Edited by Liz
On March 30, Director of Marketing of Bud Light (Anheuser-Busch product), Alissa Heinerscheid did an interview on the “Make Yourself At Home” podcast. During the interview, Heinerscheid made comments about expanding the brand. “This brand is in decline,” Heinershceid said. She would later state in the interview that the brand needs to be more inclusive, “inclusivity, it means shifting the tone, it means having a campaign that’s truly inclusive, and feels lighter and brighter and different, and appeals to women and to men.”
Then on April 1, Bud Light released a marketing campaign with a trans influencer, Dylan Mulvaney.
This quickly created a problem with Bud Light drinkers on the political right and singer and vocal Trump supporter Kid Rock posted a video to twitter of him shooting cases of BudLight with a firearm.
Other users on social media posted how they would boycott the beer and company due to the recent marketing campaign. On April 7, twitter user, HillardFoster tweeted, “$800,000,000 loss in one day. Keep going destroy Anheuser-Bush.”
Matt Walsh, a conservative podcast host, tweeted on April 11 that Anheuser Busch lost $4 billion dollars due to the campaign with Mulvaney. Matt Walsh would later tweet how the boycott would make companies think twice before endorsing "trans ideology".
Kevin Sorbo an actor known for tweeting his political views, tweeted on April 12 claiming that Bud Light has lost $7 billion dollars, implying it was due to the conservative boycott.
Snopes.com fact checkers spoke to market analysts who explain that multiple factors could play into the dip in market value and that there is not necessarily a correlation.
This highlights a deeper culture war, some of which I talk about in my article analyzing claims made at this year's Conservative Political Action Conference. And that is the very culture war Anheuser-Busch is trying to stay away from, since it is a very polarizing and divisive in today's heated political and social environment.
On Friday, April 14, Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth released a statement on the company’s social media platforms. The statement isn’t necessarily a defense of the decision or an apology
The statement stated that the company “never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people”. Whitworth also talked about his “time serving this country” and how it taught him the importance of American values and how he and the company will be “listening to and learning from customers, distributors and others.” The statement didn’t do much to ease the minds of the conservatives who are boycotting the brand.
Collin Rugg, a conservative provocateur said on Twitter that, “Whtiworth failed to mention any regret for their marketing decisions…”
It is unclear if the company will disband the marketing campaign with Mulvaney
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