Illustration by Gene KimAttacks against businesses for their inclusion of the LGBTQ+ community have forced companies to try to strike a balance between expressing values or risking backlash — and even violence — from a small but vocal part of their customer bases.As boycotts move beyond social media-fueled outrage, companies such as Anheuser-Busch, Target and Disney are facing monthslong public relations fiascos that have resulted in market share losses, C-suite shake-ups, legal battles and even threats to employees. In some cases, corporations have drawn the ire of conservative customers for marketing to LGBTQ+ consumers or criticizing laws targeting them — only to face backlash from more liberal shoppers for attempts to appease those who spurned a brand.Boycotts usually have little effect on a company’s bottom line, according to experts who have tracked them. The backlash against Bud Light has hit particularly hard because there are similar substitutes for the light lager, constant media coverage has emboldened the boycotters, and the company has not put forth a unified strategy, said Anson Frericks, who spent more than a decade as president of sales and distribution at Anheuser-Busch.For companies such as Target and Disney, it is unclear if boycotts will hit sales. Even if companies take no financial damage from the backlash, the increasingly aggressive resistance to LGBTQ+ marketing has jeopardized corporate-inclusion efforts that have become commonplace in recent years.The backlash wave across the country, which has disproportionately targeted transgender people, has even weighed on large companies with more liberal reputations. The union representing Starbucks baristas said dozens of the chain’s locations are not letting employees decorate for Pride Month in June — including at least one case where workers were told violence in response to Target’s Pride merchandise sparked safety concerns. The company said it has not changed any policy on decorations and is encouraging stores to celebrate Pride Month. LGBTQ+ inclusion has in recent years been “standard business practice,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of LGBTQ+ advocacy group G …
