Bud Light’s parent, Anheuser-Busch, continues to ramp up the company’s manliness credentials following the ongoing Dylan Mulvaney trans fiasco that continues to devastate the global brewer.
Fresh from giving Bud Light a machismo makeover last week when the brand released a camouflage bottle in support of war veterans (read B&T’s reporting HERE), the latest idea from its struggling marketing team sees another brew in the Anheuser-Busch stable, Budweiser, in a collab with arguably the most masculine thing ever to come out of the USA – Harley-Davidson.
It follows yesterday’s news (read that HERE) that stock market analysts believe the Bud Light brand is “mortally crippled” and “there is a subset of American consumers who will not drink a Bud Light for the foreseeable future”.
The Harley partnership sees Budweiser cans emblazoned with the bike brand’s iconic logo and features the slogan ‘Kings of our Craft’ and the words ‘brewed and built in the USA’. There’s also an all-American TVC that you can watch below:
However, such is Anheuser-Busch’s luck at the moment, the new Harley promo has appeared to have backfired with the very people it was supposed to be engaging with – riders of Harley-Davidson motorcycles.
Taking to Twitter to vent their anger, one person raged: “After the trans can fallout, Budweiser is set to pump some testosterone back into its [products] by rolling out a Harley Davidson can for Budweiser…I ain’t falling for it!”
Another said: “Harley Davidson, you are an American icon. So was Bud Light. Anheuser Busch badly misread their consumer brand, and are paying the price. AB is going down. Now you have partnered with the people who betrayed their base. You may wish to reconsider this decision.”
Another quipped: “Budweiser announces its partnership with Harley Davidson for it’s new beer cans in a last ditch effort to save the company after going woke! You really can’t make this up.”
While Space Weasel said: “I am a Harley Rider and I always prefer Miller Draught. Budweiser is DEAD. If Miller goes Woke, it will be Sam Adams. Get Woke, Go Broke!”
However, not everyone hated the idea, with the latest marketing stunt finding some support from Budweiser drinkers.
“Love it,” wrote one on Budweiser’s original Instagram post. “The king Budweiser and Harley-Davidson. Hell yeah!!! I ride a Street Glide.”
Another added: “I’m gonna need you to send me some of these.”
While another was simply confused about all the brand boycotts at present.
“How many American companies have the crazy right told us to boycott now? Harley Davidson, Goodyear, Budweiser, UPS, Coca Cola, MLB, NFL and NBA etc etc etc. So much for American first. What a joke of [a] party the GOP is,” they wrote.
