The Daily Wire's Michael Knowles detailed Bud Light and Anheuser-Busch's (AB) connection to the World Economic Forum (WEF) and Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) in a Monday Twitter thread.
Last month, Bud Light and parent company AB have received intense criticism after sponsoring TikTok influencer Dylan Mulvaney, who identifies as a transgender woman.
"No matter how much Bud Light and parent company AB InBev might wish to reign in their radicalism, they can't abandon the agenda," Knowles wrote, saying the adult beverage company was entangled with the World Economic Forum, founded by Klaus Schwab in 1971, along with Environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) "gobbledygook."
The Daily Wire host noted AB's 2008 sale to InBev, which tracks ESG scores, for $52 billion, citing a New York Times article saying "a beer rooted in the heart of America" was placed in a European rival's hands.
Knowles suggested AB was therefore "beholden to elites at the WEF, UN, and EU."
Following controversy over Bud Light's sponsorship of Mulvaney, the company appeared to downplay the sponsorship by suggesting the endorsement was a "one can, one influencer, one post, and not a campaign," according to AB InBev CEO Michel Doukeris.
Knowles noted AB InBev's Corporate Affairs Specialist Vero Proks' statement declaring the company "continuously [works] to integrate diversity and inclusion into our business strategy and help insure it touches upon all functions, including sales, Supply Chain, Marketing and others" according to the company's 2022 ESG report.
The Daily Wire host pointed toward an announcement from AB InBev introducing "inclusive benefits" including "gender affirming medical support" for U.S. and Canadian employees identifying as transgender along with providing financial and legal support for name changes of employees located in Brazil and Columbia.
"They now foot the bill when employees choose to mutilate their bodies," Knowles wrote, suggesting the company has "embraced a litany of woke initiatives" including the implementation of ESG scores along with enacting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies.Loading...
In 2022, AB InBev created a new leadership position and appointed a Global Vice President of DEI to grow the company's DEI strategy. Managers within AB InBev receive unconscious bias training as part of the company's annual review process.
The company has sourced from more than 5,000 "diverse suppliers" and further trains buyers and suppliers on diversity and inclusion supplier strategy.
The company also began offering "family forming" benefits by providing partial coverage for fertility, surrogacy and adoption cost along with four-week return-to-work policies for caregivers returning after parental leave.
Knowles further noted the company's marketplace goals included becoming "agents of change in driving diversity and inclusion" along with becoming a "recognized champion of diversity and inclusion."
AB InBev provides a report of WEF Stakeholder Capitalism Metrics measuring the company's stakeholder engagement, ethical behavior, and efforts toward reducing climate change among other measures.
"The radicals in Belgium running AB InBev and cozying up to WEF are not your friends. They're not even your neutral acquaintances," Knowles wrote. "They're advancing a political agenda that is crippling our country."
"Publicly Traded companies around the world are caving to the pressure of ESG ratings and pandering to Klaus Schwab and his pack of elites."
Knowles noted the World Federation of Advertisers' "cross-industry initiative" known as the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) consisted of "mega corps," including AB InBev along with Adidas, BP, CVS, Goldman Sachs, Mastercard, McDonalds, Merck, Nike, P&G, Hershey, Disney, Unilever, and Walmart.
GARM seeks to demonetize "harmful content," including “hate speech," "gender identity,” “insensitive…treatment of debated social issues,” and “misinformation.”
GARM's Brand Safety Floor and Suitability Framework details a myriad of instances of content not appropriate for any advertising support including "debated sensitive social issues."
"GARM is so powerful and controls so much advertising money (like that of Bud Light) that YouTube, Meta (FB & IG), Twitter, TikTok, Snapchat, and others are writing pages of reports about how they will run their platforms to satisfy GARM standards," Knowles continued, noting how platforms' terms of service seek to satisfy GARM's standards.
WEF has since partnered with GARM since it's 2019 launch as a "flagship project."
"GARM has helped shine a spotlight on media’s vital role in creating safe and healthy digital content experiences, and the World Economic Forum is proud to work together with GARM to support and to expand this important mission," said WEF's Kirstine Stewart, Head of the Platform for Shaping the Future of Media, Entertainment and Sport. "Our collaboration is an important step in achieving our goal to make the internet a better place for everyone."
"It’s difficult to convey the scale of this problem, but thanks to [Jim Jordan] and the [Judiciary Committee], some GARM and WEF staff are going to have to answer some serious questions," Knowles concluded, noting the Ohio representative's move to issue subpoenas regarding GARM and WEF suggesting their business practices violate United States' antitrust laws.
"The Committee must understand whether, how, and to what extent GARM and WFA facilitate collusion to prevent certain content from benefiting from advertising dollars and to reduce that content’s presence online,” Jordan wrote to King & Spalding, the law firm representing the collectives, per the Daily Wire.
"If we don’t put an end to this growing scheme of control and deceit, Bud Light’s inability to apologize and admit that men can’t be women will be the least of our problems," Knowles concluded.
