Bud Light’s decision to team with trans activist and comic Dylan Mulvaney appears to be getting worse by the day with news the brewer’s parent company, Anheuser-Busch InBev, has lost $A6 billion in market capitalisation in just six days as customers continue a boycott of the brand.
Bud Light is America’s biggest selling beer, with 14 per cent of the overall beer market.
Earlier this month, Bud Light entered into a partnership with Mulvaney, 27, who is currently on hormones to transition to a woman. The promotion included a $15,000 prize and a personalised beer can with Mulvaney’s face and a message on the top reading “Cheers to 365 Days of Being a Woman”, to commemorate a year since she began her gender transition.
The tie-in saw an immediate backlash from Bud drinkers who boycotted the brew, leading to sales in heartland areas such as the Midwest, the South, and rural areas of the US to fall to virtually zero. Sales across the board are down 70 per cent.
At the time, Bud Light’s vice president, Alissa Heinerscheid, defended the brand using Mulvaney saying the marketing was vital to attract female and younger drinkers otherwise “there will be no future for Bud Light”.
As the market closed yesterday, the Belgium-based Anheuser-Busch InBev’s stock was trading at roughly $63, a more than five percent decrease in its total share value. Currently at $US125.73 billion, the company’s market capitalisation six days ago stood at $US132.38 billion.
And it appears the brewers’ top brass are fast distancing themselves from the marketing disaster amid claims “no one at a senior level” was aware of the partnership that has dominated headlines.
According to media reports in the US, the decision to use Mulvaney was taken by a “low-level marketing staffer”.
However, that does appear to contradict Heinerscheid’s earlier comments, the VP boasting that she wanted to trade Bud’s “fratty” reputation for “inclusivity”.
Last week, Anheuser-Busch InBev issued a statement that suggested the C-suite had approved the decision to use Mulvaney.
The statement read: “Anheuser-Busch works with hundreds of influencers across our brands as one of many ways to authentically connect with audiences across various demographics,’ the rep said in a statement shared with several outlets last week.
It added: “From time to time, we produce unique commemorative cans for fans and for brand influencers, like Mulvaney. This commemorative can was a gift to celebrate a personal milestone and is not for sale to the general public.”
An outspoken critic of the Bud Light decision has been conservative commentator and Fox News contributor, Marc Thiessen.
In recent days, Thiessen has publicly lambasted Heinerscheid, calling her “a beer salesman… The job of a marketing manager at Budweiser is to sell Budweiser.”
Thiessen noted that diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) management is now the second-fastest growing job in America, according to LinkedIn.
“That means that every major company in America is hiring a political commissar whose job is to promote inclusivity and push down the people who would say, ‘this might be a dumb idea,’” Thiessen added.
He argued that many young people were now taking corporate diversity, equity and inclusion roles because they wanted to do social justice work while still pocketing a large corporate salary.
“They don’t want social justice organisation salaries,” he said. “Quit your job, take a pay cut and go work for social justice if that’s what you want. Otherwise, sell beer.”
