Bud Light promises to 'stay in our lane' after receiving backlash for stunt with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney
7 May 2024, 12:28 | Updated: 7 May 2024, 12:33
Bud Light says it has learnt to 'stay in our lane' after receiving heavy backlash for working with a transgender influencer to market its beverage.
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Jason Warner, the president of the beer company in northern Europe, said the company would keep contested political and societal issues separate from its marketing and beer products.
Some, mainly in the U.S., boycotted the brand for working with Dylan Mulvaney, a trans influencer during a series of social media campaigns last year.
Mr Warner said: “The major learning was, ‘Hey, I want to enjoy [Bud Light] when I’m not having to think about all of this, and I want to enjoy it with my friends’.
“‘I want sports, I want music, I want fun, I want friends. I want everyone to be happy together’.
"Unfortunately, the output of that was the complete opposite, which is not what we’re there to do,” the president for AB InBev - the world's largest brewing company - said, reported by The Telegraph.
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AB InNev suffered a drag in sales of Bud Light following the advertising campaign last year, which involved Mulvaney receiving personalised cans of the low-alcohol beer to mark her year anniversary of transitioning.
It also lost its position as the top-selling beer brand in the U.S.
But the stunt received rebuke from right-wing commentators in the U.S. including from former President Donald Trump.
Mr Warner said the backlash from the campaign was a "very difficult moment" - adding that the company would not "stay in our lane".
“There are very few categories in the world where people care that much. I don’t think people would look at mayonnaise that way, or care that much about mayonnaise, but they care about their beer," he said.
AB InBev is the world's largest brewer. It makes products including Budweiser, Stella Artois, Corona and Becks.
Mr Warner’s comments are considered part of AB InBev trying to rebuild its status ahead of the Paris Olympics, where its alcohol-free product Corona Cero will be the sporting event's first beer sponsor.
