Bud Light’s partnership with Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender activist and social media influencer, has sparked controversy.
A collaboration between Bud Light and trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney “makes no sense at all,” says Oxygen Financial CEO Ted Jenkin, according to a financial expert.
Anheuser-Busch, the world’s largest beer company, has seen its stock fall in the wake of Bud Light’s divisive alliance with transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney. The $132 billion company isn’t going anywhere, financial experts say, but the eyebrow-raising promotion could damage Bud Light’s reputation.
“I just don’t understand why they hired a marketing specialist. Ted Jenkin, CEO of Oxygen Financial, told Fox News Digital, “I mean if your target market is Kid Rock and you suddenly decide to go, RuPaul, it just doesn’t work. makes no sense at all.
“A lot of times they’re focused on getting blue-collar workers and younger 25- to 29-year-olds. So I don’t think that particular effort is going to completely devastate the business,” Jenkin said. But in the near future, it will make Bud Light drinkers who have been loyal to the brand wonder, “Do I want to continue drinking Bud Light based on who they show as a Bud Light representative?”
When Anheuser-Busch’s Bud Light beer brand celebrated transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney’s “365 Days of Girls” with a divisive ad, it set social media ablaze. (Instagram)
Mulvaney, a transgender rights advocate and social media influencer who rose to fame in 2022 after getting a chance to speak to President Biden about LGBTQ issues, is now represented by the powerful Creative Artists Agency and has endorsement deals with other big-name companies like Nike and Kate Spade. Mulvaney said earlier this month that the brewer delivered its Bud Light packages with her face printed on the cans as part of an advertisement for the brewery’s March Madness competition and to commemorate the entire year of “the girl.”
In a subsequent campaign film, Mulvaney was seen splashing in a bathtub while wearing a bikini. There were a lot of backlashes, starting with many people questioning whether the deal was an April Fool’s joke. Since then, Anheuser-Busch distributors in rural areas have expressed concern, country singer John Rich has claimed to have removed cases of Bud Light from his Nashville bar, conservative rocker Kid Rock used several cases of Bud Light as a target in a viral video, and the beer juggernaut’s value has plummeted.
On March 31, the share price was $66.73, while it closed at $64.34 on March 31. After it closed at $63.38 on Wednesday, sparking headlines that Anheuser-Busch had lost about $5 billion in market capitalization, there was talk of investors buying the dip.
There were a lot of backlashes, starting with many people questioning whether the deal was an April Fool’s joke. Since then, Anheuser-Busch distributors in rural areas have expressed concern, country singer John Rich has claimed to have removed cases of Bud Light from his Nashville bar, conservative rocker Kid Rock used several cases of Bud Light as a target in a viral video, and the beer juggernaut’s value has plummeted.
On March 31, the share price was $66.73, while it closed at $64.34 on March 31. After it closed at $63.38 on Wednesday, sparking headlines that Anheuser-Busch had lost about $5 billion in market capitalization, there was talk of investors buying the dip.
See what happened to Lance Armstrong, Bill Cosby, and Paula Deen; they were all well-known individuals. We are currently only talking about a transgender influencer, Jenkin stated. “So there can definitely be a trickle-down effect.”
photo of a special can of Bud Light featuring TikTok influencer Dylan Mulvaney. Instagram/Dylan Mulvaney
HEARTLAND, SOUTHERN ANHEUSER-BUSCH DISTRIBUTORS ‘CLOPPED’ BY DYLAN MULVANEY PACT: REPORT
According to Scott Shepard, a fellow at the National Center for Public Policy Research, Anheuser-Busch is controlled by multinational beverage giant InBev, so the failure of one American product is unlikely to have a significant impact on the company’s global value.
But that seems like a logical outcome. According to Shepard, the Venn diagram of Bud Light drinkers and those eager to promote the issue at the forefront of the global culture war is basically just two circles tangentially adjacent to each other. While InBev investors will not be significantly harmed, distributors of AB products and others who do business with the company undoubtedly will.
Anheuser-Busch’s “momentary awakening initiative” “follows the current market trend of punishing companies for leaning into the social culture,” according to renowned journalist-turned-investor Porter Bibb, but also admits it won’t last forever.
“That too will pass, as will fears of an impending recession and a hard landing. As Gen Z begins to emerge, the nation is — finally — going through social, cultural, and political upheaval, Bibb says.” in an interview with Fox News Digital.
Anheuser-Busch and Disney, in his view, are two firms that “have been attacked for trying to reach previously marginalized groups” in an effort to demonstrate care and expand their customer base.
More importantly, Bibb said, “They have to make sure they’re catering to core niche customers because perceptions, tastes, and brand awareness are constantly changing.
Anheuser-Busch in particular could suffer a drop in its stock price when the market realizes that Bud sales are quickly losing ground to all the water and seltzer brands the business now carries.
Beer drinkers flooded social media with criticism of the makers of Bud Light’s decision and reflections on the situation as the story became firmly embedded in the cultural zeitgeist.