Global Courant 2023-05-09 20:30:33
Michel Doukeris, CEO of Bud Light’s parent company Anheuser-Busch – BENOIT DOPPAGNE/AFP
Bud Light’s CEO has blamed “one” social media post about a transgender influencer for wiping billions off the company’s value.
Michel Doukeris, the CEO of Anheuser-Busch, the light beer’s parent company, said “misinformation and confusion” on social media had played a role in the debacle.
Bud Light subsequently came under fire from conservative activists and customers it worked with Dylan Mulvaneya transgender social media influencer with over 10 million online followers.
Mulvaney, who has documented her transition in a video series called “Days of Girlhood”, shared a sponsored post for the beer brand on her Instagram account.
She filmed herself drinking from custom Bud Light cans with her own face on them.
Dylan Mulvaney’s face on a personalized Bud Light can – Instagram/Dylan Mulvaney
A subsequent boycott by conservatives was blamed for wiping out about $4 billion of Anheuser-Busch’s value within days and sales volumes of the beer fell by a quarter.
Two Bud Light executives were sent on leave in the wake of the marketing disaster.
However, Mr Doukeris told the Financial Times that “misinformation and confusion” online had led customers to interpret Mulvaney’s personalized can as one containing was in production for general saleinstead of one time.
“It was never our intention to make it for general production and sale to the public,” he said.
Some also interpreted Mulvaney’s post as a Bud Light campaign. Mr. Doukeris said: “It wasn’t: it was one post. It wasn’t an advertisement.”
The CEO complained that there were even videos of billboards depicting the Bud Light cans “electronically” being viewed by 10 million people.
“That had nothing to do with Bud Light, it was just pure social media creation,” he said.
Dylan Mulvaney Films Herself Drinking From a Custom Bud Light Can – Instagram/Dylan Mulvaney
He added: “You have one fact and each person puts an opinion behind the fact. And then the opinions quickly start to be replicated on every comment. By the time 10 or 20 people post a comment, the reality is no longer what the fact is, but more (about) what the comments were.
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The consumer element America’s Culture Wars underscores the challenges faced by companies like Anheuser-Busch, which also owns some of the best-known beer brands, from Stella Artois to Corona.
Bud Light sales volumes for the week ending April 22, the most recent data available, were down 26 percent from a year ago, according to an analysis by Bump Williams Consulting based on data from Nielsen IQ.
However, Mr. Doukeris said it was “too early” to say what impact the sales decline would have on the company’s full year results.
Anheuser-Busch’s first-quarter earnings rose nearly 14 percent from a year earlier, according to the Financial Times, beating analyst expectations.
