Leftist investment firms pressure companies to go ‘woke’ – One America News Network

OAN’s Brooke Mallory
11:36 AM – Monday, June 5, 2023

An ex-executive at Anheuser-Busch claims that left-leaning investment firms frequently facilitate “woke” governance in major corporations even if it drives earnings into the ground, such as what has recently occurred at both Anheuser-Busch and Target.

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Former Anheuser-Busch executive Anson Frericks recently asserted on Fox News’ “Jesse Watters Primetime” that political maneuvering carried out by companies like Pennsylvania-based Vanguard and New York-based BlackRock is responsible for many of the contentious decisions that have led to widespread boycotts from consumers who are fed up with “progressive” propaganda.

The disastrous Bud Light marketing campaign with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney is one example of this.

Executives made the decision to support the culturally “trendy” business action of using LGBTQ+ individuals to advertise their product, while knowing that their customer base would not be positively inspired or moved to buy more products by that specific choice of ambassador.

Frericks claimed that approximately $20 trillion in capital is managed by BlackRock, Vanguard, and a third company, State Street.

These businesses purportedly use their influence to further political agendas imposed on them by progressive lawmakers in charge of the government pension systems from which these companies make money from.

He also added that California politicians can have a significant influence over the corporate governance and politics of companies they invest heavily in, as one of the firms he mentioned handles the state’s massive pension fund.

“In California, for example, they recently have mandated those large pension funds that they divest from things like fossil fuels and oil and gas, and then when Bill de Blasio, [former] mayor of New York, was there, he did the same thing,” he said. “But they also tell BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard if they’re going to manage their money, they have to commit to things like ESG — diversity, equity, inclusion — and adopt firm-wide commitments that they therefore then force onto all the major companies in corporate America.”

According to Frericks, part of why he departed from the beer industry giant based in St. Louis was because of the way much of corporate America was operating, in terms of defying public opinion when it came to participating in politics.

He also gave the example of Atlanta, Georgia, the headquarters of Coca-Cola and Delta Airlines, which expressed displeasure after Georgia’s lawmakers established legislation ensuring voting integrity.