Bud Light gives free beer to every wholesale employee after backlash over Dylan Mulvaney partnership
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Beer giant Anheuser-Busch has gifted free Bud Light cans to all employees who work with the company's wholesale distributors. The move has come after the backlash over the brand’s partnership with the 26-year-old transgender influencer, Dylan Mulvaney.
The outrage was created last month when the brand celebrated Mulvaney's "365 Days of Girlhood" by sending Mulvaney custom-made cans featuring the influencer's face. Since then, the sales have dropped by 26%, reports St Louis Post-Dispatch. The beer giant had also seen its market value drop by $5 billion in recent weeks.
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The Dylan Mulvaney-Bud Light controversy
On April 1, Mulvaney received a few beer cans from Bud Light as part of a paid sponsorship. Mulvaney shared a video of herself dressed as Holly Golightly from 'Breakfast at Tiffany’s' with the beer cans with a caption that read, “Happy March Madness!! Just found out this had to do with sports and not just saying it’s a crazy month! In celebration of this sports thing @budlight is giving you the chance to win $15,000!” However, the promotion sparked outrage among some people because of Mulvaney’s transgender identity, leading to a boycott of the brand. Bud Light Executive Alissa Heinerscheid said the beer needed to update its "fratty" and "out of touch" branding
'Bud Light is in serious trouble this year'
Commenting on the controversy, Bump Williams, the founder of the firm which specializes in the alcohol industry, said Bud Light must apologize. He said, "Right now their compass is completely broken. There's no game plan." Williams added, "Bud Light is in serious trouble this year." He said the brand is still the biggest-selling in US, but Modelo Especial might overtake by the end of the year if the outrage towards the brand continues.
Heinerscheid and her boss, Daniel Blake, Anheuser-Busch's VP for mainstream brands, have been placed on leave over following the controversy. Williams said, "Her big miss was I don't think she understood who the core Bud Light shopper was. When she came out with her comments, they were deemed as being derogatory, insulting and juvenile. And the Bud Light drinkers said, enough of that." He further added, "I also think that what's happening now is that anybody that is a Bud Light drinker and switches to Michelob Ultra because they don't want to be seen holding a Bud Light, someone down the bar is going to say, 'Hey, buddy, that's an Anheuser-Busch product you're holding."
Anheuser-Busch is also trying to avoid some of the backlash wholesalers by giving them a letter detailing misconceptions about the Mulvaney partnership. The letter reportedly states, as per New York Post, "This can is not a formal campaign or advertisement. Our new Vice President of Bud Light and all of us at Anheuser-Busch are committed to reminding all of our consumers why they love Bud Light and why they’ve made it the #1 beer in America.”