Bud Light boycott
A boycott of Bud Light, the top beer brand in the United States, began in April 2023. The boycott began in response to a social media promotion the company conducted with actress and TikTok personality Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender woman.
On April 1, 2023, as part of a larger campaign to address Bud Light's decline in sales and attract younger audiences, Mulvaney promoted the company's Bud Light beer brand in a short video on her Instagram account during March Madness. The video triggered a backlash from American conservatives, including singer Kid Rock, who helped instigate a boycott against Bud Light and Anheuser-Busch more broadly. Proponents of the boycott described the sponsorship as "political" because it involved a transgender woman who had previously advocated for transgender rights. Several media outlets, including the Los Angeles Times and NBC News, described the backlash as anti-trans.
In the month following the advertisement, Bud Light's sales fell between 11 and 26%, while Anheuser-Busch's sales fell about 1%. In May 2023, AB InBev's stock price fell 20%, enough for it to be classified as a bear stock by Forbes. HSBC Securities downgraded its rating on the company from "Buy" to "Hold". CNBC estimated that in May AB InBev's sales fell 18%. In May 2023, it was estimated that Bud Light lost its status as the top-selling beer in the United States to Modelo Especial.
Background
Economists have noted for some time that major light beers like Bud Light, Coors Light, and Miller Light are nearly indistinguishable. Since the beers are "essentially homogeneous products," manufacturers rely heavily on advertising to differentiate their brands and build customer loyalty. AB InBev, for example, spends about 2x more on advertising as a percentage of sales revenue than the average American firm.Amidst the ensuing controversy, critics blamed Bud Light's new vice president of marketing, Alissa Heinerscheid, as responsible for the brand's move. Heinerscheid, who became a vice president at the company in July 2022, stated that her goal was to evolve the Bud Light advertising to make it more inclusive, and to move it away from its "fratty and out-of-touch humor". In a March 23, 2023, interview for Make Yourself at Home, a show hosted by Kristin Twiford, Heinerscheid stated:
...this brand is in decline. It has been in decline for a really long time. And if we do not attract young drinkers to come and drink this brand, there will be no future for Bud Light ... It's like, we need to evolve and elevate this incredibly iconic brand. And my ... what I brought to that was a belief in, okay, what does evolve and elevate mean? It means 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.
Dylan Mulvaney
is an American social media personality, best known for her "Days of Girlhood" video series on TikTok. Mulvaney is a transgender woman, and she has documented her gender transition in the series starting in March 2022. Her videos soon became viral on TikTok, and she swiftly amassed a large following.Mulvaney began to be subject to significant criticism and controversy amongst American conservatives in October 2022. In that month, she collaborated with genderfluid hairstylist David Lopez in a podcast for Ulta Beauty; the incident led to calls amongst conservatives for a boycott against the beauty store chain. Later that month, she interviewed US president Joe Biden for the left-wing NowThis News. The interview subsequently went viral amongst conservatives and Mulvaney began to face greater scrutiny from the American right. Mulvaney was criticized by several high-profile Republicans and right-wing personalities including Marsha Blackburn, Caitlyn Jenner, and Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Mulvaney sponsorship
On April 1, 2023, Mulvaney uploaded a video to her Instagram in which she was dressed as Audrey Hepburn's character in Breakfast at Tiffany's. In the video, Mulvaney states: "So, I kept hearing about this thing called March Madness, and I thought we were all just having a hectic month! But it turns out it has something to do with sports. And I'm not sure exactly which sport, but either way it's a cause to celebrate." She then added that Bud Light was giving fans a chance to win US$15,000.Boycott
The partnership faced a rebuff from the American right and anti-trans groups, who called for a boycott of Bud Light and its parent company Anheuser-Busch. Immediate scrutiny came as social media posts responded to the sponsored video. According to The Washington Post, the advertisement led figures in right-wing media, such as Fox News, to refer to Mulvaney in "disparaging and often in transphobic terms nearly a dozen times over the next three days".A boycott was carried out, with many consumers opting to not purchase Bud Light or any Anheuser-Busch products at bars or stores. Many conservative commentators, politicians, and celebrities participated in the boycott, as they opposed the endorsement by Mulvaney, a transgender person. On April 3, 2023, conservative country singer Kid Rock filmed himself shooting three cases of Bud Light with an MP5 submachine gun, while wearing a MAGA hat, exclaiming "Fuck Bud Light and fuck Anheuser-Busch." As of May 6, 2023, the video had been viewed more than 11 million times.
Another country artist, Travis Tritt, joined Kid Rock in calling for the boycott. He pulled all Anheuser-Busch products from his upcoming concert tour, stating that Anheuser-Busch was " great American company that later sold out to the Europeans and became unrecognizable to the American consumer. Such a shame." He was joined shortly after by conservative rock musician Ted Nugent, who called Anheuser-Busch's Dylan Mulvaney partnership "the epitome of cultural deprivation", and vowed to "never allow any Anheuser-Busch products anywhere near my world". He also applauded Kid Rock for calling the boycott. John Rich, a country music singer-songwriter, announced he would no longer be selling Anheuser-Busch products at his Nashville bar.
Videos on TikTok and Twitter circulated across the internet, depicting people who were smashing, throwing away, and driving over Bud Light bottles. Several threats were made to Anheuser-Busch factories during the boycott, including various bomb threats that forced certain factories to close.
After Anheuser-Busch attempted to distance itself from Mulvaney in response, members of the LGBT community started their own boycott of the company, led by several prominent gay bars in Chicago.
In April 2023, Florida Governor and Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis criticized Bud Light's association with Mulvaney as part of a trend of "woke companies" that were "trying to change our country", stating that "pushback is in order across the board".
Anheuser-Busch's former President of Sales, Anson Frericks, has repeatedly given interviews in Fox Business calling for President Brendan Whitworth to step down or be fired for the advertising campaign and failure to remediate the brand's public perception in its aftermath. In addition, Billy Busch, heir to the fortune of Anheuser-Busch co-founder Adolphus Busch, has blamed the company's drastic drop in sales on its leadership, namely Brendan Whitworth.
Response
Statements from Anheuser-Busch
Anheuser-Busch's immediate response to the boycott was the following statement: "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." Citing safety concerns due to the backlash, Anheuser-Busch canceled all of their Budweiser Clydesdales events indefinitely. An AB InBev executive stated: "No one at a senior level was aware this was happening." It was also alleged that AB InBev would be pausing all influencer marketing deals until more robust vetting procedures could be implemented. Anheuser-Busch's CEO Brendan Whitworth issued the following statement:We never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people. We are in the business of bringing people together over a beer. My time serving this country taught me the importance of accountability and the values upon which America was founded: freedom, hard work and respect for one another. As CEO of Anheuser-Busch, I am focused on building and protecting our remarkable history and heritage. I care deeply about this country, this company, our brands and our partners. I spend much of my time traveling across America, listening to and learning from our customers, distributors and others. Moving forward, I will continue to work tirelessly to bring great beers to consumers across our nation.
Whitworth's statement was met with criticism as it neither directly supported Mulvaney nor disavowed the advertisement.
On April 17, 2023, responding to the boycott, Anheuser-Busch rolled out a revised advertising campaign featuring Clydesdale horses against the backdrop of rural, small town American landscapes. On April 21, 2023, Anheuser-Busch issued a statement that Heinerscheid, who had taken a leave of absence since the controversy began, would be removed from her position as vice president and replaced with their Vice President of Global Marketing, Todd Allen, known for leading the push to allow alcohol to be sold at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. The company also hired two Washington, D.C.-based conservative political consultant groups to advise the brand moving forward. A second executive, Daniel Blake, who was Heinerscheid's supervisor, was also placed on leave in the aftermath of the controversy. An Anheuser-Busch spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal: "Given the circumstances, Alissa has decided to take a leave of absence which we support. Daniel has also decided to take a leave of absence."
On June 28, 2023, Brendan Whitworth gave an interview to CBS, where he highlighted Bud Light's history of supporting the queer community since 1998 and stressed their commitment to continuing to support them. He also stated that Bud Light's parent company, Anheuser-Busch, was planning on tripling Bud Light's budget for the 2023 NFL season. Lastly, he lamented the financial damage done to Bud Light's distributors, wholesalers, and other employees.
On October 31, 2023, AB InBev CEO Michel Doukeris stated that the company will be shifting to universal themes, stating:
Consumers continue to want the Bud Light brand to concentrate on the platforms that all consumers love, and we are doing just that through investing in partnerships with the NFL, Fields of Honor, news platforms, college football, and our recently announced return to partnering with the UFC. Two, they want Bud Light to focus on beer.
However, Bud Light's new partnership with the UFC has garnered more negative attention to the company, specifically from pro-LGBT communities after UFC fighter Sean Strickland, who has expressed disdain for the transgender community, tweeted after the partnership was announced that he was going to "fix" Bud Light and "save the day."