A Bud Light executive said the company will be tripling its investment in the beleaguered brand over the summer in the midst of a boycott after it promoted a transgender influencer earlier this year.
Anheuser-Busch, the parent company, has “more than tripled our already weighty national media investment” behind Bud Light, the company’s vice president, Todd Allen, told Variety magazine in a recent interview.
“We want to show up in all relevant occasions in summer—backyard barbecues, stadiums and sports venues,” Allen said on June 22. “That’s what counts and that’s what we are focused on.”
Over the past three months or so, Bud Light has lost billions in sales and market value, with data from Bump Williams Consulting and Nielsen IQ showing revenue was down 26.8 percent year-over-year for the week ending June 10. In May, meanwhile, Constellation Brands-owned Modelo Especial was the most-purchased beer in the United States, dethroning Bud Light as the No. 1 beer.
As Allen proclaimed the renewed investment into the brand, Bud Light also released a television commercial, titled “Easy to Summer,” which was derided by people on social media in the wake of the backlash, and it did not make any mention of LGBT themes or content. “Crack a cold one: we’ve got an epic summer ahead. Sock tans included,” Bud Light wrote next to the ad on Twitter.
Responding to the latest ad, conservatives like podcast host Liz Wheeler wrote on Twitter that the company is trying to avoid the controversy. “None of this is funny until & unless you apologize for using Dylan Mulvaney—a man pretending to be a woman—as your spokesperson. It’s insulting that you think an ad about summer will make us forget our principles. The boycott continues,” she asserted in a post.
Boycott
It all started when Bud Light made a promotional can with the face of Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender TikTok influencer, on it. In social media posts, Mulvaney claimed a partnership with Bud Light and prominently displayed the can.
