In a sane world, Alissa Heinerscheid, vice president of marketing for Bud Light , would be out of a job following her disastrous decision to partner with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney to promote the sale of a product that has appealed to working-class, ordinary, and decidedly unwoke people for generations. The move has led to a boycott and a roughly $5 billion decline in market capitalization for Anheuser-Busch, the brand’s parent company.

The stock price may very well recover and the boycott may turn out to be short-term, but it’s also possible that Heinerscheid’s poor judgment has inflicted lasting damage on the company. Her colossal miscalculation has thrust the beer giant smack in the middle of America’s culture war, leaving it in the unenviable position of having to choose between apologizing to its loyal customer base or appeasing the social justice warriors.

The company’s inability to thread this needle has damaged not only the company’s bottom line but its reputation as well. Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Fraser issued a statement last week in an effort to calm the waters. But his unwillingness to get around to an actual apology left many of us wondering why he bothered to write it at all.

Fraser, a former Marine, prattled on about traditional American values such as freedom, hard work, and respect. He wrote, "We never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people. We are in the business of bringing people together over a beer.” He concluded by telling customers that he “cares deeply about this country, this company, our brands and our partners. … Moving forward, I will continue to work tirelessly to bring great beers to consumers across our nation.”

Predictably, the statement failed to satisfy those on either side of the partisan divide. The company’s reluctance to take a stand one way or the other has managed to alienate both longtime customers and advocates of the transgender movement. Realizing Fraser had missed his target, Anheuser-Busch then tried to evoke “the spirit of America” in a new patriotic ad featuring their signature Clydesdale horses galloping over the fruited plains of the U.S. heartland and past iconic landmarks throughout the country. But the damage had been done.

Before jumping headlong into the culture war, woke corporations need to understand that consumers have choices, especially when it comes to beer, and there is a price to be paid for jumping on the woke train.

Budweiser executives need only look to the Walt Disney Company, whose stock price topped $197 per share two years ago and now languishes at $100 after management took a walk on the woke side. Their clientele quickly realized they could easily forgo a pricey family trip to a Disney theme park and take a pass on their “inclusive” remakes of our favorite old classics.

Mulvaney’s partnership with America’s bestselling beer brand is far from the most egregious affront to tradition and decency. But, like the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back, this moment has become so much bigger than Bud Light. It’s about the Left’s “social revolution,” which, as Adrian Wooldridge put it recently, seeks to create “a new social order based on virtue, rather than ability.”

From Disney to Nike to Bud Light, we see this all around us. Yet for too long, the public has sat back and allowed the Left to wage this cultural war on our values and institutions. Gerard Baker put it this way: “If Western civilization dies, put it down as a suicide. … We are in the grip of an ideology that disowns our genius, denounces our success, disdains merit, elevates victimhood, embraces societal self-loathing, and enforces it all in a web of exclusionary and authoritarian rules, large and small.”

Although the window of opportunity is rapidly closing, we still have time to put a stop to the madness. Putting the squeeze on woke corporations is a no-brainer and something all conservatives should rally behind. Starting with actions as simple as skipping that Disney vacation or switching to a different beer brand, we can make a difference. We will find there are many woke companies whose services we can do without.

We must stop accommodating the whims of the woke. We don’t have to pretend that men can get pregnant or that changing one’s gender is courageous and something to be celebrated. Rather than being revered, these notions should be ridiculed and rejected out of hand.

The Bud Light flap was a wake-up call. We need to take our power back. And we can start with the power of the purse.

Elizabeth Stauffer is a contributor to the Washington Examiner, Power Line, the Western Journal, and AFNN and a past contributor to RedState, Newsmax, and Bongino.com . Her articles have appeared on many sites, including RealClearPolitics, MSN, and the Federalist. Please follow Elizabeth on  Twitter  or  LinkedIn .