Bud Light angers conservative customers after teaming up with transgender influencer
Bud Light has received backlash following a campaign with transgender TikTok star Dylan Mulvaney
@dylanmulvaney
Bud Light has received backlash after its recent decision to partner with a transgender TikTok personality to attract younger drinkers infuriated some of its most loyal, more conservative customers.
Dylan Mulvaney, a 26-year-old influencer posted images of the customised Bud Light cans with her face on to mark “365 Days of Girlhood”.
Distributors of Anheuser-Busch, Bud Light's parent company, have been “spooked” by their falling sales over the Easter weekend, according to trade publication Beer Business Daily.
The company has also lost $3billion in market cap value in recent days.
A drop in sales of Bud Light was reported in midwestern and southern America
@dylanmulvaney
Among those angry with the campaign includes American television host Tucker Carlson and singer-songwriter Kid Rock who have slammed the advert as tone deaf.
The drop in sales was reported in midwestern and southern America, most particularly in rural areas.
Just days before Mulvaney’s partnership was unveiled, Alissa Heinerscheid, vice-president of marketing at Bud Light, said she wanted to modernise Bud Light from a “brand of fratty, kind of out-of-touch humour”.
The TiKTok star, who describes herself as one of “the most privileged trans women in America” also published a video of herself drinking a Bud Light in the bath.
Heinerscheid told the Make Yourself at Home podcast that she wanted “a campaign that is truly inclusive” after claiming that in the eyes of Anheuser-Busch’s marketing executives, Bud Light had become a brand “in decline”.
In response, musician Kid Rock filmed himself taking a machine gun to several cases of the beer and shouting: “F--- Bud Light. And f--- Anheuser-Busch.”
Tucker Carlson said: “Bud Light fails over this. I don’t want to root for bankruptcy, but in this case, I think we have to hope for that.”
Country music star Travis Tritt also announced he would be boycotting Bud Light and all other Anheuser-Busch drinks on his tour.
Dylan Mulvaney has previously faced backlash over promotional campaigns
@dylanmulvaney
Mulvaney responded to the backlash in a recent TikTok video of her performing a song, captioned “it’s hard to see the light right now”.
On TikTok, she wrote: “Thank you all for making me feel supported. I am not alone."
The criticism follows public outcry last month when Mulvaney was paid to promote one of Nike’s sports bras.
In a statement following the backlash, Anheuser-Busch said it “works with hundreds of influencers across our brands” and Mulvaney’s customised cans were not for general sale.