July 4, 2025 • 33 mins
The best of the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show Hour 2.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thank you for listening. This is the best of with
Clay Travis and Buck Sexton.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
We are very pleased to welcome onto the program doctor
Laura Schlessinger, who recently celebrated fifty years on the radio.
She is a best selling author. She's also auctioning off
some handmade items to support children of fallen patriots. Go
to doctor Laura dot com for more of that again
doctor Laura dot com. Doctor Laura, I just say it's
(00:28):
an honor to speak to you because I've been hearing
your voice ever since I got married, because my wife
is a longtime doctor Laura listener. And let me tell you,
I am very thankful. I am very thankful for it.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Well, then she's your girlfriend.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
She's the best. She's fantastic.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
You know.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
I come home and we got married, and I came
home and there's dinner on the table, and I say, Honey,
I want to go to the shooting range with the guys.
She says, you need guy time. You know all these
rules and lessons. And then I found this book ye
for Karen, Feeding of Husbands, which is dog eared and
underlined and everything else. I'd tell you. I got married
a little later in life, Doctor Laura. So I got
(01:08):
married around forty I think it was forty one, and
my wife has absolutely loved my life. She's absolutely fantastic.
We're about to have a baby in a couple of weeks,
so everything is going. I really want to have you
on in part just to thank you because, and this
comes from my wife as well. I think you give
so many women such incredibly important and powerful advice for
(01:32):
them to have great, meaningful lives as wives, as mothers.
Is so I'm always whenever Carrie starts saying doctor Laura says,
I start nod of my head. YEP, that's that's great.
She sent in my wife's So I just got to
tell you this. It's the truth. My wife's sent in
a question for you. In Clay's wife Laura has a
question too, She says, Hi, doctor Laura, I'm a longtime
(01:53):
listener and read the Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands.
I also took the online course. Your wisdom has not
only made me the wife i am today, but also
led me to find an incredible husband who adores me.
Fact check true. In a couple of weeks, we will
be welcoming our first child. We're so thrilled to grow
our family. But what is your advice for ensuring our
solid and healthy marriage stays intact after the first baby comes.
(02:16):
Thank you for all you do.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
You don't stop having your hands all over each other.
That means when you're walking around, That means when one
of you takes a shower, maybe we could, you know,
save on water, we could both be in the shower.
It's really the physicality and the silliness. Everybody thinks it's
got to be marital therapy and heavy duty conversations, which
you and I both know guys don't enjoy. So the
(02:42):
more physical you are with each other and the more
cute you are with each other, that's really all you need.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
I love it. That's really good advice.
Speaker 5 (02:51):
Now I don't even know what my wife has sent in,
but there is audio. She went and used the app
and then she needed more space, so she.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Said, I just give contects play.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
How long?
Speaker 2 (03:01):
How long have you been married?
Speaker 5 (03:02):
Tell doctor Laura how I have been Yeah, so I've
been married man twenty one years will be August. So
I've been married over twenty years now. We have three boys, seventeen, fourteen,
and ten year old. And here is what my wife
Lura wanted to ask you.
Speaker 6 (03:20):
Listen, Clay and I are parents of boys, and thus
far I think we have weathered adolescents fairly well. However,
some of our friends who have daughters, their experiences, the
way they talk about it sound very different. In fact,
some of them say, raising daughters through adolescents is a
(03:42):
complete nightmare.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
I have a friend this morning tell me.
Speaker 6 (03:46):
That she feels she's coming home to a bag of
snakes every day when she comes home to her adolescent daughters,
which is funny but harsh.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
So in general, do you have some.
Speaker 6 (03:58):
Great advice for parents going through adolescence with their children,
obviously the children going through adolescents, And do you have
different advice for parents of girls weathering adolescens versus parents
of boys weathering adolescence.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
Thank you, I thought you were just going to have
me on for a few minutes. That's going to take.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Me about half an hour I get through.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
Let me try to bring it down. Number one, whether
it's a boy or a girl, that it's a tight
family that does things together, that is sweet with each other.
That the father spends time with the daughter, the father
spends time with the son, the mother spends time and
the family is always together for dinner, if they have
to go do sports things or what have you. That
(04:46):
you know that's a very important part of the family.
People keep divvying it up. Yeah, there are differences in
how you raise girls from boys, and I'd have to
come back another time to go through that. But the
first and foremost thing, just like I spoke about husbands
and wives in the physical and the cuteness, the I
was with a family and I thought, and I talked
(05:08):
about them on my air, that this was the best
family I had seen in decades. Anytime anybody got something me,
I would you send me? Could I have? Yes? Please?
Thank you. Everybody was so concerned and polite to one another.
That is not something that families do. You have two
(05:29):
career families, you have all kinds of other stuff going
on in the house, and it's not a family, it's
mother and father and kids. But when it's a family,
when people are always saying please and thank you, and
show concern for each other and discipline in kind ways,
with understanding and compassion, you'd be surprised how it minimizes
(05:54):
how crazy it gets. And also take your kids out
of public school.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Wow, Doctor Laura if we're gonna have to have you back,
and I'm really looking forward to all the questions and
comments we're gonna get from the audience about you coming
on and just beginning this arc of wisdom. And like
I said, as a husband and a very happy husband
who does completely adore his wife, and I know, you know,
it's so important that I think women get a lot
of the messaging and men and men, but that we
(06:21):
both get a lot of the messaging that you're putting
out there. And I wanted you to a dress something
that's more just sort of general for the country right now.
You know, we talk here about politics and national security
and education, all these different things, but the importance of
family and marriage is central. Should be central, Maybe should
be is a better word these days. You know, there's
a story just out today and it says, and the
(06:41):
headline is American women are giving up on marriage, And
one of the lines from it is American women have
never been this resigned to staying signal single. They are
responding to major demographic shifts, including huge and growing gender
gaps in economic and education attainment, and beliefs about what
a family should look like. What is going on and
how do we fix it.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
Not enough fathers in the home raising sons to be
men of honor and courage and principle. And that's basically
again the women have gone through the feminist thing where
men are the evil empire and all this negativity toward masculinity.
It's all toxic. I think it's wonderful. Give me a
(07:26):
guy with the cowboy hat and boots, and I pay
attention because there's a sense that there's a strength there.
And women like to feel protected. That's probably the number
one thing women don't admit. They want to feel protected,
and that's why they like those silly books where there's
this ripped guy on the cover and she's being carried,
(07:48):
you know, into safety. Why do they read those things
at such large amounts Because ultimately, as smart and incompetent
as we can be, we want to be protected and
men have not been brought up to be that anymore.
Speaker 5 (08:02):
Are you more You've been doing this for fifty years
and Buck just laid out. A marriage is becoming less common.
A lot of men are not president homes. Unfortunately, the
overall birth rate in many Western civilizations is collapsing. Are
you more or less optimistic about the future of the
family unit today than when you started. How would you
(08:25):
analyze the scope of relationship that you've seen over fifty years.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
Oh no, I was more optimistic than that I am
now because there have been so many forces. We have,
like one or two generations now I think are lost.
These are young people who are not being brought up
that you finish school and you aim to be and
do things, and you make a family and you raise
kids and you have communities. And that was how I
(08:51):
was brought up, and it was all this optimism. Now
you have throngs of kids who have no idea where
they can go and what they can be, and so
they get involved in all of these cliques like non binary.
And you know, I belong now to a group of
people who are equally lost and don't have an identity
(09:12):
and don't have a direction, and don't have a sense
of self other than I can belong to this community.
It's like what we used to look at with groupies
with rock stars. This is what's happening. So I'm worried.
Be honest with you, I'm worried. But the one little
piece of optimism I have is I'm still here. People
are still calling somebody wants the help to pull it
(09:37):
back together again and make life meaningful in something you
can feel comfortable and safe with and productive and loving
and receive all of that. So as long as I
still get that response, I keep my optimism up.
Speaker 5 (09:52):
Doctor Warrett, that's a great line. You just laid out
some of the challenges. How much do you think it
has to do with kids getting phones too young? What
advice would you give parents out there? My wife asked
a question about adolescence, but what advice would you give
to parents about social media and about what they allow
(10:13):
their kids to be exposed to, particularly on the internet.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
Well, everybody tells me I'm insane to think. You know,
you can push up against a tsunami, but it takes
just everybody lining up. I tell people that they're irresponsible
parents if they give smartphones to their kids, any minor
child period. Get them a flip phone that takes calls.
That's it. No texting, no Internet, And instead of spending
(10:41):
one's time with screams, how about we actually have families
that do stuff together. I mean, when my kid was
talk about a screen though, we would watch Law and
Order as a whole family, and then we would sit
here and we would go I think he did it. No,
I think she did it. And so it was all
of this thinking through using pieces of information. And I
(11:02):
just read today that our children are really suffering the
inability to have fine motor skills because they're not playing
with crayons, they're not playing with scissors, They're just sitting
there like that, and so we're actually losing physicality. I mean,
is that not shocking?
Speaker 2 (11:19):
It's it's amazing. And when you think about all the
influences that are on kids these days and what they're
being told, and how I think a lot of them
are being set up for misery. I mean, actor Laura,
you know you have the metrics these days, and the
metrics for young women in particular in terms of happiness
self describe happiness. It's terrifying in terms of how bad
(11:40):
it is. How do we start to yea turn again?
You're going up against the tsunami, but how do we
start to turn that around?
Speaker 3 (11:47):
Well, I just it popped into my head as you
were asking me the question. Look at all the very
intelligent and very attractive women that are now in positions
of power in our government. I am so enthralled with that,
and I think that's wonderful for young women to have
something to aspire to keep my act clean. No more
(12:09):
shacking up, using drugs, this and that and the other thing.
I want to be like that lady who's now running
the whatever it is. So having role models like that,
you know, I have people calling who say I was
in a car seat in the back of my parents'
car listening to you, and now I have kids and
I'm using what I've learned. So anytime you can be
(12:33):
a positive influence, do it.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
My wife makes fun of me because I just always
sit there in the car when she turns you on.
I'm just like doctor Laura's right. So I'm telling you this.
I was like, we have to have doctor Lauren's I'm
like doctor Laura's right, and carry looks at me. She goes, oh,
I know, Clay, go ahead.
Speaker 5 (12:47):
Last question for you, and we appreciate your time. And
you're certainly a radio legend. You've been so influential for
so long when the modern era, like I was reading
the other day, the number of successful women that are
choosing to go find a sperm donor to have a
child with instead of an actual man is staggering to me,
(13:09):
what kind of world are we? Okay, I wanted to
get your take on.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
This makes me angry because kids need a dad, and
I just say to these women, oh, that's not well.
I have money and I can take care of that.
I don't care about that. You had a mommy and
a daddy, and I'm sure that meant something to you.
Now you're gonna rob a kit of a dad because
it's convenient for you not to commit and give of
(13:34):
yourself and be vulnerable to another human being and be
invested in each other's lives beautifully. That's a real shame.
That's a real shame. That is so selfish.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
Yeah, yeah, I don't look doctor Laura. We gotta have
we gotta have you back, because you know, for you
to solve all problems of relationships and family and child
rearing in about ten minutes is asking a lot. But
you didn't know a remarkable job. Guys. There's so many books.
I mean, the Proper Karen Feeding of Husbands. I've actually
got Carrie's very dog eared and underlined copy of my
(14:06):
hand great book. And go to doctor Laura dot com
because she's doing some great charity work too. Doctor Laura.
We'd love to have you back and thanks for being here.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
I would love it. Thank you, guys, and I love
listening to you too.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
You're listening to the best of Clay Travis and Buck Sexton.
Speaker 5 (14:21):
Welcome back in Clay Travis Buck Sexton Show.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Doctor.
Speaker 5 (14:24):
Laura was awesome. A lot of great reaction rolling in
for her. She's a fifty year radio legend, much like
Rush was a thirty plus year radio legend. Many of
you grew up listening to her as well as to him,
and I think we could have talked to her for
a long time. Buck like that. She could have kept
(14:44):
taking questions, and I think we would have gotten a
lot based on what I'm seeing rolling in from you
guys as well.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
And I think it's so important. I think a lot
of people don't get they don't get a basic framework,
like we're taught so many things about so much different
stuff in our lives. How are you a good husband,
How are you a good wife? What builds now? I
know some people say, well, I didn't get instruction and
I've been married fifty years and I'm so happy and okay, fine,
(15:11):
But the same way that learning about personal finance is
just empowering. I think learning about healthy and productive personal relationships.
I mean, you know, getting an understanding of it, not
just going through the experiential side of it, is really
important with family and child rearing. You know, I'm reading
books now about how to be a great dad and
the expecting father and all this stuff. I think that
(15:33):
is a really good thing to know. I know a
lot of you have a tremendous amount of knowledge from
your lives about this, but you know, does your twenty
year old. I think the twenty year olds are getting
terrible information about dating now. I think the twenty five
and thirty five year olds are getting terrible information about
how to find a husband or a wife.
Speaker 5 (15:49):
I also think that this ties in with boys and
men in crisis. We have a lot of people who
aren't getting raised by men. Somebody said on the show recently,
or I think I heard it on our show, but
that we basically have tried to turn women into men
and men into women. That we've created sort of this
amorphous unisex which frequently makes both men and women unhappy.
(16:12):
But the data reflects buck that the overall young men
suffer by far the most from being in single parent households.
Young women tend to not be bad, probably because they're
often being raised by women and they have a strong
female role model. But as good as a mom is,
it's very hard to do both sides of the raising,
(16:33):
and men, frankly, are not lifting up enough, and I
think that's one reason we've seen masculinity and crisis.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
You're enjoying the Best of program with Clay Travis and
Buck Sexton.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
Oh.
Speaker 5 (16:44):
We are joined by Anson, Freark's former president at Anaheuser
Busch co founder Strive Asset Management, his new book, Last
Call for bud Light, The Fall and Future of America's
Favorite Beer, and soon I appreciate you joining us here.
I would submit that the failed Dylan mulvany bud Light deal,
(17:08):
the fact that they send her the bud Light cans him.
Whatever you want to say, right around the March Madness tournament,
I believe two years ago bud Light sales you can
update me on them. I believe are still down forty percent.
Is this the most destructive ad endorsement product relationship that
(17:31):
has ever existed in modern American capitalism?
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Can you think of a worst one?
Speaker 5 (17:35):
Or is this the worst?
Speaker 4 (17:37):
I mean, Clay, I think this is the worst one.
I mean, maybe you could say that when there was
New Coke, and New Coke came out in the nineteen
eighties and then that plummeted. Everybody hated New Coke. The
good thing about the Coke executive they should learn their lesson.
They say, hey, we screwed up, we apologize, and they
went back to the old formula. And you know, Coke's
doing fine. But that's one of the big problems here
is that this company lost thirty percent of its sales
(17:58):
two years ago. It lost another ten percent of its
sales last year with bud Light. It's still declining this year.
And one of the reasons is that no one's taking
accountability for this. I mean, the CEO is still there.
There's been no apology, and that's why customers really haven't
returned here, which is crazy.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
What would you do.
Speaker 5 (18:13):
Let's pretend that they came to you and they said, okay,
bud Light is your business. You have to in some
way make it relevant again for the audience that has
abandoned it. Is there anything they could do that would
as you point out, they're continuing to decline down forty percent.
Is the brand dead?
Speaker 7 (18:30):
No?
Speaker 5 (18:30):
Matter what or is there a way to bring it
back to life?
Speaker 4 (18:33):
No, I mean actually think there's a way to bring
this back to life. And I get into this in
my book Last Call for blud Light what you mentioned about.
But I think one of the fundamental problems is is
that this company, Anhezzard Bush, it's no longer American owned.
It was actually purchased by a European company called Indev
about fifteen years ago, and then lots of mistakes were
made over that time period. The in dev company moved
(18:54):
the corporate headquarters from kind of Saint Louis to New
York City, brought in a lot of foreign executives that
really didn't understand the US consumer. They adopted a lot
of device apology of policies of ESG and DEI. So
a lot of those problems happen. I think a lot
of those go away if they actually sell anheizard Bush
here in the US back to US citizens. I mean,
sell it to Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway, sell it
(19:15):
to a consortium of firms like a Blackstone and Steve
Schwartzman's group, sell it to one of those. I think
the first thing they can do, which I think would
be good for this European business that hasn't been able
to really understand the US, and it'd be good for
the business here, so they could focus more here in
the US. They could bring in American executives, they could
bring back I don't know a lot of the commercials
that we all love. I think even most importantly is
(19:36):
that they could tell their customers that we were sorry,
we screwed up, and that was this old regime. We
got rid of it, and now we're moving forward with
you know, kind of American regime, American values, focused on
our customer. We're not going to get involved in any
political silliness. So we got involved with over the last
couple of years. I think that's the first step.
Speaker 5 (19:54):
Why do you think so many brands have ad buyers
and marketing people who have no idea who actually consumes
their product. Isn't that really kind of the essence of
how you make a mistake like this? As you mentioned
you moved from Saint Louis to New York City. I
knew that bud Light was in real trouble, and I
said this, and it's remained the case. You go around
the tailgates now basically, no guy who throws a tailgate
(20:17):
at a football game is buying bud Light anymore because
their buddies are gonna make fun of them in the
wake of the destruction of the brand. But isn't this
emblematic of larger issues. Whether it's with Target, whether it's
with Disney, whether it's with ESPN, the NBA. There are
just a lot of brands out there that have no
idea who their actual consumer is and as a result,
(20:41):
they're completely alienating them.
Speaker 4 (20:43):
Yeah, Clay, I mean, you're one hundred percent right about that.
This is not just an Anheuser Busch problem. Anheuser Busch
was the one that was holding the pin when this
whole ESG DEI bubble pop two years ago, and they
were the first time that you saw that millions of
consumers ditched a brand that led to billions of dollars
of loss of shareholder value. And this for the first time,
I think, actually was a wake up call to a
(21:04):
lot of the broader corporations. I mean, you don't get
the big rollback in ESG and DEI that you're seeing
right now without the whole bud Light example, where you
all of a sudden This is the least sustainable thing
that a company could do was to pander to a
group that wasn't it wasn't necessarily their customer base, and
that they got a brand involved in them that wasn't
authentically bud Light, you know, bud Like used to be
about sports and music and bringing folks together, never got
(21:26):
involved in controversial political issues. They lost sight of that
because they had marketing people based in New York and
they used marketing based New York firms based in New
York City. And then that was like one of the
bigger issues that we saw really across corporate America. A
lot of these firms that were based in Saint Louis
or in Arkansas or Texas, all of a sudden, they
were moving a lot of their headquarters in New York,
(21:47):
hiring New York firms, taking in advice from a lot
of New York based asset management companies. Black Rocks a
good example, who is foicing an ESG and DEI agenda
on them. And so this led to a lot of
problems and you saw a lot of companies that lost
their way over the last couple of years. I'm actually
pleased to say that there's companies like Disney, they're at
least making the right steps back in the right direction.
They fired their CEO, Bob Chapik, they brought back Bob Iiger.
(22:10):
Bob Iger said, we're getting out of politics. We're not
doing it anymore. They've rolled back a lot of their
DEI policies in recent weeks. Are they perfect, No, but
at least that they acknowledged that there was a problem.
I hope we're seeing that more across corporate America. I
think annezard Bush is just a little bit behind the
eight ball on getting there.
Speaker 5 (22:25):
A lot of people said, we're talking to Anson fre
Eric's from bud Light, former president there. He's got a
book out, Last Call for bud Light. Usually people say, oh,
this is not going to last. Two years later, basically
we're still dealing with the continued fallout for bud Light.
Do you think they've been stunned by how toxic their
brand has become? Do you think they ever expected it
(22:47):
to go on this long? Is that why they didn't apologize.
They just kept hoping, Oh, this is going to go away,
Oh this is going to go away, and in the
process their brand just vanished.
Speaker 4 (22:57):
Yeah, I mean one hundred percent. That's what they thought,
because they're really hadn't been a very successful i'll call
it consumer boycott previous to this. You know, of course,
people were upset when in the NFL. People were kneeling
in the NFL, But what are you gonna do? There's
no other alternative on Sundays in the NFL. You have
people were upset at Disney when Disney got involved in
front of rights issues in Florida, but you know, if
your kids want to go to Disney World and not
(23:17):
a lot of alternatives, bud Light was uniquely susceptible to
this massive boycott really for two reasons. As one is
that they have a commoditized brand, where everywhere there's bud Light,
there's also Miller Lite and cores Light at the exact
same price. And then secondarily, people could actually see the
impact of this boycott. Every single week, there's sales data
from retailers like Walmart and Kroger in seven to eleven
(23:39):
that gets reported, So every week you were seeing in
real time the bud Light sales were down ten percent,
twenty percent, thirty percent, forty percent. And then with the
effect of social media, you had everybody that was posting
photos and videos online of like the bud Light line
at a baseball game empty and a cores lightline thirty deep.
And so that has just had this big impact on
the business that they didn't realize how sucat they were
(24:00):
because for ninety five percent of the American population, they
can't tell the difference between bud Light, Miller Lite, Course Light.
The only thing that differentiates them is their brand. And
bud Light used to be that fun sports music, backyard
barbecuing kind of like Americana brand that you're talking about
all the guys used to drink at tailgates as the
most acceptable brand of the biggest beer brand. And then
when they lost that identity and all of a sudden,
(24:22):
it became this almost like brand like Ben and Jerry's.
Where are they advocating for certain social issues and more
progressive causes by getting involved with Dylan Mulvanium and not
even being able to articulate to the customer what the
brand stands for moving forward. I mean, you remember that
right after this happened, their CEO had multiple botched attempts
of trying to talk about bud Light, never apologize their
(24:43):
loyal customer base that was called Fradday out of touch.
Nor talked the more progressive customer base and said, you know, hey,
we're going to be more like Ben and Jerry's and
I don't know, when you walk in the middle of
a cultural battlefield, they ended up getting shot at from
both sides.
Speaker 5 (24:55):
No, And I think that's a really important part here
about the commoditized brand nature. Chick fil A got ripped
to the high heavens and even people out there that
are super left wing or like, you know, I might
not agree with Chick fil A on whatever LGBTQI issue
there is, but they got a great chicken sandwich and
so I'm gonna keep showing up.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
I love their waffle fries.
Speaker 5 (25:16):
I'm not trying to give a free advertisement for Chick
fil A, but I love the brand and it's hard
for me to think of something they could do that
would make me change my decision. But to your point,
for a lot of people who go into a grocery
store or go into a gas station and are gonna
grab a twelve or a twenty four pack of a beer,
there isn't a lot of difference between Miller Lite, bud Light,
(25:39):
Course Light. I know I'm gonna get blown up by
guys out there, Like I can tell a tremendous difference.
I disagree like Guinness, right, you know when you're drinking
a Guinness, You know when you're drinking a certain type
of beer that has a different flavor and taste. I
think for most people, light beer is relatively easily replaceable.
Let me ask you this question, and I think that's
(26:00):
an important part about why the boycott worked so well.
It was an easy change for people to make. Target
smart guy. I really like him. James auth Meyer now
the attorney general in the state of Florida. One of
the first things he's done is file a lawsuit against Target,
going after them for burning up a great deal of
shareholder value, he says, by basically going all in with
(26:22):
the tuck bathing, suits, everything else. What you do now
I think is important. But in some way, is that
the effective method to get businesses back to just saying, hey,
can you just serve everybody? Democrat, Republican, Independent, You don't
need to go after this woke agenda. Is there a
lawsuit mechanism in your mind that could be pursued and
(26:46):
should be pursued.
Speaker 4 (26:48):
I mean, there is a lawsuit mechanism. And you know,
if you go back, really the lawsuits that are coming
out right now goes back to really the Civil Rights
Act of nineteen sixty four, which essentially says that you
cannot discriminate based off of a race, sex, gender, national origin, etc.
And a lot of retailers, I mean, Target was one
of these, and in the post George Floyd era that
they came out with a lot of essentially racist policies
(27:10):
against certain people. They said that you're going to hire
a certain quota of people that look this way. Target
was allocating shelf space at their stores based off of race, sex, color.
That just doesn't make any sense in the society we're
living in. I mean, we live in a meritocracy. You
should be able to put the products in the shelf
that sell. That's the right thing for the customer, that's
the right thing for your shareholder value as well. I
(27:32):
think that's the bigger issue that Targets facings like why
are you pushing forward with a certain really social type
agenda as opposed to putting what sells? And I think
that the bigger issue with Target was, you know, when
you walk into a Target store, their most valuable real
estate is that first big display area right when you
walk in, and when they're putting tuck friendly bathing suits
across every single Target across America. Well, that's not what
(27:53):
the majority of their customer base wants, and that's not
good for shareholders, not good for shareholder value. Yes, I
think the lawsuits will make sure that they're abiding by
sort of the Civil Rights Act and making sure that
they're not discriminating against people. I think even more importantly,
I think that the American consumer has gone to Walmart's,
has gone to other areas, and Target stock price has
been in the tank over the last year or two
since this controversy. I think what's going to turn around
(28:15):
is again Target recmmitting this fundamental principles of serving their customers,
bringing customers back by giving more of the products of
what they want. I think that's the more effective way
to get this thing turned around. And consumers again just
vote with your wallets. That's the more effective way to
get back to serving all customers.
Speaker 5 (28:30):
The book is last call for bud Light, Anson Freeric's
former president and Heuser Busch speaking with us. Last question
for you on a positive side, is every major brand
in America now having meetings on a regular basis where
they say, whatever we do, let's make sure we're not
the next bud Light have. Does the American consumer sent
a huge and important message to corporate America by not
(28:53):
buying bud Light, I.
Speaker 4 (28:56):
Think they have the most importantly. I think most brands
right now are a conversation about just how do you
build trust with the consumer, and you do it by
being authentic and men. You mentioned Chick fil A earlier, like,
I know on Sunday's Chick fil A is going to
be closed. That's like, you know, I can trust that
it's going to be closed, and I also know that
it's because the family who owns it. I mean, they're like,
you know, Seventh day Adventists. That's their right. They can
(29:17):
be closed, they can do what they want to do.
They can advocate for policies they want. That's chick fil A.
Let Chick fil A be Chick fil A. That's what
makes it unique, interesting and different. And the same thing
with bud Light. Like, one of the things that was
just authentic and true about bud Light is that it
was this funny spratty uh you know, kind of kind
of a inside humor type of brand. Let bud Light
be bud Light, it didn't need to be. Ben and
(29:37):
Jerry's by getting involved in every single social issue, and
I think that's more the conversation that's being had. That's
what my book talks a lot about, is about that authenticity,
getting back to trust with brands, building that back in
corporate America. And I think that we're starting to see
the pendulum swing back. I'm optimistic that it will continue
to happen. That'd be good for I think American businesses,
American shareholder capitalism. I think it'll be better for democracy
(29:58):
as well if we're keeping businesses out out of politics.
Speaker 5 (30:01):
Check it out last call for bud Light, Anson Freerics.
Appreciate the time. Have a good weekend.
Speaker 4 (30:06):
Thanks, Clay, have a good one.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
You're listening to the best of Clay, Travis and Buck Sexton.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
Ben in Colorado. What's going on, Bene.
Speaker 7 (30:16):
Hey, Buck? Yeah, I think the imports of all the
Somalians into Minnesota has caused it. Also, like you said,
the city centers. You know, I used to live up
in Minnesota in the Boundary Waters and it's a pretty
pretty sweet little place too, so you know, it's the
(30:37):
Still City centers.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
Yeah, no, I hear you, thanks Ben. I remember I
used to go I've mentioned for the show. Used to
go with my dad and my brother's on camping trips
in the Boundary waters and feels like another world now,
but we would you could. I don't recommend you do this,
and certainly not now, but we would drink the water
out of the lake. Whi's now at any camping trip
that I know of in the lower forty eight, Like,
people don't really do that the same way. Yeah, it was.
(31:02):
It was amazing. It's the eagles and wolves and all
kinds of stuff. So yeah, it's very beautiful territory. It's
just a shame that the politics of it have gone
so far left and it's going to continue in that direction. Unfortunately.
I don't see it getting better. I I you know,
I don't know. Do I have time to get into
the Yeah, I got a little time to get into it.
(31:22):
Is so I'm not like a dating coach or you know,
a life life coach or any of that kind of stuff.
But I have been around the block a little bit
and I know some stuff about some things. And there's
this show Love is Blind where the contestant Sarah Carton
left there would be groom Ben over the over the
(31:46):
issue of politics, left him at the altar, and this
went viral over the weekend. And it's because this is
let's play cut too. She says she left him because
of his opinions on BLM and the scene and Trens
stuff play too, Like I asked him.
Speaker 8 (32:03):
About like Black Lives Matter, and I'm no expert, but
like when I asked him about it, he was like,
I guess I never really thought too much about it
that affected me, especially in our own city, Like how
could it not? How did not make you think about something?
I asked him to, like what his church's views are,
and he said he didn't know. And so then I
(32:24):
watched a sermon online from his church about yeah, sexual identity,
and it was traditional. I told that to then, and
it doesn't really have much to say about it, you know.
I want him to think about that stuff, equality, religion, the.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
Vaccine, the vaccine, trans identity issues, PLM.
Speaker 9 (32:52):
This guy is the luckiest guy. He he thinks he
got left at the altar. He was walking across the
train track looking the wrong way, and a train went
by him in one hundred miles an hour and just
clip the end of his nose.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
He's lucky. He is the luckiest guy you will see.
This woman was going to make him suffer for as
long as this marriage was going to last. So yeah, guys,
do not ignore the red flags out there if you're
a single guy, if you're out there still trying to
get married. She says, you don't have good policies on trends.
(33:27):
Identity run
Thank you for listening. This is the best of with
Clay Travis and Buck Sexton.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
We are very pleased to welcome onto the program doctor
Laura Schlessinger, who recently celebrated fifty years on the radio.
She is a best selling author. She's also auctioning off
some handmade items to support children of fallen patriots. Go
to doctor Laura dot com for more of that again
doctor Laura dot com. Doctor Laura, I just say it's
(00:28):
an honor to speak to you because I've been hearing
your voice ever since I got married, because my wife
is a longtime doctor Laura listener. And let me tell you,
I am very thankful. I am very thankful for it.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Well, then she's your girlfriend.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
She's the best. She's fantastic.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
You know.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
I come home and we got married, and I came
home and there's dinner on the table, and I say, Honey,
I want to go to the shooting range with the guys.
She says, you need guy time. You know all these
rules and lessons. And then I found this book ye
for Karen, Feeding of Husbands, which is dog eared and
underlined and everything else. I'd tell you. I got married
a little later in life, Doctor Laura. So I got
(01:08):
married around forty I think it was forty one, and
my wife has absolutely loved my life. She's absolutely fantastic.
We're about to have a baby in a couple of weeks,
so everything is going. I really want to have you
on in part just to thank you because, and this
comes from my wife as well. I think you give
so many women such incredibly important and powerful advice for
(01:32):
them to have great, meaningful lives as wives, as mothers.
Is so I'm always whenever Carrie starts saying doctor Laura says,
I start nod of my head. YEP, that's that's great.
She sent in my wife's So I just got to
tell you this. It's the truth. My wife's sent in
a question for you. In Clay's wife Laura has a
question too, She says, Hi, doctor Laura, I'm a longtime
(01:53):
listener and read the Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands.
I also took the online course. Your wisdom has not
only made me the wife i am today, but also
led me to find an incredible husband who adores me.
Fact check true. In a couple of weeks, we will
be welcoming our first child. We're so thrilled to grow
our family. But what is your advice for ensuring our
solid and healthy marriage stays intact after the first baby comes.
(02:16):
Thank you for all you do.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
You don't stop having your hands all over each other.
That means when you're walking around, That means when one
of you takes a shower, maybe we could, you know,
save on water, we could both be in the shower.
It's really the physicality and the silliness. Everybody thinks it's
got to be marital therapy and heavy duty conversations, which
you and I both know guys don't enjoy. So the
(02:42):
more physical you are with each other and the more
cute you are with each other, that's really all you need.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
I love it. That's really good advice.
Speaker 5 (02:51):
Now I don't even know what my wife has sent in,
but there is audio. She went and used the app
and then she needed more space, so she.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Said, I just give contects play.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
How long?
Speaker 2 (03:01):
How long have you been married?
Speaker 5 (03:02):
Tell doctor Laura how I have been Yeah, so I've
been married man twenty one years will be August. So
I've been married over twenty years now. We have three boys, seventeen, fourteen,
and ten year old. And here is what my wife
Lura wanted to ask you.
Speaker 6 (03:20):
Listen, Clay and I are parents of boys, and thus
far I think we have weathered adolescents fairly well. However,
some of our friends who have daughters, their experiences, the
way they talk about it sound very different. In fact,
some of them say, raising daughters through adolescents is a
(03:42):
complete nightmare.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
I have a friend this morning tell me.
Speaker 6 (03:46):
That she feels she's coming home to a bag of
snakes every day when she comes home to her adolescent daughters,
which is funny but harsh.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
So in general, do you have some.
Speaker 6 (03:58):
Great advice for parents going through adolescence with their children,
obviously the children going through adolescents, And do you have
different advice for parents of girls weathering adolescens versus parents
of boys weathering adolescence.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
Thank you, I thought you were just going to have
me on for a few minutes. That's going to take.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Me about half an hour I get through.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
Let me try to bring it down. Number one, whether
it's a boy or a girl, that it's a tight
family that does things together, that is sweet with each other.
That the father spends time with the daughter, the father
spends time with the son, the mother spends time and
the family is always together for dinner, if they have
to go do sports things or what have you. That
(04:46):
you know that's a very important part of the family.
People keep divvying it up. Yeah, there are differences in
how you raise girls from boys, and I'd have to
come back another time to go through that. But the
first and foremost thing, just like I spoke about husbands
and wives in the physical and the cuteness, the I
was with a family and I thought, and I talked
(05:08):
about them on my air, that this was the best
family I had seen in decades. Anytime anybody got something me,
I would you send me? Could I have? Yes? Please?
Thank you. Everybody was so concerned and polite to one another.
That is not something that families do. You have two
(05:29):
career families, you have all kinds of other stuff going
on in the house, and it's not a family, it's
mother and father and kids. But when it's a family,
when people are always saying please and thank you, and
show concern for each other and discipline in kind ways,
with understanding and compassion, you'd be surprised how it minimizes
(05:54):
how crazy it gets. And also take your kids out
of public school.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Wow, Doctor Laura if we're gonna have to have you back,
and I'm really looking forward to all the questions and
comments we're gonna get from the audience about you coming
on and just beginning this arc of wisdom. And like
I said, as a husband and a very happy husband
who does completely adore his wife, and I know, you know,
it's so important that I think women get a lot
of the messaging and men and men, but that we
(06:21):
both get a lot of the messaging that you're putting
out there. And I wanted you to a dress something
that's more just sort of general for the country right now.
You know, we talk here about politics and national security
and education, all these different things, but the importance of
family and marriage is central. Should be central, Maybe should
be is a better word these days. You know, there's
a story just out today and it says, and the
(06:41):
headline is American women are giving up on marriage, And
one of the lines from it is American women have
never been this resigned to staying signal single. They are
responding to major demographic shifts, including huge and growing gender
gaps in economic and education attainment, and beliefs about what
a family should look like. What is going on and
how do we fix it.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
Not enough fathers in the home raising sons to be
men of honor and courage and principle. And that's basically
again the women have gone through the feminist thing where
men are the evil empire and all this negativity toward masculinity.
It's all toxic. I think it's wonderful. Give me a
(07:26):
guy with the cowboy hat and boots, and I pay
attention because there's a sense that there's a strength there.
And women like to feel protected. That's probably the number
one thing women don't admit. They want to feel protected,
and that's why they like those silly books where there's
this ripped guy on the cover and she's being carried,
(07:48):
you know, into safety. Why do they read those things
at such large amounts Because ultimately, as smart and incompetent
as we can be, we want to be protected and
men have not been brought up to be that anymore.
Speaker 5 (08:02):
Are you more You've been doing this for fifty years
and Buck just laid out. A marriage is becoming less common.
A lot of men are not president homes. Unfortunately, the
overall birth rate in many Western civilizations is collapsing. Are
you more or less optimistic about the future of the
family unit today than when you started. How would you
(08:25):
analyze the scope of relationship that you've seen over fifty years.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
Oh no, I was more optimistic than that I am
now because there have been so many forces. We have,
like one or two generations now I think are lost.
These are young people who are not being brought up
that you finish school and you aim to be and
do things, and you make a family and you raise
kids and you have communities. And that was how I
(08:51):
was brought up, and it was all this optimism. Now
you have throngs of kids who have no idea where
they can go and what they can be, and so
they get involved in all of these cliques like non binary.
And you know, I belong now to a group of
people who are equally lost and don't have an identity
(09:12):
and don't have a direction, and don't have a sense
of self other than I can belong to this community.
It's like what we used to look at with groupies
with rock stars. This is what's happening. So I'm worried.
Be honest with you, I'm worried. But the one little
piece of optimism I have is I'm still here. People
are still calling somebody wants the help to pull it
(09:37):
back together again and make life meaningful in something you
can feel comfortable and safe with and productive and loving
and receive all of that. So as long as I
still get that response, I keep my optimism up.
Speaker 5 (09:52):
Doctor Warrett, that's a great line. You just laid out
some of the challenges. How much do you think it
has to do with kids getting phones too young? What
advice would you give parents out there? My wife asked
a question about adolescence, but what advice would you give
to parents about social media and about what they allow
(10:13):
their kids to be exposed to, particularly on the internet.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
Well, everybody tells me I'm insane to think. You know,
you can push up against a tsunami, but it takes
just everybody lining up. I tell people that they're irresponsible
parents if they give smartphones to their kids, any minor
child period. Get them a flip phone that takes calls.
That's it. No texting, no Internet, And instead of spending
(10:41):
one's time with screams, how about we actually have families
that do stuff together. I mean, when my kid was
talk about a screen though, we would watch Law and
Order as a whole family, and then we would sit
here and we would go I think he did it. No,
I think she did it. And so it was all
of this thinking through using pieces of information. And I
(11:02):
just read today that our children are really suffering the
inability to have fine motor skills because they're not playing
with crayons, they're not playing with scissors, They're just sitting
there like that, and so we're actually losing physicality. I mean,
is that not shocking?
Speaker 2 (11:19):
It's it's amazing. And when you think about all the
influences that are on kids these days and what they're
being told, and how I think a lot of them
are being set up for misery. I mean, actor Laura,
you know you have the metrics these days, and the
metrics for young women in particular in terms of happiness
self describe happiness. It's terrifying in terms of how bad
(11:40):
it is. How do we start to yea turn again?
You're going up against the tsunami, but how do we
start to turn that around?
Speaker 3 (11:47):
Well, I just it popped into my head as you
were asking me the question. Look at all the very
intelligent and very attractive women that are now in positions
of power in our government. I am so enthralled with that,
and I think that's wonderful for young women to have
something to aspire to keep my act clean. No more
(12:09):
shacking up, using drugs, this and that and the other thing.
I want to be like that lady who's now running
the whatever it is. So having role models like that,
you know, I have people calling who say I was
in a car seat in the back of my parents'
car listening to you, and now I have kids and
I'm using what I've learned. So anytime you can be
(12:33):
a positive influence, do it.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
My wife makes fun of me because I just always
sit there in the car when she turns you on.
I'm just like doctor Laura's right. So I'm telling you this.
I was like, we have to have doctor Lauren's I'm
like doctor Laura's right, and carry looks at me. She goes, oh,
I know, Clay, go ahead.
Speaker 5 (12:47):
Last question for you, and we appreciate your time. And
you're certainly a radio legend. You've been so influential for
so long when the modern era, like I was reading
the other day, the number of successful women that are
choosing to go find a sperm donor to have a
child with instead of an actual man is staggering to me,
(13:09):
what kind of world are we? Okay, I wanted to
get your take on.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
This makes me angry because kids need a dad, and
I just say to these women, oh, that's not well.
I have money and I can take care of that.
I don't care about that. You had a mommy and
a daddy, and I'm sure that meant something to you.
Now you're gonna rob a kit of a dad because
it's convenient for you not to commit and give of
(13:34):
yourself and be vulnerable to another human being and be
invested in each other's lives beautifully. That's a real shame.
That's a real shame. That is so selfish.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
Yeah, yeah, I don't look doctor Laura. We gotta have
we gotta have you back, because you know, for you
to solve all problems of relationships and family and child
rearing in about ten minutes is asking a lot. But
you didn't know a remarkable job. Guys. There's so many books.
I mean, the Proper Karen Feeding of Husbands. I've actually
got Carrie's very dog eared and underlined copy of my
(14:06):
hand great book. And go to doctor Laura dot com
because she's doing some great charity work too. Doctor Laura.
We'd love to have you back and thanks for being here.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
I would love it. Thank you, guys, and I love
listening to you too.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
You're listening to the best of Clay Travis and Buck Sexton.
Speaker 5 (14:21):
Welcome back in Clay Travis Buck Sexton Show.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Doctor.
Speaker 5 (14:24):
Laura was awesome. A lot of great reaction rolling in
for her. She's a fifty year radio legend, much like
Rush was a thirty plus year radio legend. Many of
you grew up listening to her as well as to him,
and I think we could have talked to her for
a long time. Buck like that. She could have kept
(14:44):
taking questions, and I think we would have gotten a
lot based on what I'm seeing rolling in from you
guys as well.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
And I think it's so important. I think a lot
of people don't get they don't get a basic framework,
like we're taught so many things about so much different
stuff in our lives. How are you a good husband,
How are you a good wife? What builds now? I
know some people say, well, I didn't get instruction and
I've been married fifty years and I'm so happy and okay, fine,
(15:11):
But the same way that learning about personal finance is
just empowering. I think learning about healthy and productive personal relationships.
I mean, you know, getting an understanding of it, not
just going through the experiential side of it, is really
important with family and child rearing. You know, I'm reading
books now about how to be a great dad and
the expecting father and all this stuff. I think that
(15:33):
is a really good thing to know. I know a
lot of you have a tremendous amount of knowledge from
your lives about this, but you know, does your twenty
year old. I think the twenty year olds are getting
terrible information about dating now. I think the twenty five
and thirty five year olds are getting terrible information about
how to find a husband or a wife.
Speaker 5 (15:49):
I also think that this ties in with boys and
men in crisis. We have a lot of people who
aren't getting raised by men. Somebody said on the show recently,
or I think I heard it on our show, but
that we basically have tried to turn women into men
and men into women. That we've created sort of this
amorphous unisex which frequently makes both men and women unhappy.
(16:12):
But the data reflects buck that the overall young men
suffer by far the most from being in single parent households.
Young women tend to not be bad, probably because they're
often being raised by women and they have a strong
female role model. But as good as a mom is,
it's very hard to do both sides of the raising,
(16:33):
and men, frankly, are not lifting up enough, and I
think that's one reason we've seen masculinity and crisis.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
You're enjoying the Best of program with Clay Travis and
Buck Sexton.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
Oh.
Speaker 5 (16:44):
We are joined by Anson, Freark's former president at Anaheuser
Busch co founder Strive Asset Management, his new book, Last
Call for bud Light, The Fall and Future of America's
Favorite Beer, and soon I appreciate you joining us here.
I would submit that the failed Dylan mulvany bud Light deal,
(17:08):
the fact that they send her the bud Light cans him.
Whatever you want to say, right around the March Madness tournament,
I believe two years ago bud Light sales you can
update me on them. I believe are still down forty percent.
Is this the most destructive ad endorsement product relationship that
(17:31):
has ever existed in modern American capitalism?
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Can you think of a worst one?
Speaker 5 (17:35):
Or is this the worst?
Speaker 4 (17:37):
I mean, Clay, I think this is the worst one.
I mean, maybe you could say that when there was
New Coke, and New Coke came out in the nineteen
eighties and then that plummeted. Everybody hated New Coke. The
good thing about the Coke executive they should learn their lesson.
They say, hey, we screwed up, we apologize, and they
went back to the old formula. And you know, Coke's
doing fine. But that's one of the big problems here
is that this company lost thirty percent of its sales
(17:58):
two years ago. It lost another ten percent of its
sales last year with bud Light. It's still declining this year.
And one of the reasons is that no one's taking
accountability for this. I mean, the CEO is still there.
There's been no apology, and that's why customers really haven't
returned here, which is crazy.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
What would you do.
Speaker 5 (18:13):
Let's pretend that they came to you and they said, okay,
bud Light is your business. You have to in some
way make it relevant again for the audience that has
abandoned it. Is there anything they could do that would
as you point out, they're continuing to decline down forty percent.
Is the brand dead?
Speaker 7 (18:30):
No?
Speaker 5 (18:30):
Matter what or is there a way to bring it
back to life?
Speaker 4 (18:33):
No, I mean actually think there's a way to bring
this back to life. And I get into this in
my book Last Call for blud Light what you mentioned about.
But I think one of the fundamental problems is is
that this company, Anhezzard Bush, it's no longer American owned.
It was actually purchased by a European company called Indev
about fifteen years ago, and then lots of mistakes were
made over that time period. The in dev company moved
(18:54):
the corporate headquarters from kind of Saint Louis to New
York City, brought in a lot of foreign executives that
really didn't understand the US consumer. They adopted a lot
of device apology of policies of ESG and DEI. So
a lot of those problems happen. I think a lot
of those go away if they actually sell anheizard Bush
here in the US back to US citizens. I mean,
sell it to Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway, sell it
(19:15):
to a consortium of firms like a Blackstone and Steve
Schwartzman's group, sell it to one of those. I think
the first thing they can do, which I think would
be good for this European business that hasn't been able
to really understand the US, and it'd be good for
the business here, so they could focus more here in
the US. They could bring in American executives, they could
bring back I don't know a lot of the commercials
that we all love. I think even most importantly is
(19:36):
that they could tell their customers that we were sorry,
we screwed up, and that was this old regime. We
got rid of it, and now we're moving forward with
you know, kind of American regime, American values, focused on
our customer. We're not going to get involved in any
political silliness. So we got involved with over the last
couple of years. I think that's the first step.
Speaker 5 (19:54):
Why do you think so many brands have ad buyers
and marketing people who have no idea who actually consumes
their product. Isn't that really kind of the essence of
how you make a mistake like this? As you mentioned
you moved from Saint Louis to New York City. I
knew that bud Light was in real trouble, and I
said this, and it's remained the case. You go around
the tailgates now basically, no guy who throws a tailgate
(20:17):
at a football game is buying bud Light anymore because
their buddies are gonna make fun of them in the
wake of the destruction of the brand. But isn't this
emblematic of larger issues. Whether it's with Target, whether it's
with Disney, whether it's with ESPN, the NBA. There are
just a lot of brands out there that have no
idea who their actual consumer is and as a result,
(20:41):
they're completely alienating them.
Speaker 4 (20:43):
Yeah, Clay, I mean, you're one hundred percent right about that.
This is not just an Anheuser Busch problem. Anheuser Busch
was the one that was holding the pin when this
whole ESG DEI bubble pop two years ago, and they
were the first time that you saw that millions of
consumers ditched a brand that led to billions of dollars
of loss of shareholder value. And this for the first time,
I think, actually was a wake up call to a
(21:04):
lot of the broader corporations. I mean, you don't get
the big rollback in ESG and DEI that you're seeing
right now without the whole bud Light example, where you
all of a sudden This is the least sustainable thing
that a company could do was to pander to a
group that wasn't it wasn't necessarily their customer base, and
that they got a brand involved in them that wasn't
authentically bud Light, you know, bud Like used to be
about sports and music and bringing folks together, never got
(21:26):
involved in controversial political issues. They lost sight of that
because they had marketing people based in New York and
they used marketing based New York firms based in New
York City. And then that was like one of the
bigger issues that we saw really across corporate America. A
lot of these firms that were based in Saint Louis
or in Arkansas or Texas, all of a sudden, they
were moving a lot of their headquarters in New York,
(21:47):
hiring New York firms, taking in advice from a lot
of New York based asset management companies. Black Rocks a
good example, who is foicing an ESG and DEI agenda
on them. And so this led to a lot of
problems and you saw a lot of companies that lost
their way over the last couple of years. I'm actually
pleased to say that there's companies like Disney, they're at
least making the right steps back in the right direction.
They fired their CEO, Bob Chapik, they brought back Bob Iiger.
(22:10):
Bob Iger said, we're getting out of politics. We're not
doing it anymore. They've rolled back a lot of their
DEI policies in recent weeks. Are they perfect, No, but
at least that they acknowledged that there was a problem.
I hope we're seeing that more across corporate America. I
think annezard Bush is just a little bit behind the
eight ball on getting there.
Speaker 5 (22:25):
A lot of people said, we're talking to Anson fre
Eric's from bud Light, former president there. He's got a
book out, Last Call for bud Light. Usually people say, oh,
this is not going to last. Two years later, basically
we're still dealing with the continued fallout for bud Light.
Do you think they've been stunned by how toxic their
brand has become? Do you think they ever expected it
(22:47):
to go on this long? Is that why they didn't apologize.
They just kept hoping, Oh, this is going to go away,
Oh this is going to go away, and in the
process their brand just vanished.
Speaker 4 (22:57):
Yeah, I mean one hundred percent. That's what they thought,
because they're really hadn't been a very successful i'll call
it consumer boycott previous to this. You know, of course,
people were upset when in the NFL. People were kneeling
in the NFL, But what are you gonna do? There's
no other alternative on Sundays in the NFL. You have
people were upset at Disney when Disney got involved in
front of rights issues in Florida, but you know, if
your kids want to go to Disney World and not
(23:17):
a lot of alternatives, bud Light was uniquely susceptible to
this massive boycott really for two reasons. As one is
that they have a commoditized brand, where everywhere there's bud Light,
there's also Miller Lite and cores Light at the exact
same price. And then secondarily, people could actually see the
impact of this boycott. Every single week, there's sales data
from retailers like Walmart and Kroger in seven to eleven
(23:39):
that gets reported, So every week you were seeing in
real time the bud Light sales were down ten percent,
twenty percent, thirty percent, forty percent. And then with the
effect of social media, you had everybody that was posting
photos and videos online of like the bud Light line
at a baseball game empty and a cores lightline thirty deep.
And so that has just had this big impact on
the business that they didn't realize how sucat they were
(24:00):
because for ninety five percent of the American population, they
can't tell the difference between bud Light, Miller Lite, Course Light.
The only thing that differentiates them is their brand. And
bud Light used to be that fun sports music, backyard
barbecuing kind of like Americana brand that you're talking about
all the guys used to drink at tailgates as the
most acceptable brand of the biggest beer brand. And then
when they lost that identity and all of a sudden,
(24:22):
it became this almost like brand like Ben and Jerry's.
Where are they advocating for certain social issues and more
progressive causes by getting involved with Dylan Mulvanium and not
even being able to articulate to the customer what the
brand stands for moving forward. I mean, you remember that
right after this happened, their CEO had multiple botched attempts
of trying to talk about bud Light, never apologize their
(24:43):
loyal customer base that was called Fradday out of touch.
Nor talked the more progressive customer base and said, you know, hey,
we're going to be more like Ben and Jerry's and
I don't know, when you walk in the middle of
a cultural battlefield, they ended up getting shot at from
both sides.
Speaker 5 (24:55):
No, And I think that's a really important part here
about the commoditized brand nature. Chick fil A got ripped
to the high heavens and even people out there that
are super left wing or like, you know, I might
not agree with Chick fil A on whatever LGBTQI issue
there is, but they got a great chicken sandwich and
so I'm gonna keep showing up.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
I love their waffle fries.
Speaker 5 (25:16):
I'm not trying to give a free advertisement for Chick
fil A, but I love the brand and it's hard
for me to think of something they could do that
would make me change my decision. But to your point,
for a lot of people who go into a grocery
store or go into a gas station and are gonna
grab a twelve or a twenty four pack of a beer,
there isn't a lot of difference between Miller Lite, bud Light,
(25:39):
Course Light. I know I'm gonna get blown up by
guys out there, Like I can tell a tremendous difference.
I disagree like Guinness, right, you know when you're drinking
a Guinness, You know when you're drinking a certain type
of beer that has a different flavor and taste. I
think for most people, light beer is relatively easily replaceable.
Let me ask you this question, and I think that's
(26:00):
an important part about why the boycott worked so well.
It was an easy change for people to make. Target
smart guy. I really like him. James auth Meyer now
the attorney general in the state of Florida. One of
the first things he's done is file a lawsuit against Target,
going after them for burning up a great deal of
shareholder value, he says, by basically going all in with
(26:22):
the tuck bathing, suits, everything else. What you do now
I think is important. But in some way, is that
the effective method to get businesses back to just saying, hey,
can you just serve everybody? Democrat, Republican, Independent, You don't
need to go after this woke agenda. Is there a
lawsuit mechanism in your mind that could be pursued and
(26:46):
should be pursued.
Speaker 4 (26:48):
I mean, there is a lawsuit mechanism. And you know,
if you go back, really the lawsuits that are coming
out right now goes back to really the Civil Rights
Act of nineteen sixty four, which essentially says that you
cannot discriminate based off of a race, sex, gender, national origin, etc.
And a lot of retailers, I mean, Target was one
of these, and in the post George Floyd era that
they came out with a lot of essentially racist policies
(27:10):
against certain people. They said that you're going to hire
a certain quota of people that look this way. Target
was allocating shelf space at their stores based off of race, sex, color.
That just doesn't make any sense in the society we're
living in. I mean, we live in a meritocracy. You
should be able to put the products in the shelf
that sell. That's the right thing for the customer, that's
the right thing for your shareholder value as well. I
(27:32):
think that's the bigger issue that Targets facings like why
are you pushing forward with a certain really social type
agenda as opposed to putting what sells? And I think
that the bigger issue with Target was, you know, when
you walk into a Target store, their most valuable real
estate is that first big display area right when you
walk in, and when they're putting tuck friendly bathing suits
across every single Target across America. Well, that's not what
(27:53):
the majority of their customer base wants, and that's not
good for shareholders, not good for shareholder value. Yes, I
think the lawsuits will make sure that they're abiding by
sort of the Civil Rights Act and making sure that
they're not discriminating against people. I think even more importantly,
I think that the American consumer has gone to Walmart's,
has gone to other areas, and Target stock price has
been in the tank over the last year or two
since this controversy. I think what's going to turn around
(28:15):
is again Target recmmitting this fundamental principles of serving their customers,
bringing customers back by giving more of the products of
what they want. I think that's the more effective way
to get this thing turned around. And consumers again just
vote with your wallets. That's the more effective way to
get back to serving all customers.
Speaker 5 (28:30):
The book is last call for bud Light, Anson Freeric's
former president and Heuser Busch speaking with us. Last question
for you on a positive side, is every major brand
in America now having meetings on a regular basis where
they say, whatever we do, let's make sure we're not
the next bud Light have. Does the American consumer sent
a huge and important message to corporate America by not
(28:53):
buying bud Light, I.
Speaker 4 (28:56):
Think they have the most importantly. I think most brands
right now are a conversation about just how do you
build trust with the consumer, and you do it by
being authentic and men. You mentioned Chick fil A earlier, like,
I know on Sunday's Chick fil A is going to
be closed. That's like, you know, I can trust that
it's going to be closed, and I also know that
it's because the family who owns it. I mean, they're like,
you know, Seventh day Adventists. That's their right. They can
(29:17):
be closed, they can do what they want to do.
They can advocate for policies they want. That's chick fil A.
Let Chick fil A be Chick fil A. That's what
makes it unique, interesting and different. And the same thing
with bud Light. Like, one of the things that was
just authentic and true about bud Light is that it
was this funny spratty uh you know, kind of kind
of a inside humor type of brand. Let bud Light
be bud Light, it didn't need to be. Ben and
(29:37):
Jerry's by getting involved in every single social issue, and
I think that's more the conversation that's being had. That's
what my book talks a lot about, is about that authenticity,
getting back to trust with brands, building that back in
corporate America. And I think that we're starting to see
the pendulum swing back. I'm optimistic that it will continue
to happen. That'd be good for I think American businesses,
American shareholder capitalism. I think it'll be better for democracy
(29:58):
as well if we're keeping businesses out out of politics.
Speaker 5 (30:01):
Check it out last call for bud Light, Anson Freerics.
Appreciate the time. Have a good weekend.
Speaker 4 (30:06):
Thanks, Clay, have a good one.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
You're listening to the best of Clay, Travis and Buck Sexton.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
Ben in Colorado. What's going on, Bene.
Speaker 7 (30:16):
Hey, Buck? Yeah, I think the imports of all the
Somalians into Minnesota has caused it. Also, like you said,
the city centers. You know, I used to live up
in Minnesota in the Boundary Waters and it's a pretty
pretty sweet little place too, so you know, it's the
(30:37):
Still City centers.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
Yeah, no, I hear you, thanks Ben. I remember I
used to go I've mentioned for the show. Used to
go with my dad and my brother's on camping trips
in the Boundary waters and feels like another world now,
but we would you could. I don't recommend you do this,
and certainly not now, but we would drink the water
out of the lake. Whi's now at any camping trip
that I know of in the lower forty eight, Like,
people don't really do that the same way. Yeah, it was.
(31:02):
It was amazing. It's the eagles and wolves and all
kinds of stuff. So yeah, it's very beautiful territory. It's
just a shame that the politics of it have gone
so far left and it's going to continue in that direction. Unfortunately.
I don't see it getting better. I I you know,
I don't know. Do I have time to get into
the Yeah, I got a little time to get into it.
(31:22):
Is so I'm not like a dating coach or you know,
a life life coach or any of that kind of stuff.
But I have been around the block a little bit
and I know some stuff about some things. And there's
this show Love is Blind where the contestant Sarah Carton
left there would be groom Ben over the over the
(31:46):
issue of politics, left him at the altar, and this
went viral over the weekend. And it's because this is
let's play cut too. She says she left him because
of his opinions on BLM and the scene and Trens
stuff play too, Like I asked him.
Speaker 8 (32:03):
About like Black Lives Matter, and I'm no expert, but
like when I asked him about it, he was like,
I guess I never really thought too much about it
that affected me, especially in our own city, Like how
could it not? How did not make you think about something?
I asked him to, like what his church's views are,
and he said he didn't know. And so then I
(32:24):
watched a sermon online from his church about yeah, sexual identity,
and it was traditional. I told that to then, and
it doesn't really have much to say about it, you know.
I want him to think about that stuff, equality, religion, the.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
Vaccine, the vaccine, trans identity issues, PLM.
Speaker 9 (32:52):
This guy is the luckiest guy. He he thinks he
got left at the altar. He was walking across the
train track looking the wrong way, and a train went
by him in one hundred miles an hour and just
clip the end of his nose.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
He's lucky. He is the luckiest guy you will see.
This woman was going to make him suffer for as
long as this marriage was going to last. So yeah, guys,
do not ignore the red flags out there if you're
a single guy, if you're out there still trying to
get married. She says, you don't have good policies on trends.
(33:27):
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