Global Courant 2023-04-14 21:46:10
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Following the “stupidity of someone who woke up like hell,” former Trump Georgia campaign executive Seth Weathers launched his own beer in 2016: Conservative Dad’s Ultra Right
Published April 14, 2023 • read for 4 minutes
Dylan Mulvaney attends the PFLAG 50th Anniversary Gala at The New York Marriott Marquis on March 3, 2023 in New York City. Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images
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Beer giant Anheuser-Busch lost more than $5 billion in market cap in recent weeks following a brand partnership with transgender social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
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In April, Bud Light sent Mulvaney a few beers, including a custom can with her portrait. Mulvaney then posted about the gift on social media, where she has more than 1.8 million followers on Instagram and 10.8 million on TikTok. The beers were a celebration to mark her first year as a woman and for March Madness, Mulvaney said.
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The internet responded quickly. Kid Rock, adorned with a MAGA hat, expressed his distaste for the collaboration by shooting several of them cans of Bud Light with an assault rifle. That made country singer Travis Tritt known Bud Light would no longer be available at its shows. And other right-wing figures announced they were boycotting America’s best-selling beer, calling the collaboration “gender propaganda,” among other things.
The response appears to be in line with rising anti-transsentment amid a spate of state-level bills in the US aimed at abolition of gender-affirming youth care and access to public spaces for transvestites.
“I would have bought the king of beers, but it turned his sex into the queen of beers,” US Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene tweeted last weeknext to a photo of a box of Coors Light.
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Seth Weathers, the former director of Trump’s Georgia campaign in 2016, saw a business opportunity and launched his own beer, called “Conservative Dad’s Ultra Right.”
The 38-year-old told News Week that the response to the “100 percent wake-free beer” was “crazy,” with customers pre-ordering “thousands” of the six-packs available in-store for $19.99.
Online, however, the beer – and his Marketing campaign — garnered mixed responses, including some commenters noting that Anheuser-Busch owns another beer with “Ultra” in its name in Michelob Ultra and that Weathers could face legal ramifications over the branding.
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Other public commentators, including Joe Rogan, have expressed confusion over the controversy.
“Why, if something is good, do you care who has it?” Rogan said in a recent episode of his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience. “Like, would we do this with cheesecake?”
Howard Stern, meanwhile, wondered why Kid Rock, Travis Tritt and others have had such a strong reaction to the brand partnership.
“Why do you care so much?” Stern said, via New York Post. “I wish I could call Kid Rock and have him come on the show and just tell me, ‘Why are you so upset about this? How hurtful is this?’ I don’t know why he got so upset,” he added.
Even Donald Trump Jr. begins to question the recoil.
“I’m not for destroying an American and iconic company for something like this,” he said on his podcast, Triggered. “When I really look at it, I’m not going to blame the whole company… for the stupidity of someone in a marketing campaign who woke up like hell.”
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Earlier this week, Vox reported that multiple emails were reportedly sent to Anheuser-Busch with bomb threats.
“The safety of our employees is always our top priority. We are working with local law enforcement to ensure the safety of our people and our facilities,” an Anheuser-Busch spokesperson said in a statement to Vox.
Mulvaney, who also has sponsorship deals with Nike and Kate Spade, responded to critics while performing as a guest on the Onward with Rosie O’Donnell podcast, saying she’s an “easy target” because she’s “so new to this”.
“I think it’s much harder to go after a trans woman who’s been doing this for like 20 years. I think maybe they think there is a chance with me… But what is their goal?” she said.
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I would have bought the king of beers, but it turned his sex into the queen of beers.
So it’s made for chilling from now on. pic.twitter.com/QNC5j8qtKI
— Marjorie Taylor Greene (@mtgreenee) April 8, 2023
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Mulvaney later added that she tries to be “positive” in everything she does and “to make people laugh or make a kid feel seen”.
According to a report by the daily threadan unnamed source told the publication that “no one higher level” at Anheuser-Busch knew about the campaign.
“Some low-level marketing executive who helps manage the hundreds of influencer engagements they do must have thought it was no big deal,” said the source. “Obviously it was, and it’s a shame because they have a well-earned reputation for simply being America’s beer — not a political company.”
Anheuser-Busch had recovered about a billion of its lost market cap by Friday morning. The company was valued at around $132 billion last month, but currently has a market cap of around $128 billion.
Kid Rock recently started promoting another alcohol brand on his social media, Happy Dad Seltzer.
“Fight night with some @happydad,” he posted on Instagram while attending UFC 287 in Miami. However, social media commentators were quick to point out that the brand previously collaborated with transgender reality star Caitlyn Jenner.
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