Surrounded by giant sepia photographs of long-dead moustachioed Budweiser draymen, drinkers at the Brewhouse Historical Sports Bar in downtown St Louis, Missouri, were not happy about a transgender influencer becoming the newest face of Bud Light.
“I don’t know what they’re doing,” said Nate Metcalf, 26, clutching a brown bottle bearing the distinctive blue label of his favourite beer, bottled just a couple of miles away. “If you drink, if you’re from America, you know Bud Light. It didn’t need to be made more known like this.”
“It’s bullshit, they shouldn’t have gotten political with beers,” said Evan Lauer, 28, Metcalf’s friend and fellow vehicle parts salesman, also nursing a Bud Light. “Their main demographic is blue-collar guys that drink beer and like grilling.”
Ever since the TikTok personality Dylan Mulvaney shared a video earlier this month promoting Bud Light while dressed as Holly Golightly from Breakfast at Tiffany’s, its brewer, Anheuser-Busch, has faced a storm of outrage from conservative Americans.
There were reports of bars removing Bud Light from their stock or having to break up arguments between angry customers.
The Belgian parent company Anheuser-Busch InBev lost billions of dollars in market value as investors dumped their stock in anticipation of a slide in sales. Several unspecified Anheuser-Busch plants received threats and the Los Angeles police department last week responded to a bomb warning at the location of one brewery.
The US’s bestselling beer had suddenly become a prism through which to view the country and its deep divisions.
Kid Rock shoots Bud Light cans to protest against Dylan Mulvaney partnership
However, the Bud Light battle is not the simple “go woke, go broke” tale told in the immediate aftermath of the beer’s attempt to diversify its appeal. It also reveals the limits of partisanship and the durability of the US’s best-loved brands as they strive to navigate the country’s growing polarisation and the perpetual risk of shrieking social media outrage.
The backlash still hangs over the red-brick buildings of Anheuser-Busch’s St Louis Brewery, founded in 1852. “We’ve had to heighten security here,” said our guide on a tour of the complex, without going into details.
The 75-minute tour tells a simple tale, about the partnership between German immigrants Eberhard Anheuser and Adolphus Busch that led to the creation of Budweiser in 1876, and over a century later, in 1982, Bud Light. The product has about a quarter fewer calories and is slightly less alcoholic than Budweiser. It became a huge success.
“Bud Light is the bestselling American beer in the world,” proclaimed the guide, adding that the only beer known to outsell it is Snow, in China. Then, in an aside: “I wonder how that fact stands up a month from now — because of the one can.”
Some Republicans have called for a boycott of Bud Light. Marjorie Taylor Greene tweeted: “I would have bought the king of beers but it changed its gender to the queen of beers”
The crisis that descended on the brand this month came from a special tin of Bud Light produced with Mulvaney’s face on it and presented to the comedian and influencer in celebration of her “day 365 of womanhood”. Mulvaney acquired almost 11 million followers on TikTok by documenting her transition from male to female.
Conservative celebrities responded with calls for a boycott of Bud Light, making videos of themselves whacking a can with a baseball bat or shooting a case with an assault rifle. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican congresswoman and conspiracy theorist close to former President Trump, tweeted a purchase of Coors Light, explaining: “I would have bought the king of beers but it changed its gender to the queen of beers.” Ron DeSantis, the Republican governor of Florida and likely presidential contender, backed a boycott of Bud Light and accused “corporate America” of trying to “change our country”.
A public appearance in Springfield, Missouri, by some of Anheuser-Busch’s beloved Clydesdale horses, powerful bays with black manes and white socks that feature in its advertising, had to be cancelled because of threats to their handlers. The Clydesdales, some of which are stabled at the brewery, feature in Budweiser’s well-known Super Bowl advertising, including the memorable 2011 tribute to the victims of 9/11, which showed a team of eight pulling a vintage Budweiser wagon respectfully bowing their heads in unison in Manhattan.
It was the horses rather than the beer that drew a group of five retired teachers from New York state to tour the St Louis brewery this week. They agreed the climate of political and cultural debate had sharpened in recent years but insisted there was still a large quiet majority in the US fed-up with social media extremists.
Nike faced similar criticism because of its sponsorship deal with Colin Kaepernick, an outspoken NFL player
“When I think of Budweiser, I think of an American symbol: ‘This Bud’s for you’,” said Barb, 75, recalling the company’s advertising slogan. “Their commercials are the best. The ones with the horses make you cry.”
Her friend Kim, 66, said the threats to the horse displays showed how debate was becoming more aggressive. “There’s a lot of angry people here in the United States. They’re like toddlers — if they don’t get their way and everything isn’t just perfect for them, they throw a temper tantrum,” she said.
Jean, 73, another of their group, said: “We have some cruel people in this country that are not very tolerant. I’m not Democrat, I’m not Republican, but you have to be careful what you’re saying around here.”
Barb added: “Six or eight years ago I don’t think you would have seen something like a ‘F*** Biden’ sign on somebody’s garage. We still might have seen a Confederate flag but they would have had it in the back yard and now it’s in the front yard. And that’s the [more liberal] northeast.”
All the group agreed it was a positive step for Budweiser to use a transgender influencer in a marketing campaign, even if it did challenge its main customer base. “I think it was brave of them to do this, they have to reach out to a younger generation,” said Debi, 70. “I hate to say this but the old rednecks are going to keep drinking their Bud. They’re not going to change. They might say some nasty comments about the commercial but they’re going to say it while they’re drinking their Bud.”
Although such cultural flashpoints appear to be driving greater polarisation in the US, recent polling from Gallup suggests something else is also going on.
In 2004, 35 per cent of Americans identified as a Democratic, 33 per cent as Republican and 31 per cent as politically independent. Today, both parties are down to 25 per cent and independents are up to 49 per cent. Jeff Jones, a Gallup analyst, said this reflects not so much greater polarisation of the population as growing disillusion with the hysterical political climate. “The political system, US institutions and the two parties . . . are seen as ineffectual, too political and too extreme,” he said.
In a video recorded in March, before the controversy broke, Bud Light’s recently recruited head of marketing, Alissa Heinerscheid, explained her strategy to “evolve and elevate” the brand.
“I had a really clear job to do when I took over Bud Light, and it was: this brand is in decline. It’s been in decline for a long time. And if we do not attract young drinkers to come and drink this brand, there will be no future for Bud Light,” she said. “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.”
It is believed that she has since taken a leave of absence.
Pedr Howard, head of the creative excellence practice at the market research firm Ipsos, said he advised companies not to be deterred from long-term strategic goals by outbursts on social media.
“In general, in terms of marketing and communications, tapping into cultural trends is a really important technique that brands have been using for a long time. The problem with this day and age is that almost everything is polarising,” Howard said. “If you get some praise from one side, you’re probably going to get some criticism from the other side. A week or two of social media backlash shouldn’t change the strategy that you spent a few months plotting. A lot of times, people find something else to be angry about on Twitter and the conversation moves on.”
He pointed to the threatened boycott of United Airlines when a doctor who refused to give up his seat was dragged off one of its aircraft in 2017: passenger numbers and profits actually rose afterwards. The same year Nike faced similar pressure because of its sponsorship deal with outspoken NFL player Colin Kaepernick; since then its share price has increased by 50 per cent.
In the three weeks since the Mulvaney furore erupted, Anheuser-Busch InBev’s stock price has been gradually recovering. It fell from 66.88 dollars to a low of 63.37 dollars on April 12, a market capitalisation drop of 6 billion dollars. By Friday the share price was back over 65 dollars, perhaps helped by Donald Trump Jr, no woke warrior, who tweeted that it was wrong to boycott a company that has supported Republicans over Democrats 60-40 with its donations.
Back in the Brewhouse Historical Sports Bar, Bud Light drinkers thought the company may have lost sight of its St Louis roots after being bought by the giant Belgian multinational in 2008. They were not ready to abandon their beer, though.
“They know they fucked up,” said Evan Lauer. “The main headquarters now is overseas, they don’t know their main demographic of where they started in the Midwest, where it’s just blue-collar workers and farmers. But I grew up on it, I know it, so I’m going to stick to a beer that I know. Nike did the same — still a great-quality product, still going to wear it.”
Nate Metcalf said that “one mistake should not ruin everything” and most people would forget about the transgender marketing stunt in a few months. “What do I think about it? I f***ing hate it. But I love Bud Light.”
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