Anheuser-Busch, the parent company of Bud Light, is in deep trouble. The ongoing boycott of the brand led to a sharp decline in demand, causing the company’s value to drop by over $6 billion. The company’s immediate response to the backlash was to downplay its relationship with Dylan Mulvaney, a dude who became famous for pretending to be a girl, claiming the company “works with hundreds of influencers across our brands as one of many ways to authentically connect with audiences across various demographics.”
When that didn’t work, the company decided to hire two consultants with experience in Washington, D.C.’s, conservative circles to help get them out of their slump. The boycott hasn’t just hurt Anheuser-Busch, but also its distributors, as demand has declined so much they can’t sell their product.
Anheuser-Busch, humbled by its mistake of partnering with Dylan Mulvaney, has devised a plan to compensate its distributors. As per a report by The Wall Street Journal, the distributors will be given a case of Bud Light for each of their employees as a way of apologizing for the brewery’s error.
So Anheuser-Busch is giving away a case of beer to each employee because that makes up for the lost income? Are they serious? Why not give them a one-year membership to the Jelly of the Month Club, too?
The company also plans to ramp up its marketing efforts and create new ad campaigns to revive the brand’s image. Good luck with that!
Related: LOL! Anheuser-Busch Really Thinks This Move Can Save Them
Bud Light’s ill-fated partnership with Dylan Mulvaney was the brainchild of Bud Light’s (former?) VP of marketing, Alissa Heinerscheid, who made it apparent that she prioritized promoting a social agenda rather than catering to the brand’s customer base. In a podcast interview in late March, Heinerscheid acknowledged that Bud Light had previously been associated with what she dubbed “fratty, kind of out-of-touch humor” and expressed her belief in the need for a different approach.
“It means having a campaign that’s truly inclusive and feels lighter and brighter and different and appeals to women and to men,” Heinerscheid explained. “And representation is sort of at the heart of evolution — you got to see people who reflect you in the work. And we had this hangover — I mean, Bud Light had been kind of a brand of fratty, kind of out-of-touch humor, and it was really important that we had another approach.”
It appears that Heinerscheid believed that the brand should target the demographic of adult males who behave like young girls. However, Heinerscheid failed to comprehend that Bud Light’s core customers, who made it the most popular beer in the country (though not for much longer), would not want to associate themselves with a beer that collaborates with Dylan Mulvaney and legitimizes his fetish for acting like a chick.
As a consequence, Heinerscheid was eventually placed on leave from the company, and now Anheuser-Busch is giving away free beer.
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