Tax filings obtained by the Guardian show how the rightwing dark money impresario Leonard Leo helped fuel the Bud Light boycott in response to ads featuring the transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney, an effort that generated threats against Mulvaney, violence against consumers and layoffs by Anheuser-Busch.
Uncovered by the watchdog group Accountable.US, the filings for 2022 show the Concord Fund, a group linked to Leo, gave $350,000 to Consumers Defense, an arm of Consumers’ Research, not long before that group played a central role in the Bud Light boycott.
Leo is a Catholic conservative activist widely known as the force behind the Federalist Society, which has helped transform the US courts system, ultimately through the installation of three hardline justices on the supreme court that has handed down epochal rulings on abortion rights, presidential immunity and more.
But Leo’s fundraising work ranges wider.
Consumers’ Research was formed in 1929 to champion consumers’ rights, but went largely dormant before being revived as a rightwing watchdog. It now claims to lead “the fight against ESG”, or environmental, social and governance policies, in corporate America. It issues “woke alerts” concerning companies it deems to be “putting progressive activists and their dangerous agendas ahead of customers”.
Links between Leo and Consumers’ Research are known but have not been directly confirmed.
In 2021, Marble Freedom Trust, a non-profit controlled by Leo, received a record $1.6bn donation from Barre Seid, a Chicago billionaire.
That year and in 2022, Consumers’ Research enjoyed huge funding boosts when it received nearly $15m from Donors Trust. That group, linked to Leo, calls itself a “principled philanthropic partner for conservative and libertarian donors”. It has also been called the “dark-money ATM of the right”.
The New York Times and Bloomberg previously linked Leo to the sudden funding influx to Consumers’ Research. Leo did not comment.
Consumers’ Research is also known to be a client of CRC Advisors, Leo’s for-profit firm. The tax filings obtained by the Guardian show another direct link.
In January 2023, the executive director of Consumers’ Research, Federalist Society alum Will Hild, told the Washington Post Leo was “a good friend and adviser”.
Leo said: “Consumers’ Research and … Will Hild are executing the most impactful pushback I know against ESG and other aspects of woke corporate culture. It’s time that businesses that are out of step with the sentiments of most Americans pay a price for their standing up for woke special interest instead of consumers.”
In spring 2023, Anheuser-Busch paid such a price.
It began with a video featuring Mulvaney, a trans influencer.
“Happy March Madness!!” she wrote. “Just found out this had to do with sports and not just saying it’s a crazy month! In celebration of this sports thing @budlight is giving you the chance to win $15,000! Share a video with #EasyCarryContest for a chance to win!! Good luck! #budlightpartner.”
It seemed innocuous, but rightwing anger, primed by culture-wars battles over trans imagery in business and education, fueled calls for a boycott.
Consumers’ Research launched a six-figure “woke alerts” digital ad campaign, offering to text shoppers wanting to know if a product was “woke” or not.
Hild said: “In light of the recent direction taken by companies like Bud Light, Jack Daniels, and Bank of America, we are launching ‘woke alerts’ to help consumers make better-informed decisions about where to spend their money.
“We believe companies should focus on their customers and not woke politicians and progressive activists.”
The boycott attracted rightwing celebrities, notably including the rapper Kid Rock, and politicians, notably Ron DeSantis, the culture war-loving governor of Florida, then a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination. It all attracted wide coverage, on networks including Fox Business.
At the end of 2023, in a year-end review that also touted efforts against Target, Bank of America, Disney and BlackRock, Consumers’ Research celebrated.
Calling Anheuser-Busch “the quintessential American beer company”, the group said: “Bud Light’s vice-president of marketing said that she intended to update the so-called ‘fratty’ and ‘out of touch’ brand. However, this led to an extreme drop in sales as they deeply offended their core customer base.”
Anheuser-Busch, Consumers’ Research crowed, was now “paying a price”.
That much was evidently true. Company facilities reported threats, which CNN said included a bomb threat to a brewery in Los Angeles. In Vaughan, Ontario, police said a couple were assaulted after buying Bud Light. By July 2023, Bud Light was no longer the No 1-selling US beer and Anheuser-Busch shares were down. The company announced 350 layoffs.
Mulvaney also suffered.
“For months now, I’ve been scared to leave my house,” she said. “I have been ridiculed in public. I’ve been followed, and I have felt a loneliness that I wouldn’t wish on anyone.”
Leo did not respond to a request for comment.
Caroline Ciccone, president of Accountable.US, said: “Leonard Leo hasn’t just leveraged his dark money network to reshape our courts for the worse – he’s also fueling hateful anti-LGBTQ+ causes.
“Leo’s billion-dollar operation and web of shadowy organisations actively work to marginalise vulnerable communities, posing a direct threat to LGBTQ+ Americans.”