Bud Light distributors in rural areas 'spooked' by Dylan Mulvaney backlash
Beer Business Daily publisher Harry Schuhmacher told Fox News Digital that this is the 'biggest controversy' he has seen.
Backlash to Bud Light’s celebration of transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney’s "365 Days of Girlhood" doesn’t appear to be dwindling.
"This boycott seems to have more legs than most," Justin Kendall, editor of beer industry trade publication Brewbound, told the New York Post.
"It started out as a conversation on social media and has breached into mainstream media," Kendall said. "Bud Light is the best-selling beer in the country."
The trans activist revealed earlier this month that the beer company sent packs of Bud Light featuring the influencer’s face as a way to celebrate a full year of "girlhood" that Mulvaney recently reached. Mulvaney said the cans were her "most prized possession" on Instagram with a post featuring "#budlightpartner."
Anheuser-Busch set social media ablaze when beer juggernaut Bud Light celebrated transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney’s "365 Days of Girlhood" with a polarizing promotion. (Instagram)
A video then featured Mulvaney in a bathtub drinking a Bud Light beer as part of the campaign, but the pact was met with significant criticism. Country music singer John Rich said he pulled cases of Bud Light from his Nashville bar as part of a boycott against Anheuser-Busch; conservative rocker Kid Rock used several Bud Light cases for target practice in a viral video; and there has been widespread backlash on social media.
"Now the King of Beers is paying homage to the newest cultural zeitgeist by paying trans activist Dylan Mulvaney to prod grown men into dressing like Audrey Hepburn while drinking beer. For a drink that was once a blue-collar staple of middle America, this isn’t a winning sales strategy. It’s a way for the CEO to signal his virtue while alienating a customer base that is too afraid to say so out loud," GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy wrote in a Fox News Digital opinion piece.
Bud Light vice president of marketing Alissa Heinerscheid did an interview with the podcast "Make Yourself at Home" prior to the Mulvaney controversy on March 30, where she discussed her work in transforming the Bud Light brand. Heinerscheid said she had a "super clear" mandate "to evolve and elevate this incredibly iconic brand," even disparaging Bud Light’s past branding.
A picture of the commemorative Bud Light can featuring TikTok influencer Dylan Mulvaney. (Dylan Mulvaney/Instagram)
BUD LIGHT’S PACT WITH TRANS ACTIVIST DYLAN MULVANEY SPARKS OUTRAGE, PRAISE
"We had this hangover, I mean, Bud Light had been kind of a brand of fratty, kind of out-of-touch humor, and it was really important that we had another approach," she said.
Branding expert Michael Stone, chairman of New York-based branding firm Beanstalk Group, didn’t think Heinerscheid did the company any favors.
"She didn’t need to go that far and trash the prior campaigns," Stone told the Post. "She could have said we are moving on to reach the demographic we want to reach and to communicate a different message."
Beer Business Daily editor and publisher Harry Schuhmacher wrote earlier this week that Anheuser-Busch distributors in rural areas are "spooked" over the backlash.
"This is probably the biggest controversy we've seen in a long time," Schuhmacher told Fox News Digital. "There was a little bit of worry, especially in the South and the Midwest and especially in rural areas where retailers were reporting the, you know, their customers weren't happy with Bud Light and some retailers themselves weren't happy with Bud Light."
BUD LIGHT PARTNERS WITH TRANS ACTIVIST DYLAN MULVANEY FOR MARCH MADNESS: 'THIS ISN'T A PARODY'
Schuhmacher said concerns grew as the controversy remained in the zeitgeist through Easter weekend, noting that the impacted distributors rely on Bud Light.
"Those distributors also tend to be smaller and more reliant on the Anheuser-Busch brands to pay their bills. And so, yeah, there is some concern about it," Schuhmacher said.
The beer company defended the partnership.
"Anheuser-Busch works with hundreds of influencers across our brands as one of many ways to authentically connect with audiences across various demographics. From time to time we produce unique commemorative cans for fans and for brand influencers, like Dylan Mulvaney. This commemorative can was a gift to celebrate a personal milestone and is not for sale to the general public," an Anheuser-Busch spokesperson told Fox News.
Fox News’ Alexander Hall contributed to this report.