Anheuser-Busch's Bud Light Debacle: Go Woke, Go Broke!

[maybetoday]

Anheuser-Busch Plans Free Case of Beer for Distributors After In-Store Sales Fall 26 Percent

ELAINE MALLON
4 May 2023

Anheuser-Busch is sending its distributors a free case of beer after sales plummeted following the beer company’s social media partnership with transgender TikTok star Dylan Mulvaney.



The Wall Street Journal’s Jennifer Maloney reported:



Anheuser-Busch InBev… the country’s largest brewer, has pledged to boost its marketing spending on Bud Light, accelerate production of a new slate of ads, and give a case of Bud Light to every employee of an Anheuser-Busch wholesaler, distributors said.





Bud Light’s in-store sales from April 16-22 fell 26% after the company’s marketing team sent the “Days of Girlhood” creator Bud Light cans featuring his face in celebration of the 26-year-old’s 365th day of “girlhood,” as reported by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.



The cans sent to Mulvaney were never intended for retail sale, and were created by a third-party ad agency, according to a Facebook post by Del Papa Distributing, which the Journal noted is a Texas-based Anheuser-Busch distributor.



Not only have independently owned distributers said they suffered a loss in sales, but their employees have also been confronted by angry people in public, as the Journal reported.


Vice President of Marketing for Del Papa Distributing, Jeff Wheeler, told the publication that his staff dealt with “tons of phone calls from people being very hateful.”


“It sent shock waves through distributors,” Wheeler said.



In the Facebook post, Del Papa Distributing president Larry Del Papa said, “We too are upset with this situation and have been vocal about it with the top leadership at Anheuser Busch.”



The decision of vice president of marketing for Bud Light, Alissa Heinerscheid, to partner with Mulvaney and move away from the brand’s “fratty, sort of out of touch humor” cost the company $5 million in value. She has since taken a leave of absence, Breitbart News reported. I think they meant billion, and I heard it was $8 billion.


The “Days of Girlhood” content creator has appeared just about everywhere and was even invited to speak with President Joe Biden about “trans issues” last October.



While Anheuser-Busch may be distancing itself from Mulvaney, Nike has doubled down on its support for the TikTok star, who is now promoting the brand’s sports bras.

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[Midnight]

Bud Light CEO Says Economic ‘Outlook Is Unchanged’ Amid Boycott
NEIL MUNRO



Bud Light’s CEO is shrugging off the massive consumer boycott that has slashed beer sales by one quarter since the company’s marketing managers embraced transgender advocate Dylan Mulvaney.



“We believe we have the experience, the resources, and the partners to manage this,” Anheuser-Busch CEO Michel Doukeris said in a routine call with stock market analysts on Thursday.



“Our four-year [economic] growth outlook is unchanged,” said Doukeris, a Brazilian businessman who runs AB InBev, the multinational company that owns Bud Light and many other beer brands.



But Doukeris is also working hard to extract his brand from the debate without alienating drinkers or political activists.



He told the analysts:



Let’s talk about our consumers. We continue to be committed to the programs and partnerships that we have forged over decades for consumers and for organizations that represent a wide range of communities where we operate. We work every day to delight our consumers and brings people together. When we do this well, our brands perform ….



While beer will always be at the table when important topics are debated, the beer itself should not be the focus of the debate.



But Light is about to being easy to drink and being easy to enjoy. That’s what consumers want and that’s what we are focused on delivering.



The company has already taken some practical steps to stop the bleeding. It has sidelined the managers who hired the pro-transgender advocates, given free cases of beer to employees in its network of distributors, promised more ad funding, and released a Bud Light ad that is entirely free of transgender advocacy. The ad’s comments are also disabled to mute more criticism from consumers.

But the company has not taken any steps to disavow the aggressive transgender ideology that was touted by its now-disgraded marketing managers.



That is a difficult task because the transgender ideology has many powerful friends in the White House and in the various agencies that could cause many problems for the multinational beverage firm.



The transgender groups are already threatening the company for not continuing to embrace Mulvaney.



“It is absolutely critical for Anheuser-Busch to stand in solidarity with Dylan and the trans community,” said an April 26 letter from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, adding:



However, when faced with anti-LGBTQ+ and transphobic criticism, Anheuser-Busch’s actions demonstrate a profound lack of fortitude in upholding its values of diversity, equity, and inclusion to employees, customers, shareholders and the LGBTQ+ community …



This not only lends credence to hate-filled rhetoric, it exposes Anheuser-Busch to long-term business impacts with employees and customers increasingly looking for steadfast commitment to LGBTQ+ corporate citizenships.



But the public boycott is well established — and is likely reinforced when public displays of transgenderism remind consumers of the Mulvaney embrace.



“We haven’t been seeing a drop in sales overall, but But Light sales are way down,” Keith Brancato, a manager at Myrna’s Brewery Outlet in New Kensington, Pa., told TribLive.com, adding:



“Jim Stunja of Beer, Bets & Butts in North Huntingdon … some customers have come into the business armed with a list of products to avoid buying.



“They go down the list and say, ‘Anheuser-Busch owns this,’ and then they buy stuff that Anheuser-Busch doesn’t own.”







On May 2, the Wall Street Journal spotlighted part of the dilemma facing Bud Light’s array of complaining beer distributors:



“They didn’t need to take this risk,” one distributor said, adding that he was worried the brand might now swing back in the other direction. “I lost my cowboy bars and now I could lose my gay bars, too.”



Self-proclaimed transgender people comprise less than one percent of the American population, although there is a growing number of Americans who classify themselves as” non-binary” or “queer.”



Gays and lesbians are not transgender, and they comprise perhaps three percent of the population.



Mulvaney’s transgender ideology says governments should arrest people who deny transgender claims and also forcefully suppress the civic and legal recognition of the complementary differences between the two sexes. The authoritarian agenda threatens Americans’ physical health, youthful development, mental health, sciences, and satisfaction in life.

It also seeks to destroy the many single-sex institutions and activities — such as sports, bathrooms, and clubs — that help men and women, gays and lesbians, and young girls and teenagers simultaneously compete and cooperate in a chaotic democracy. The ideology also distracts American citizens and legislators from dealing with damaging civic trends such as declining education scores, rising migration, and slowing innovation.



The ideology also drags many adherents into a lifetime of romantic rejection. That may remain a problem for Mulvaney, who formerly described himself as a gay “theater kid.”



Transgenderism is so toxic to many Americans that 50 percent of middle-income earners are less likely to buy Bud Light beer, according to a Rasmussen poll of 1,041 adults, released on April 18. Roughly one-third of people in each income group say they “strongly support” the boycott, said the poll.

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[Midnight]

‘Just One Single Can’: Anheuser-Busch Distances from Mulvaney Scandal



ELAINE MALLON
4 May 2023

Anheuser-Busch sent a letter to wholesalers addressing the controversy surrounding Bud Light’s collaboration with transgender TikTok personality Dylan Mulvaney.



The letter, first reported by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Daniel Neman, comes a month after Mulvaney posted a TikTok video celebrating his 365 day of “being a woman” with a Bud Light can that featured his face. Mulvaney posted other videos posing with the beverage, including one of him splashing around in a foamy bubble bath with a tower of Bud Light in the background.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CqgTftujqZc

A post shared by Dylan Mulvaney (@dylanmulvaney)



Neman wrote:



A-B’s letter was forwarded to retailers, bars and restaurants by Grey Eagle, a Fenton-based company that distributes Anheuser-Busch products to a 14-county region around St. Louis. Grey Eagle does not distribute to the city of St. Louis, Jefferson County and parts of Washington and Iron counties.



“This was one single can given to one social media influencer,” the letter states. “It was not made for production or sale to the general public. This can is not a formal campaign or advertisement.”



In a cover letter associated with the note to wholesalers, Grey Eagle stated, “Anheuser-Busch did not intend to create controversy or make a political statement.”

However, news of the partnership lead to widespread videos of Americans destroying Bud Light cases and cans, echoing the mantra, “Go Woke, Go Broke.” The company suffered a market value loss of more than $6 billion in the days after the promotional partnership, Breitbart News reported.


The can branding had been done through an outside marketing agency without the approval of higher management, according to Grey Eagle.



In the aftermath of the marketing decision, Vice President of Marketing Alissa Heinerscheid took a leave of absence and Todd Allen — formerly the global president of Budweiser — has since been named the new vice president of marketing for Bud Light as Breitbart News noted.

The St. Louis based brewery was bought out in 2009 by Belgian-based InBev. The change in ownership led to a dip in marketing as the foreign-born markets were not privy to American culture, Robert Lachky, the former chief creative officer at Anheuser-Busch, told the Post-Dispatch.



Lachky said it doesn’t look like the company, with their now all-American marketing, has any clue about their customer base.

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[maybetoday]

"Bud Light Will Be Extinct In A Few Years Because They Disavowed Dylan Mulvaney’ Claims Activist

David Hawkins
May 5, 2023 - 4:17 pm


The hits keep coming for Bud Light and the brand is running out of places to hide. After the disastrous marketing post with Dylan Mulvaney tanked sales of the beer across the heartland, the CEO of Anheuser-Busch, Michel Doukeris, disavowed Dylan.



But that has pissed off the LGBTQ community. Multiple bars in Chicago launched a boycott of the brand and the company and now some New York City gayu bars are mounting a boycott of their own.



Stacey Lentz, co-owner of New York City’s historic gay and lesbian landmark Stonewall Inn, said the brewery “missed an opportunity to stand by their commitment to the trans community by pandering to and giving into transphobic outcries.



“As far as marketing, I hope and think they realized that as a brand they will be extinct in a few years if they are not fully on the side of equality, as that is what the Gen Z consumer expects and demands.”



Lentz also defended Mulvaney saying “this whole thing was not handled well and she was caught in the middle of a horrible fire storm.”



John Casey, editor of the LGBTQ magazine Advocate, called for a boycott of Bud Light for “validating trans hate.”



“Rather than come to the defense of a transgender woman, rather than defend a noble campaign that sought to reflect acceptance, and rather than let the campaign with Mulvaney speak for itself, Anheuser-Busch poured alcohol all over an extremist’s fire, and that will continue to singe our community,” Casey said.



The CEO of Anheuser-Busch finally disowned the Mulvaney stunt telling investors it was ‘not a campaign’ but rather it was ‘just one can.’



Michael Doukeris said:



“We need to clarify the facts that this was one can, one influencer, one post and not a campaign. We believe we have the experience, the resources and the partners to manage this. And our four-year growth outlook is unchanged.



“We want to reiterate our support for our wholesaler partners and everyone who brings our great beers to the market. I can tell you that we have the agility, resources and people to support the U.S. team and move forward.



“We will continue to learn, meet the moment in time, all be stronger and we work tirelessly to do what we do best: Bring people together over a beer and creating a future of more cheers.”

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[ExquisiteGerbil]

Anheuser-Busch DISAVOWS entire Dylan Mulvaney Bud Light campaign in letter to retailers

Michel Doukeris addressed the mass backlash over working with trans influencer Mulvaney, 26, for the first time in an earnings call with investors.



By Emma James


The CEO of Anheuser-Busch has unceremoniously disowned the disastrous Dylan Mulvaney stunt – insisting it was 'not a campaign' as a letter to retailers says it was 'just one can'.



Global boss Michel Doukeris addressed the mass backlash over working with trans influencer Mulvaney, 26, for the first time in an earnings call with investors on Thursday.



Doukeris told investors there is 'misinformation' spreading on social media about the company's team-up with Mulvaney, according to Fox Business.



He added that the company is 'providing direct financial support' to the frontline workers impacted by the boycott.



Doukeris said: 'We need to clarify the facts that this was one camp, one influencer, one post and not a campaign.



'We will continue to learn, meet the moment in time, all be stronger and we work tirelessly to do what we do best: Bring people together over a beer and creating a future of more cheers.'



Investors were also told by Doukeris that Bud Light will triple its marketing spend this summer in a bid to woo customers back to the tarnished brand.



The disastrous marketing bid has seen sales for the American flagship beer plummet 26 percent, despite Anheuser-Busch reporting first-quarter earnings of $1.65billion.



Michel Doukeris addressed the mass backlash over working with trans influencer Mulvaney, 26, for the first time in an earnings call with investors on Thursday



Michel Doukeris addressed the mass backlash over working with trans influencer Mulvaney, 26, for the first time in an earnings call with investors on Thursday



In a letter to major retailers, the brewing giant addressed the backlash in detail for the first time after they were hit with a major dip in Bud Light sales following the paid partnership



In a letter to major retailers, the brewing giant addressed the backlash in detail for the first time after they were hit with a major dip in Bud Light sales following the paid partnership



Doukeris' comments came as a letter was sent to retailers, bars and restaurants by Grey Eagle – which distributes Anheuser-Busch products around St Louis.



It read: 'Anheuser-Busch did not intend to create controversy or make a political statement.



'In reality, the Bud Light can posted by a social media influencer that sparked all the conversation was provided by an outside agency without Anheuser-Busch management awareness or approval.



'Since that time, the lack of oversight and control over marketing decisions has been addressed and a new VP of Bud Light marketing has been announced.'



Bud Light's VP of marketing, Alissa Heinerscheid, took a leave of absence while the VP for Mainstream Brand, Daniel Blake, stepped down some days after.



Their sudden departure appears premature in light of the recent comments, which also claim there was no 'management awareness' of the now-infamous campaign.



The specifics of how the can fiasco erupted remain under wraps. The latest letter claims the Mulvaney can was the brainchild of an outside agency.



It is the first time the brewing giant has addressed the backlash in detail, after they were hit with a major dip in Bud Light sales following the paid partnership.



Anheuser-Busch put two of their most senior members of the marketing team behind the campaign on leave. Pictured: Alissa Heinerscheid



Anheuser-Busch put two of their most senior members of the marketing team behind the campaign on leave. Pictured: Alissa Heinerscheid



Despite their attempts to disavow the connection, the video Mulvaney posted of herself drinking Bud Light at the start of April 2023 used the hashtag #budlightpartner



Despite their attempts to disavow the connection, the video Mulvaney posted of herself drinking Bud Light at the start of April 2023 used the hashtag #budlightpartner



The defiant rebuttal against the 'unofficial' campaign comes as Anheuser-Bush reported first-quarter earnings of $1.65billion, which topped Wall Street expectations.



The brewer posted revenue of $14.21 billion in the period, which also beat forecasts, with the shares rising 6 percent since the beginning of the year and 12 percent in 12 months.



It's unclear if the boycott had any impact on these figures, and whether a larger impact on the firm's finances will be visible for the second quarter of the financial year if the controversy and boycotts rumble on.



Despite the company's attempts to disavow the connection, the video Mulvaney, 26, posted of herself drinking Bud Light at the start of April 2023 used the hashtag #budlightpartner.



It implies that she was paid for the partnership, despite the brewing giants now claiming that the beer can and social media posts were not meant to be 'for production or sale to the general public.



Todd Allen, most recently the global vice president of Budweiser, has been announced as the new vice president of marketing for Bud Light – after Heinerscheid and Blake took a leave of absence.



Mulvany posted the content to coincide with the NCAA March Madness tournament, before joking she didn't know what sport she was promoting.



It implies that she was paid for the partnership, despite the brewing giants now claiming that the beer can and social media posts were not meant to be 'for production or sale to the general public



It implies that she was paid for the partnership, despite the brewing giants now claiming that the beer can and social media posts were not meant to be 'for production or sale to the general public.


Continued at link

[Midnight]

[ExquisiteGerbil]

Bud Light Doomed as Gay Bars Launch Boycott after CEO Disavowed Dylan Mulvaney

David Hawkins
May 5, 2023 - 3:47 pm




Several Chicago gay bars announced Friday that they are boycotting Bud Light and will no longer be selling Anheuser-Busch beverages.



The move comes in response to the company disavowing transgender Dylan Mulvaney.



As Slay News reported, Anheuser-Busch CEO Michel Doukeris finally tried to distance the company from the disastrous Mulvaney stunt, telling investors it was “not a campaign”



Doukeris argues that Bud Light’s partnership with Mulavey was just “one can” and insists that the brand can “move forward.”



The message from Doukeris comes as Anheuser-Busch is being pummeled by nationwide boycotts of all its products.



However, the move to cut ties with Mulvaney has now backfired with the “woke” demographic that Bud Light’s self-implosive campaign was meant to appeal to.



Sidetrack Bar, in Chicago’s Boystown neighborhood, posted a message to their Instagram account: “In response to actions and statements taken by Anheuser-Busch which strongly bring into question their support of the LGBTQ+ community, Sidetrack will cease selling Bud, Bud Light and 312.



“For 41 years, Sidetrack has encouraged liquor and beer companies that have wished to garner the LGBTQ+ customer base to actively support our community.



“For many years, there were very few companies that were willing to risk this sort of exposure.



“We must hold brands accountable if they take active steps against LGBTQ+ equality, visibility, and safety.



“Bud Light’s recent decision to drop the Dylan Mulvany campaign, to put on ‘leave’ those who created it, as well as the statement by its CEO, wrongfully validates the position that it is acceptable to acquis to the demands of the whose who do not support the Trans Community and wish to erase LGBTQ+ visibility.



“Until Anheuser-Busch can clearly demonstrate that they will not acquiesce to the voice of hate that wishes to erase LGBTQ+ existence, Sidetrack will continue to boycott their products.”



Another gay bar chain, 2Bears Tavern Group, also joined the boycott.



The company owns 2Bears Tavern, The Sofo Tap, Meeting House Tavern, and Jackhammer.


2Bears Tavern Group issued a statement that said:



“In view of Anheuser-Busch InBev’s abandonment of its support of transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney, the subsequent reprehensible and divisive comments by its CEO, 2Bears Tavern Group is discontinuing all Anheuser-Busch InBev products including Busch Light, Bud Light, and Goose Island 312.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cr1LcEDN-fQ

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[schwartzie]

Anheuser-Busch CEO Still Not Getting It as He Blames Social Media 'Misinformation' for Bud Light Boycott



By Bryan Chai

May 8, 2023 at 12:13pm


Anheuser-Busch CEO Michel Doukeris is doubling down on a grossly lacking explanation for why his once-mighty Bud Light brand is languishing.



In an interview with the Financial Times, Doukeris repeated a peculiar phrase when explaining why Bud Light sales have cratered and public sentiment is at an all-time low — “misinformation.”



If that “misinformation” excuse sounds at all familiar to you, that’s because Doukeris echoed that exact word when explaining to investors on an earnings call last week why the brand was so damaged.



“We need to clarify the facts that this was one can, one influencer, one post and not a campaign,” Doukeris told investors on that call.



According to Doukeris on that call, some of the “misinformation” being bandied about was that Bud Light and transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney were working closer together than they actually were.



Doukeris regurgitated that talking point with the Times.



“We never intended to make it for general production and sale for the public,” Doukeris said of the Bud Light can emblazoned with Mulvaney’s “womanface” on it that sparked this whole controversy.



Doukeris again mentioned “misinformation and confusion” as to why people were livid with the beer brand.


“People often talk about this topic in social media like noise,” Doukeris told the Times. “You have one fact, and every person puts an opinion behind the fact. And then the opinions start to be replicated fast on each and every comment. By the time that 10 or 20 people put a comment out there, the reality is no longer what the fact is, but is more [about] what the comments were.”



That’s … one way to look at it.



Ironically enough, Doukeris actually does tug a bit at the heart of the issue with his flimsy excuse-making.



You do have one fact (men are men, and women are women) that leftists insist on putting their opinion behind.



But that’s clearly not what Doukeris was getting at, given that Doukeris once again reiterated: “It was not : It was one post. It was not an advertisement.”



First of all, it was more than one post. There are several videos going around that showcase Mulvaney promoting Bud Light, including one where he’s in a tub.


Second of all … could Doukeris miss the point of these boycotts any worse?



These boycotts were not specifically about whatever capacity that Bud Light was working with Mulvaney.



These boycotts were a direct response to overreaching corporate leftism, sure, but it’s also a direct response to the left’s assault on truth and God’s natural order of creation.



Americans across the country are sick and tired of being sick and tired with being inundated with leftist nonsense that claims up is down and men can become women with little more than makeup and mutilation.



It’s not just about what Bud Light did; it’s about what they’re tacitly giving credence to.



And that’s a problem that no slick slogan, roster shake-ups, or never-ending PR campaigns can fix.



Bud Light has shown that it cares little for truth.



Now, the people who care for truth care even less about Bud Light — and it’s got nothing to do with “misinformation.”

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[Midnight]

THE NUMBERS ARE IN: Bud Light Hit with Devastating News on April Sales – Trump-Friendly Beer Company Sees Massive Surge

By Cullen Linebarger
May. 9, 2023 6:10 pm




The Bud Light boycott is having epic results. Not only are sales cratering, but a Trump-friendly beer company is benefitting at their expense.



The Gateway Pundit previously reported the crisis for Bud Light has become so severe that Costco is practically giving the product away.



Instead of apologizing for insulting their customers, executives such Anheuser-Busch CEO Michel Doukeris think throwing money at the problem will cause former patrons to eventually forget and come back.



Beer Business Daily on Monday shared the overall domestic beer sales numbers. The news was not pretty for Anheuser-Busch, Bud Light’s parent company.


The April scan numbers are hot off the press from NIQ. All numbers for the four weeks ending April 29. As a benchmark, total beer volumes were down 3.2%, with dollars up 1.8%.

Overall, Anheuser-Busch was down 12.5 percent just four weeks after Bud Light decided to shoved Mulvaney in America’s face. Bud Light’s sales alone plummeted a whopping 21.4% while Budweiser fell 11.5%.



Other results included Coors Light sales surging by 10.9% and Miller Lite up 12.8%.



But arguably the most notable positive news was from Yuengling, America’s largest and oldest brewer. The company saw its sales surge by a massive 14.7%.



This one tweet explains the reason for divergence in sales between Bud Light and Yuengling. Look at the pro-American patriotism.

Moreover, Yuengling can be considered Trump friendly. Yuengling was actually boycotted by far-left LGBTQ groups in 2016 after its CEO endorsed then-candidate Donald Trump’s run for president.



CEO Richard Yuengling Jr. announced his support for Trump during a conversation with Eric Trump.



Our guys are behind your father. We need him in the White House.



Anheuser-Busch would be wise to learn from Yuengling and call an audible immediately. If not, perhaps they will simply shut up regarding politics and try to sell whatever remaining beer they have left.

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[ExquisiteGerbil]

Bud Light’s Ties to World Economic Forum Emerge

Frank Bergman
May 10, 2023 - 12:57 pm


Bud Light’s parent company Anheuser-Busch has partnered with the World Economic Forum (WEF) to push the radical agenda of Klaus Schwab’s globalist organization.



A new report has revealed that Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (AB InBev) teamed up with the WEF to push globalist guidelines for environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing, as well as woke diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies.



As Slay News has previously reported, corporate America has been engulfed in controversial ESG guidelines.



ESG guidelines pressure companies to follow far-left “woke” policies and have been panned by many.



Twitter boss Elon Musk recently warned that ESG is “Satanic.”



According to the Daily Wire, Anheuser-Busch’s adherence to the WEF’s agenda was wide-ranging and included open promotion of climate change, censorship, and other radical leftist talking points.



“One might think that Bud Light could just apologize and admit that men aren’t women,” said podcast host Michael Knowles in a lengthy Twitter thread.



“But no matter how much Bud Light and parent company AB InBev might wish to rein in the radicalism, they can’t abandon the agenda.



“They’re mired in World Economic Forum/ESG gobbledygook.”



The Belgian company purchased Budweiser for $52 billion in 2008, making the company beholden to ESG and DEI policies.



AB InBev offered to pay for employees’ sex change surgeries in the U.S. and Canada and provided “financial and legal support” for employees in Brazil and Columbia.



The conglomerate also contributed to “family-forming” options for gay couples, such as “two men buying the eggs & womb of a woman to intentionally remove a baby from its mother at birth.”



AB InBev also required suppliers and buyers of their products to adhere to their diversity principles, claiming DEI should touch “upon all functions, including sales, supply chain, marketing, and others.”



The WEF’s commitment to censorship was also present in InBev’s company structure.



The company actively took part in the Global Alliance for Responsible Media, a group that demands companies have “standards that limit or entirely demonetize platforms that contain ‘hate speech’ on ‘gender identity,’ insensitive… treatment of debated social issues,’ or the classic ‘misinformation.’”


Several other large-scale corporations follow WEF/GARMs guidelines, including:



Adidas

BP

CVS

Goldman Sachs

Lego

Mastercard

McDonald’s

Merck

Nike

Proctor & Gamble

Hershey

Disney

Unilever

Walmart.

GARM’s fight against “misinformation” was introduced “in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine war.”



The organization controls advertising money via big tech platforms such as YouTube and TikTok, which limit or completely demonetize partisan political content.



“Don’t look away,” Knowles said.



“If we don’t put an end to this growing scheme of control and deceit, Bud Light’s inability to apologize and admit that men can’t be women will be the least of our problems.”

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[Midnight]

Man Behind Iconic Bud Light Ads Blasts Company for Destroying ’20 Years’ of Work: ‘Took Them One Week to Dismantle It’

David Hawkins
May 10, 2023 - 3:20 pm


Robert Lachky is the former chief creative officer at Bud Light’s parent company Anheuser-Busch.



Lachky was behind the iconic Bud Light ads that helped propel the brand to the number-one-selling beer in America.



He worked on the famous “Whassup?!” ads and the “Bud-Weis-Er” frogs campaigns.



Lachky is also credited for the iconic Clydesdale ads of the 1990s and 2000s.



He was also behind the “Real Men of Genius” campaigns which received more awards than any other campaign.



“It’s self-inflicted,” Lachky said of Anheuser-Busch imploding after Bud Light’s campaign featuring transgender Dylan Mulvaney.



“It’s a complete lack of corporate oversight, and it’s been that way since InBev took the company over.



“Effectively, it took us 20 years to take Bud Light beer to the No. 1 beer in the country, and it took them one week to dismantle it.

Perry Drake, who teaches marketing at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, said:



“I think it was executed really badly.



“They broke one of the rules of influencer marketing, and that is to make sure your influencer aligns with your customer segment.



“If you want to work with the LGBTQ community, there are ways to do that.



“You could release rainbow-colored cans during Pride Week, and (customers) could buy them or not, as they choose.



“It’s Marketing 101, as far as I’m concerned.


“In the long term, I think it will be forgotten,” he said.



“It will just be something that will show up when you Google ‘the 10 worst marketing campaigns ever’.”



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[Berean]

Bud Light Sales Still PLUNGING Across the Entire US – Down 29% in Rocky Mountain States – HSBC Downgrades Anheuser-Busch Stock!

By Jim Hoft
May. 11, 2023 9:30 am




Bud Light sales are down across the US – FOX Business Network



This is a marketing nightmare!


Bud Light sales are down significantly ACROSS the entire United States following their decision to sponsor trans-flake Dylan Mulvaney as product spokesperson.



The top advertising Bud Light Vice-President of Marketing Alissa Heinerscheid bragged about reviving the beer brand by trashing its “frattie” consumers and pushing trans dogma on traditiional beer drinkers.



The trans campaign has cost Bud Light sales to collapse. The brand is down double-digits across the US. In Rocky Mountain states sales are down 29%!



According to NBC, HSBC downgraded Anheuser-Busch InBev stock on Wednesday to hold saying there are “deeper problems than ABI admits” after a recent social media partnership in April between the Bud Light brand and Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender influencer, resulted in a wave of backlash.


This is turning out to be one of the worst marketing campaigns in history.



Via Varney and Co.

rumble.com/v2n8yx8-bud-light-sales-still-plunging-across-the-entire-us-down-29-in-rocky-mounta.html


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[ExquisiteGerbil]

Anheuser-Busch to Produce Bud Light Bottles With Camo Print in Desperate Attempt to Recover From Dylan Mulvaney Disaster

By Mike LaChance
May. 16, 2023 9:20 pm




Anheuser-Busch is desperate to get past their Dylan Mulvaney controversy. Memorial Day is coming and with it, the summer beer-drinking season. Their sales are still crashing across the country.



Their latest attempt to court back the customers they insulted is a line of bottles featuring a camouflage design.



Unfortunately for them, this is probably not going to make much of a difference. In fact, it looks like pandering.



The New York Post reported:


Bud Light, Budweiser packaging to get redesign over Dylan Mulvaney crisis: source



Anheuser-Busch plans to temporarily redesign some of its Bud Light and Budweiser packaging as it scrambles to recover from the Dylan Mulvaney fiasco, The Post has learned.



Last week, the company held a meeting at its US headquarters in St. Louis with distributors to discuss its strategy for dealing with the backlash, according to sources briefed on the situation.



Among the new initiatives planned is a temporary redesign of its Budweiser and Bud Light aluminum bottles, according to a distributor who did not want to be identified.



Anheuser-Busch will produce bottles with a camouflage print and images of the “Folds of Honor” program, which provides educational scholarships for children and spouses of fallen and disabled American military service members and first responders, according to the executive.



“It’s an aluminum bottle,” the source told The Post, asking not to be named. “I believe it is the only package that will be transitioning, but I am not 100% certain on that.”



Yuengling Beer already did this and it worked because it didn’t look like they were just trying to recover from a bad marketing decision.

Again, for Bud, this looks like pandering.

Bud Light made a huge mistake and they are not likely to recover any time soon.



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[ExquisiteGerbil]

Get Woke, Go Broke: Illinois/Wisconsin Grocery Chain Practically Giving Away Budweiser and Bud Light! 
By Brian Lupo
May. 18, 2023 10:45 am


After Tik-Tok “star” Dylan Mulvaney’s recent promotion of Anheuser Busch, sales across the country absolutely plummeted. Calls for boycott have resounded throughout the nation. The Gateway Pundit reported last week that AB InBev sales were falling off by double digits in every region of the US, piquing PEAKING (and this guy calls himself a journalist?) in the Rocky Mountain region at a 29% fall. This boycott not only annihilated Bud Light sales, other AB InBev brands fell including Budweiser, Natural Light, and Busch. Consecutively, sales in Miller and Coors beers rose by comparable margins.







The fallout wasn’t limited to American conservatives: a string of gay bars in Illinois also cancelled their orders for the AB InBev product line as a protest to the tailing support of the LGBT community, putting AB InBev between a rock and a hard place.



Now, a chain of grocery stores in Illinois and Wisconsin are literally giving away Bud Light and Budweiser. The mid-west grocery chain is offering cases, yes, cases of Bud Light for $0.99. Normal retail is $15.99. Other beer brands are priced at their normal price in the chains weekly ad distribution. The Berkot Foods grocery stores operate 17 stores in Illinois and Wisconsin.

Go Woke, Go Broke

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[schwartzie]

Yeah, that won't backfire like their Bud Light ad campaign did! 🤣 The stupid fools never learn!  


Anheuser-Busch Vows to Purge White Male Employees

Frank Bergman
May 21, 2023 - 6:31 pm


^^^^^^^^^ Anybody notice anything about this guy, who's the current CEO? Will he be the first to resign?  I can't stop laughing at the stupidity! 


Bud Light’s parent company Anheuser-Busch has vowed to purge white male employees in an effort to become “more diverse and inclusive.”



Footage found on the company’s website shows executives making the “woke” pledge.



The news comes as Anheuser-Busch (AB InBev) is battling to stay afloat after seeing its sales collapse since the disastrous Dylan Mulvaney advertisement campaign.



The “woke” campaign wiped billions off AB InBev’s value and chased millions of customers away due to widespread boycotts of the company’s products.



In the video, one AB InBev employee explains, “We’re still 40 percent women, and 60 percent men, still predominantly white: so there’s still work to be done.”



The “work to be done” is apparently replacing white male workers.



Responding to the pledge to cleanse the workforce of unwanted races and gender, another employee says, “I feel like I finally found my voice as a black woman, and I’m not prepared to lose it.”



Discussing the #CheerstoDiversityAndInclusion campaign, Anheuser-Busch’s European Diversity and Inclusion Manager, Lara Laila Gärber explains:



“At AB InBev, what we wanted to do is ensure that diversity and inclusion is fully integrated in our business strategy.”



WATCH:







Anheuser-Busch has lost billions of dollars as a result of its decision to embrace diversity by partnering with Mulvaney for the now-infamous ad campaign.



As a direct result of the campaign and the resulting boycotts, the company’s stock has also since been downgraded by HSBC.

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[schwartzie]

Bud Light Becomes Global Laughingstock - Foreign Reporter Puts Woke Brands in Her Country on Notice



By Johnathan Jones

May 22, 2023 at 1:49pm


Bud Light angered its core customer base in April when it parented up with transgender social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney and thus attempted to validate his claims of “womanhood.”



The business blunder has resulted in an organic boycott felt as far away as Australia, where Sky News host Rita Panahi cited the saga as a warning to her own country’s corporations.



Panahi theorized conservatives in her country could make their voices heard in ways that make those who attempt to propagate leftist causes pay for it if they only follow the great American roadmap.



In the case of Normal People v. Bud Light, Americans on the right have spoken loudly and clearly.



Conservatives have protested toxic so-called progressivism by choosing to remain peacefully committed to not giving hard-earned dollars to a company that mocks them.



Unlike when the left is outraged by something, no buildings have been set on fire, no police officers have been shot and not a single brick has been thrown.



On a Sky News broadcast last week, Panahi cited the boycott as the successful roadmap against divisive corporate activism.



“By now, you would have heard about what has happened to Bud Light, the beer brand that has learned the hard way that the adage ‘go woke, go broke’ isn’t just a cute line, but can become a brutal economic reality,” she said.



The Aussie said her country’s businesses should take notice.



“Bud Light was once the dominant market leader in the U.S.,” Panahi said. “It’s had a horror six weeks after indulging in some reckless corporate virtue signaling.”



“The company thought it could push LGBTQI activism masquerading as diversity and inclusion,” she said, “which would endear it to the left and increase its brand’s appeal in new markets.



“But what actually happened was devastating repetitional damage coupled with plummeting sales and market value. Within weeks, the parent company had lost $7.4 billion — that’s with a B — billion in value as beer drinkers boycotted the brand en masse.”



Panahi said for years major companies and sports teams have operated on the belief that they are immune from a backlash to their acts of virtue-signaling.



She noted that has not happened this time around with Bud Light.





Anheuser-Busch InBev has been the target for seven full weeks, and the boycott doesn’t show any signs of letting up.



Panahi concluded, “Bud Light’s woes should serve as a warning to Australian corporates who think their political activism … will not lead to a consumer backlash. Insulting or even just annoying a significant portion of your market is a foolhardy exercise indeed.”



It’s easy to forget, as Americans, that the rest of the world is always watching.



In this case, people as far away as Australia witnessed how a once-iconic American brand (now owned by a Belgian conglomerate) went bust overnight. Bud Light is now and might forever be nothing but a punchline to millions of Americans.


Perhaps the Aussies will take notice, as Panahi suggested they should.



But for those of us in this hemisphere, we can only hope that corporate activists look at what the conservative movement has done to America’s best-selling beer.



“Woke” corporate activists now have every reason to fear the wrath of the fed-up, working-class consumer.



We have held the power all along. But now, everyone knows it.

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[schwartzie]

Bud Light Disaster So Bad It's Now Buying Back Its Own Beer After Mulvaney Fiasco: Report



By Warner Todd Huston

May 22, 2023 at 5:28pm


Bud Light is still suffering consequences from its ill-fated partnership with transgender TikTok activist Dylan Mulvaney, and it has gotten so bad that beer is still sitting on the shelves and lying un-bought, as products run past their expiration dates.



This is forcing the beer brand to deploy the very expensive tactic of buying back products that are past their expiration dates from distributors that have not been able to sell it, the Wall Street Journal reported.



So, not only is Bud Light losing sales, it is now entering into negative sales territory as the company is compelled to buy back its own, now spoiled, product!

The Journal published a fairly comprehensive timeline of events from the day Mulvaney posted a photo of his gift of a Bud Light can with his face on it to his Instagram account all the way to this month as sales continue to fall for the brand. And the Journal showed that the company has made a long series of missteps to the point that even left-wing groups have ended up mad at Bud Light.



Worse, sales have been plunging for weeks with anywhere from 20 percent to nearly 30 percent lower sales over a year ago. And this cratering of sales is leaking into the numbers of parent company Anheuser-Busch InBev’s other brands, too.



But the article also seems to make clear that Bud Light and AB InBev really haven’t learned any sort of lesson from this fiasco so far. Or at least they are learning the wrong lesson.



“Bud Light for decades has sponsored LGBT rights groups and pride events. AB InBev says it also has worked to cultivate an inclusive workplace for LGBT employees in its offices around the world,” the paper wrote.



That goes without saying, of course. It is nearly impossible to find a major U.S. corporation that has not handed over millions of dollars to radical gay and transgender groups. Nearly every one of them does this.


But the Journal went on noting that AB InBev CEO Michel Doukeris still sees no reason to stop supporting groomers, transgenders, and LGBT groups.



“Doukeris said the brewer would continue to support organizations with which it has decades-long relationships, including LGBT rights groups. He drew a distinction between corporate sponsorship and brand marketing. Beer marketing, he said, should focus on broad themes such as sports, music, and connecting people,” the paper said.



Notice what this means. It means that AB InBev will continue to undermine our system of education, our culture, our families, and the safety of our children by supporting these radical groups. They just won’t tie that support in with advertising their products anymore. So, their “solution” to the Mulvaney fiasco is to just hide their donations to radical left-wing groups behind silent donations, instead of celebrating it in advertising.



One has to ask, if they are so proud of these donations, why hide it under a bushel?



The Journal also pushed a misleading reason for why InBev’s donations to transgenderism only just now blew up in its face by alluding to the accusation that Republicans are just slobbering bigots.



“Transgender issues have moved to the center of conservative social agendas in recent years. Legislators, mostly in or from Republican-majority states, have proposed laws aimed at curbing gender-related healthcare for youth and adults, restricting transgender athletes’ sports play, and banning books,” the Journal wrote.



That entire paragraph is a false characterization of what is actually going on. Republicans have not just miraculously lit on transgenderism as a wedge issue out of some sense of bigotry. The reason no one cared about transgenderism until recently is because transgenderism had not been forced into our schools and onto America’s children until the last few years.



When it was just the personal choice of adults, no one cared. But when the radical left turned to force all this on our kids, that is when Republicans began taking action.



Further, no state is “curbing gender-related healthcare for youth and adults,” because gender transitioning is not “healthcare.” It is elective and highly political, and it has been a mostly invisible medical field until left-wingers began a highly charged campaign to force these transitions on kids.



Similarly, there were not transgenders in schools until the bathroom issue took hold in 2016 with then-President Barack Obama and his liberal pals forcing schools everywhere to allow boys into the girls’ bathrooms and locker rooms.



And speaking of schools, no one anywhere is “banning books.” Removing from schools any inappropriate book that is published specifically to groom children for the radical gay agenda is not at all the same thing as “banning” anything. These books are still available for purchase privately by anyone — even kids — and no state is trying to stop that.



Meanwhile, Bud Light has continued to suffer an unusually strong boycott that just might have a cultural outcome by spawning an atmosphere that causes people to avoid even being seen holding a can of Bud Light for fear of being mocked by everyone around them.



Regardless, this is an example of what conservatives can do if they work in concert for a change. Bud Light may not learn its lesson from this one example, but if we replicate it with some other brand that has gone woke, we can begin to put fear into these corporations that are spending the billions we give them in our patronage and purchases and putting it toward radical, left-wing, political causes.

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[ExquisiteGerbil]

Stores ‘Selling’ Bud Light for Free as Boycott Shows No Signs of Letting Up

Frank Bergman
May 25, 2023 - 6:31 pm


Stores across America are “selling” cases of Bud Light at huge discounts of up to 100 percent off as the nationwide boycott against the company rages on.



A new promotional rebate campaign from Anheuser-Busch is seeing some Budweiser products essentially being sold for free in some stores.



Bud Light revealed a new promotion ahead of the Memorial Day weekend that seeks to bring back old customers with free beer.



The campaign is called the “US Budweiser Family Memorial Day Rebate.”



Customers from eligible states can buy the beer in stores and then go online and get a rebate of most or even all of the money back.



The rebate promises an amount “equivalent to the purchase price of one (1) 15-pack or larger, up to $15” of Bud Light, Budweiser, Budweiser Select, or Budweiser Select 55 paid via Anheuser-Busch Digital Prepaid Mastercard.



Based on recent prices for Bud Light products, however, this promotion would be giving packs of beer away for free in some cases.



Online searches of local beer retailers find many offers under $15 for 15-packs or larger of these Budweiser products, making the products free after rebate, excluding sales tax or any state restrictions.



On Wednesday, a Nashua, New Hampshire, Shaw’s Supermarket had 30-packs of Bud Light cans on sale for $19.99.



The price is down from $24.99 and makes it about $5 after the rebate.



Social media users are also discussing their free or low-cost beer finds at local shops.



One Twitter account posted photos said to be “Displays seen in two different stores in Wisconsin, a state known for drinking a lot of beer.”



The images showed signs promoting 20-pack prices of $14.99 with the $15 rebate giving purchasers a final cost of $0.



The rebate applies to purchases made between May 17 and May 31, and forms must be submitted by June 14.



This significant reduction in prices via sales and rebates follows a severe backlash against Bud Light as well as the Anheuser-Busch products.


The brand faced a severe backlash for trying to go “woke” by partnering with transgender Dylan Mulvaney.



Mulvaney was featured in videos drinking a Bud Light can with an image of his face on the side in honor of the completion of “365 days of girlhood.”



The videos kickstarted conservative boycotts of the product and the outrage continued to affect sales.



When Anheuser-Busch responded by trying to distance itself from Mulvaney and the disastrous campaign, the woke mob also launched boycotts against the beermaker.



According to data from Bump Williams Consulting, sales for Bud Light were down by 23.6% compared to one year ago.



link


The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Anheuser-Busch will help wholesalers handle unsold merchandise.



“The brewer recently told its wholesalers that it would buy back unsold cases of beer that have gone past their expiration date,” the WSJ reported.

[maybetoday]

$15.7 Billion Wiped from Anheuser-Busch’s Market Value Since Dylan Mulvaney Stunt

David Hawkins
May 25, 2023 - 10:32 am


The backlash against Bud Light is continuing and now threatening to completely sink parent company Anheuser-Busch InBev.



The company’s market value has fallen by a staggering $15.7 billion since Bud Light launched its destructive campaign with Dylan Mulvaney.



According to Investor’s Business Daily, “The market value of Anheuser-Busch InBev, whose fourth bestselling brand is Bud Light, dropped $15.7 billion since April 1, based on a conversion to U.S. dollars by Investor’s Business Daily using data from S&P Global Market Intelligence.



“That’s the day Dylan Mulvaney, a TikTok influencer and transgender woman [sic], pitched the Bud Light brand during the NCAA March Madness tournament.



“Meanwhile, the other major publicly traded global beer brands have added $3.2 billion in market value during the same time.”



And the future looks bleak for the brand that will go down in history because the folks turned off by the marketing stunt are not coming back.



“We believe there is a subset of American consumers who will not drink a Bud Light for the foreseeable future,” said Jared Dinges, beverage analyst at JPMorgan Chase.



“We believe a 12% to 13% volume decline on an annualized basis would be a reasonable assumption.”



Molson Coors Beverage shares are up more than 20% from April 1 and the company added more than $2.2 billion in market value to its stock.



“Shares of Anheuser-Busch have underperformed EU Beer peers by 15% since the start of April,” Dinges said.



“We believe this is due to U.S. uncertainty, as investor focus has shifted squarely to the potential impact from the Bud Light controversy.”

Stores are now giving away Bud Light and are having a hard time doing that.



According to Fox News:


Some Budweiser products are being sold for free in some stores thanks to a new promotional rebate from the Anheuser-Busch company, following weeks of Bud Light backlash.



Ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, Bud Light revealed a new promotion called the US Budweiser Family Memorial Day Rebate online for customers from eligible states.



The rebate promises an amount “equivalent to the purchase price of one (1) 15-pack or larger, up to $15” of Bud Light, Budweiser, Budweiser Select, or Budweiser Select 55 paid via Anheuser-Busch Digital Prepaid Mastercard.



Based on recent prices for Bud Light products, however, in some cases, this would be giving packs of beer away for free.



Online searches of local beer retailers find many offers under $15 for 15-packs or larger of these Budweiser products, making the products free after rebate, excluding sales tax or any state restrictions.

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[bloodbought]

I guess they're more concerned with their ESG score than they are making their customers and shareholders happy!  


Bud Light Sponsors Cincinnati Pride Parade as Sales Plummet with Boycott


JORDAN DIXON-HAMILTON
27 May 2023

Anheuser-Busch’s Bud Light is one the brands sponsoring the upcoming Cincinnati Pride Parade as the brand’s sales continue to plummet following a boycott after the company partnered with transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney.



As the New York Post reported:



A glance at the list of sponsors on the event’s website reveals that the Anheuser-Busch brand is lending its name to the annual event, which will be held on June 24.



The image on the page shows a rainbow-colored bottle of Bud Light next to a glass of beer under the heading “Together in Pride.”



Other sponsors of the Cincinnati Pride Parade include Planned Parenthood, Toyota, and Kroger, among others.



The Pride Parade sponsorship comes as Bud Light sales have plummeted and parent company Anheuser-Busch’s market value has declined for six weeks after the collaboration with Mulvaney.



As Breitbart News reported:



On Monday, the New York Post reported the latest sales NielsenIQ sales figures analyzed by Bump Williams Consulting, a Connecticut-based firm with expertise in the alcohol industry. For the week ending on May 13, Bud Light sales collapsed by 24.6 percent compared to the same period last year.



What is more, case sales are down 28.4 percent for the week of May 7-13. In other words, the company sold less than three cases that week for every four it sold last year. The woes have poured into other brands owned by Anheuser-Busch, a subsidiary of InBev, according to Bump Williams.



The boycott began in April after Mulvaney posted a video to social media on April 1 in which Mulvaney opened a can of the Bud Light beer before stating, “This month I celebrated my day 365 of womanhood.” Mulvaney went on to show off a Bud Light can that bore his likeness in the post, accompanied by the caption “#budlightpartner.”



Anheuser-Busch’s market value has fallen by $15.7 billion since the boycott began in April.



In comparison, Anheuser-Busch’s top competitor Molson Coors, owner of Coors Lite, has seen a $2.2 billion market value increase in that time, an increase of roughly 20 percent.

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[J.J.Gibbs]

Report: Bud Light 24-Packs Drop to $3.49 as Mulvaney Boycott Tanks Sales


KRISTINA WONG
27 May 2023

Bud Light sales fell for the sixth consecutive week as the nationwide boycott continued over the beer company’s partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.

One store, according to the New York Post, is charging $3.49 for a 24-pack — about $0.15 for one can — to get rid of unwanted beer.

Bud Light volumes for the week ending May 13 fell 28.4 percent, following a 27.7 percent drop the prior week, the report said, citing Beer Business Daily.

Since Bud Light’s parent company, Anheuser-Busch, has taken a hit with its other brands, including Budweiser Red and Michelob Ultra, competitor brands Coors Light and Miller Lite’s sales are up.

The boycott began after Bud Light decided to celebrate Mulvaney’s one-year anniversary of posing as a woman by featuring the transgender TikTok star and sending him his own personalized pack of beer.

Since then, sales have tanked and Anheuser-Busch has so far lost nearly $19 billion, with shares down 14 percent.

Some stores are effectively giving the beer away for free.

As previously reported by Breitbart News, at some Wisconsin stores, Americans can get up to $15 back if they purchase a 15-pack or larger between May 17 and May 31.

The slashing of prices is happening over Memorial Day weekend, when an estimated 46% of consumers are planning to purchase beer.

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[Midnight]

Bud Light Continues to Spiral in Sales Despite Desperate Attempts to Stop Disaster

Bud Light is doing everything that it can to deal with the backlash to its controversial advertisemen......

Commentary


Despite doing nearly everything it can think of to ward off disaster, sales of Bud Light continue to plummet deeper and deeper into the abyss.



It has been over a month after the fiasco surrounding the company’s partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney began, and the conservative backlash against the company only seems to be gaining momentum.



The latest sales figures do not offer the company much hope of a resurgence in the near future. According to Newsweek, the week ending on May 20th had sales of Bud Light decline by 29.5 percent, compared to 25.7 percent during the same week in 2022.



Meanwhile, some experts say the decline in revenue shows no signs of rebounding or plateauing.



Dave Williams, vice president for analytics and insights at Bump Williams Consulting, told Newsweek that Bud Light’s decline in sales revenue “has been a bit steeper” this month and “does appear to be plateauing.”



“One thing is for sure,” he added, “the rate of decline has not gotten any better just yet.”



Bud Light’s decline in sales continues despite the company doing everything imaginable to try and win back its customer base after being accused of alienating it.



To give some recent examples, Bud Light’s parent company Anheuser-Busch teamed up with Harley-Davidson to do an advertisement for Budweiser, which ended up looking very pandering and out of touch.



In addition, Bud Light is selling beer for increasingly low prices to the point where the company has basically been giving beer away for free.



Can Bud Light win conservatives back?



Anheuser-Busch also release limited-edition bottles of Budweiser and Bud Light coated in camouflage, perhaps as a way to seem more rugged and masculine and to signal support for the military.



Yet despite all these efforts, no one seems to have any interest in purchasing a single can of Bud Light, or anything from Anheuser-Busch.



The reason for this failure, frankly, is quite obvious: the Mulvaney partnership says much more about Anheuser-Busch than the campaigns created to manage the backlash do.



These are not genuine and sincere campaigns that seek to win back loyal customers, these are cheap ways of pandering to try and mitigate the effects of their poor marketing decisions.



It is very clear that the Harley advertisement and the camouflage beer cans are only a reaction to the boycott, not something that naturally came from the company.



The Mulvaney advertisement, on the other hand, was something that the company decided to do on its own without the input of customers, showing that it values caving to the woke mob more than it does satisfying its customers.



Now, Bud Light is reaping the rewards of its decision to promote the left-wing agenda.



Anheuser-Busch may truly be the first company to go broke for getting woke.





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[schwartzie]

Bud Light May Now Have a Lawsuit on Its Hands After Shareholder Values Tank



By Jack Davis

May 31, 2023 at 7:51am


Corporations that wrecked their images in woke marketing campaigns could pay a price for decisions that cost shareholders money.



On Tuesday, America First Legal took to Twitter on a fishing expedition looking for disgruntled shareholders who have seen their investments flow down the drain faster than a barrel of Bud Light since the beer’s embrace of transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney led to a weeks-long boycott that shows no sign of stopping.



“ATTENTION: Are you a shareholder of @target @kohls @abinbev, or other companies that are promoting transgender, LGBTQ and PRIDE products and diminishing shareholder value? We want to hear from you,” the law firm posted.

Newsweek wrote that the strategy appears to be to sue the companies over decisions that led to massive stock declines.



Anheuser-Busch InBev, which makes Bud Light, has seen its stock price drop 9 percent this year, including a 5 percent drop Tuesday, according to MarketWatch.



The MarketWatch report cited figures from Bank of America based on Nielsen research covering four weeks that ended May 20. Data shows Anheuser-Busch volume dropped 17 percent across multiple brands, with Bud Light leading the decline with a 28 percent sales drop while Budweiser was down 16 percent, Michelob Ultra down 10 percent and Busch down 12 percent.



Target has also paid a price for promoting “pride” merchandise. A backlash against it led to a 12.6 percent stock price drop in only a few days, according to Fox Business.


Kohl’s is also facing the wrath of consumers for offering “pride” clothing for babies.



In early May, HSBC analyst Carlos Laboy said the Mulvaney fiasco raised questions about the wider ability of the company, according to Fox Business.



“Why did its U.S. leadership underestimate the risk of pushback given the recent experience of other firms? Is A-B hiring the best people to grow the brands and gauge risk?” he wrote.



“If Budweiser and Bud Light are iconic American ideas that have long brought consumers together, why did these marketers fail to invite new consumers without alienating the core base of the firm’s largest brand? These questions are not trivial to the crisis and say a lot about the state of A-B’s marketing culture,” he wrote.



Newsweek said that America First Legal, which did not return requests for comment, appears to be laying the foundation for what’s called a “Stock-Drop Lawsuit.”



Related: Go Woke, Go Broke: Target Continues to Spiral, Gets Worst News Since 2020

In concept, such lawsuits claim a company did not fully discharge its fiduciary obligations to shareholders ahead of a decline in the value of their stock.



Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor, said that could be hard to prove.



“Whether it’s a direct action by a shareholder or a derivative suit on behalf of the corporation, the plaintiffs will need to prove negligence, breach of a fiduciary duty, or some other basis for liability,” Rahmani said.



“It’s a stretch to argue that the officers and directors violated the standard of care by moving forward with inclusive LGBTQ marketing strategies. I can see a judge dismissing this type of lawsuit at the pleading phase if a lawyer tries to move forward,” Rahmani said.



But columnist Jonah Goldberg argued in the Los Angeles Times that getting corporations out of politics is a good thing, noting, “in a culture where everything is politicized, everything is, well, politicized.”



“Bud Lighting is here to stay because boycotting has become a kind of reverse Veblen good. In economics, Veblen goods are things you buy not for their intrinsic worth but to display how much disposable income you have. A Marxist might call that ‘vice signaling.’ Bud Lighting is a way to telegraph to the world the kind of person you are by what you won’t spend money on,” he continued.



“The lesson for corporations should be to become more conservative, not ideologically but fiduciarily. Although I don’t like some of the excesses already on display in the era of Bud Lighting, if it results in corporations retreating from politics in favor of their core mission — shareholder value — America will be better for it.”


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[Midnight]

Bud Light Digs Itself Deeper Hole as It Donates $200,000 to 'Empower LGBTQ+ Owned Small Businesses'



By C. Douglas Golden

May 31, 2023 at 6:45am


There’s a saying in politics: Stand in the middle of the road and you’re bound to get run over.



As the folks who brew Bud Light are discovering, however, you’re just as likely to get hit if you keep jumping from one side to the other.



As you may vividly recall, Anheuser-Busch InBev’s fortunes took a massive nosedive in April when some geniuses in the Bud Light marketing department decided they wanted to ditch the brand’s “fratty” image for one that was “inclusive” — and “inclusivity,” to them, involved a promotion featuring transgender TikTok “influencer” Dylan Mulvaney.



Bud Light’s sales quickly dropped, leading to non-apology apologies from corporate brass, ultra-patriotic commercials and an attempt by the CEO to brand the idea of the Mulvaney sponsorship deal as a campaign as being “misinformation.”



But, uh-oh! Not only did that not placate conservative Americans sick of having wokeness shoved down their throats, but it also angered woke LGBT pressure groups, who were now angry Anheuser-Busch had stopped shoving rainbow wokeness down the gaping maw of Middle America.



Gay bars began to boycott Anheuser-Busch, too, because they felt the company had dropped Mulvaney like the cultural millstone that he was. The Human Rights Campaign, an LGBT group, stripped Anheuser-Busch of its perfect 100 score on its corporate index based on its failure to “really stand up and demonstrate the importance of their values of diversity, equity and inclusion” by backing Mulvaney.



Well, now it’s almost “pride month” — the perfect time for Bud Light folks to jump back to the other side of the road and hope no one notices.



Thus we get this from a company news release Tuesday: “Today, Bud Light and the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC), the exclusive certifying body for LGBT-owned businesses, announce they are extending their partnership to continue supporting economic opportunities and advancements for LGBTQ+ Americans and business owners across the country.”



“Bud Light was brewed to be an ‘Easy to Drink, Easy to Enjoy’ beer for everyone 21+ and that still holds true today,” the company said.


“We look forward to extending our work with the NGLCC to continue making a positive impact on the LGBTQ+ businesses that play a critical role in bringing people everywhere, together.”



And not only is it pride-tastic, it’s intersectional, too!



“This year, Bud Light will donate $200,000 to the NGLCC in support of its Communities of Color Initiative (CoCi),” the release said. “This initiative is designed to support the growth and success of minority LGBTQ+-owned businesses through certification, scholarships and business development in an effort to create equal opportunities for the economic advancement of small businesses in the LGBTQ+ community.”



As the marketing publication Ad Age noted, the “donation to support LGBT Chamber of Commerce comes as AB InBev deals with criticism for failing to speak up for transgender rights in wake of Dylan Mulvaney controversy.”



Perhaps Bud Light marketers thought this was the perfect time to mend fences with the wokeness brigade while still flying under the radar. After all, we’re about to hit “pride month,” the 30 days when basically every corporate logo is rerendered in rainbow colors. (Except in the Middle East, of course.)



The problem is that none of this is going to go under the radar because Bud Light has become the shining symbol of everything Middle America loathes about corporate America’s obeisance to progressive activism.



In fact, the phenomenon of a company having to backpedal from an overly woke campaign has become known, in the short space of just two months, as “BudLighting.“



That neologism saw frequent use in the media after Target’s recent “pride month” kerfuffle involving, among other things, “tuck” women’s bathing suits meant for men to hide their, um, maleness, and LGBT-themed merchandise designed by an honest-to-goodness satanist.



Nor has the boycott against Bud Light abated; according to Newsweek, data by Bump Williams Consulting and Nielsen IQ found Bud Light sales were down 29.5 percent year-over-year on the week ending May 20, a new low. Reports say AB InBev has lost $15.7 billion in market cap because of the boycott, and there have been sightings of 24-cases of Bud Light being sold for as low as $3.49.



Thus, Bud Light going woke again is a quick and easy way to negate all of the BudLighting it’s been doing, like this:

As for the DEI throng on the other side of the road, sure, they’ll be happy that Bud Light is donating $200,000 to the NGLCC to help out LGBT businesses. But, they’ll ask, what about standing behind Dylan Mulvaney? Are you ready to do that to prove you’re really worthy of the rainbow-hued logo?



And then the Bud Light execs will hem and haw a bit, mutter among themselves and try to jump back to the other side of the road.



Or maybe they’ll try standing in the middle. Who knows? Perhaps we’ll see a commercial with a pack of Clydesdales draped with the transgender pride flag galloping around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as Sam Elliott provides a gravelly voiceover about how there’s nothing more American than a Memorial Day barbecue with hot dogs, good friends and a very queer beer.


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[J.J.Gibbs]

Ad Agency That Introduced Dylan Mulvaney to Bud Light Is in 'Serious Panic Mode:' Report



By Bryan Chai

June 4, 2023 at 2:21pm


The fallout from the disastrous business relationship between transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney and Bud Light continues as now reports have emerged that the company that introduced the two has delved into chaos.



According to a New York Post report, a San Francisco-based marketing firm was in a “serious panic mode” due to the disastrous reception of Bud Light’s association with Mulvaney.



The company, Captiv8, specializes in “end to end influencer marketing,” and, essentially, helps major brands connect with influencers across social media to assist with advertising initiatives.



The Post does note that, despite Captiv8 introducing Bud Light and Mulvaney, it’s unclear to just what extent it was involved in the actual campaign (a word that Bud Light parent company Anheuser-Busch CEO Michel Doukeris vehemently opposes, insisting that it was just “one post”) that has proven so disastrous.



Regardless, merely being attached to the fierce backlash of the Mulvaney-Bud Light debacle was apparently enough to send the offices of Captiv8 into a tizzy.



“Internally, the company was in serious panic mode,” an unnamed source told The Post.



The source added that “a lot of chatter” was also taking place among employees about the potential ramifications of the torrid backlash.



It makes sense that Captiv8 was as reportedly concerned during the onset of this catastrophe.



Few, if any, advertising campaigns (or posts) have engendered the type of scorn and repulsion that Bud Light’s work with Mulvaney has.


And it’s not just anecdotal backlash about untouched cases of Bud Light at concerts and baseball games.



There are very real, very tangible consequences to this fiasco.



First, and perhaps most pressingly to Captiv8, both of the executives that were largely blamed for the disastrous decision have been put on leave.



Alissa Heinerscheid, the marketing vice president who wanted to drastically alter the image of Bud Light, was put on a leave of absence in April.



Another marketing VP, Daniel Blake, was reportedly placed on leave just days later.


Second, and perhaps most pressingly to Anheuser-Busch, the backlash to working with Mulvaney has had an indelible fiscal impact on the beer brewer.



The most recent reports claim that Bud Light has lost a whopping $27 billion of dollars in market value since working with Mulvaney.



The precipitous drop in sales has obviously harmed the Belgian beer company’s bottom line, and since it is a business, heads understandably had to roll.



As for Captiv8, while it’s unclear if the firm will ever acknowledge whatever role it may or may have played in connecting Bud Light with Mulvaney, it appears the company’s employees, at the very least, understood the gravity of the situation.

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