycott of Bud Light because they say it’s chief Arizona distributor, Hensley and Co, has made large contributions to candidates backing anti-immigrant legislation.
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McCain’s [Sen. John McCain’s] wife, Cindy, owns Hensley-Budweiser according to a post on Chicano Radio.
“Each time you purchase a Budweiser or Budlight you are funding their pocket’s. So stop drinking Budweiser products! Latino’s are the biggest consumer’s . . . IF THEY CAN’T SUPPORT THE LATINO’S WHY ARE WE SUPPORTING THEM . . . ! !” a post on the Chicano Radio’s web page asks.
In a “Press Conference To Announce The Boycott” on Facebook, activist Magarito Blanco said, “To those businesses that are choosing to contribute to legislators who craft such wasteful, mean-spirited legislation: the boycott continues, even escalates as long as you continue to support hate in place of good, meaningful governance. Hensley and Co, the dominant distributor of Bud Light in Arizona, has contributed large sums of money to the campaigns of Arizona Legislators authoring, or co-sponsoring, or voting for legalized hate.”
It could be an expensive boycott for Budweiser if the effort goes national. Hispanics are the biggest purchaser of Bud Lite. Activists may be seeking to send the message, anti-immigrant laws are bad for business.
Not all pro-immigrants right’s activist agree on the boycott, since Arizona Latino businesses have suffered. An estimated 200,000 Hispanics have fled the state, tired of the racism, and further reducing the tax base. Nearly all agree, however. If the anti-immigrant battle continues, Budweiser-Hensley will likely be one of the biggest losers, and the Bud Lite brand could lose market share nationally in a bid for the competitive Hispanic market.
