TheQuartering [7/20/2023]
A new app allows shoppers to scan items in grocery stores to check if the brand supports woke values.
Veebs, a free app on the App Store, says it ‘has the brands that align to your personal values settings and offers replacement suggestions for the ones that don’t.’
A TikTok video advertising the new software shows a blonde woman in a floral dress saying, ‘The best way to fight against these woke brands is with our wallets.
‘That’s why I use the Veebs app when I do my grocery shopping.’
The app comes as the once-popular beer company Bud Light continues to face a boycott for its April partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
In the video, posted by @brieresi0 on Monday, she could be seen walking through the frozen section of a grocery store.
At first, she picks up a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream pint, which she scans with her phone.
‘OK, this has a very poor rating, so we are definitely going to be putting this back,’ the influencer says. ‘But look at all the other ice creams in this store that have great ratings. We have Bluebell, we have Dreyer’s, Tillamook, Blue Bunny, Halo Top even Baskin Robbins.
‘So let’s go pick up some ice cream that supports our values.’
She then goes to pick up some tampons, and finds that Tampax — which once also had an ad featuring Dylan Mulvaney — scored low on her values rating, but its rival Playtex had a higher score.
‘I’m so glad someone came up with this app,’ she says as the video ends. ‘It makes value-based shopping so simple.’
On the App Store, Veebs currently has a 4.4 out of 5 star rating, with one woman writing: ‘I’m a conservative mama bear, and I’ve been looking for something like this for a few years now.
‘All I can say is bless you, Veebs, and to all the companies shoving their ideas on me and my family — bye.’
Another user also commented: ‘I can’t believe someone finally built this.’
The new app comes amid the conservative boycott of Bud Light, which has been struggling to regain its footing in American culture since its April partnership with Mulvaney sparked a decline in sales, costing its parent company Anheuser-Busch around $22 billion in market cap to date.
At first, Bud Light’s social media teams retreated into the shadows following the backlash, but two months later, on June 22, the brand cautiously resumed posting more politically-neutral and faceless ads.
Their posts include pictures of Bud Light cans in cooler boxes glistening with water droplets and a photograph of a man’s arm carrying a Bud Light bottle with part of his body visible in front of a bright blue sky.
This week, it also shared a photograph of two women in shorts and sandals heading to the beach while carrying a 24-can crate of Bud Light on Twitter alongside the caption ‘Summer Sunday made easy’.
Critics of the brand were quick to slam the ad, noting how the face of the foremost woman in the advert is obscured by the camera angle, while her outstretched arm hides the identity of her friend.