Global Courant 2023-05-04 00:54:02
Anheuser-Busch is handing out free beer to its distributors’ employees to make up for backlash from a promotion featuring transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, WSJ reports.Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press and Rob Kim/Getty Images
Anheuser-Busch is trying to defuse tensions with its wholesalers, WSJ reports.
Bud Light has reportedly seen a drop in sales since a promotion featured a transgender influencer.
Amid the backlash, the company is handing out free crates of beer to employees of its wholesalers.
The company behind Bud Light hopes some free beer will help settle tensions with its distributors, some of whom told The Wall Street Journal that they faced backlash and declining sales after the promotion of the brand, there was a transgender influencer.
Anheuser-Busch, the company that owns Bud Light, is donating a box of Bud Light to all employees who work with the company’s wholesalers. reported the Journal. The company has also promised new ads that will see the beermaker increase marketing spend for Bud Light to mitigate any impact on sales, distributors told the Journal.
These changes follow a months-long controversy that led to a reported dip in sales for the beer brand. On April 1, transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney posted a video on Instagram with Bud Light cans designed with a photo of her face. A backlash ensued among some of his clients, including one conservatively led boycott towards the brand. The Journal reported that later Bud Light sales declined up 17% by mid-April, according to data created by Bump Williams Consulting and analyzed by Nielsen.
By comparison, Bud Light’s competitors, including Coors Light and Miller Light, saw sales increase nearly 18%, according to the same data analyzed by Nielsen.
Mulvaney previously spoke out about the criticism she received on the podcast ‘Onward with Rosie O’Donnell’.
“I think it comes back to the fact that these people don’t understand me, and everything I do or say is somehow taken out of context and used against me,” Mulvaney said.
In a TikTok she posted last week, talking to Mulvaney about how she’s been offline for a few weeks and indirectly referencing the recent controversy. She told her followers, “I think it’s okay to be frustrated with someone or confused, but what I have a hard time understanding is the need to dehumanize and be cruel.”
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A representative for Dylan Mulvaney did not respond to Insider’s request for comment prior to publication.
Anheuser-Busch’s wholesale distributors, many of which are family businesses, the Journal reported, have also dealt with some of the fallout. As of April 22, Bud Light sales in U.S. stores were down 21% compared to the previous year, according to the analysis of sales data reported by the Journal. Distributors told the Journal they were dealing with backlash from people in their stores, bars and over the phone after the promotion.
Anheuser-Busch did not respond to Insider’s request for comment.
In a rack the company released on April 14, Brendan Whitworth, CEO of Anheuser-Busch, said: “It was never our intention to be part of a discussion that divides people. Our job is to bring people together while enjoying a beer.”
Shortly after the backlash, Alissa Heinerscheid, vice president of marketing for Bud Light, and Daniel Blake, vice president of marketing for Anheuser-Busch’s mainstream brands, both took leave. reported the Journal. A spokesperson confirmed to Insider that Heinerscheid would be replaced by Todd Allen, Budweiser’s global vice president.
The statement also said it has 47,000 distributors and more than 18,000 employees.
Read the original article Business Insider
