Dylan Mulvaney in a promotional video for Bud Light.
Dylan Mulvaney in a promotional video for Bud Light.
For decades, Bud Light has coveted its reputation as the affordable brew of choice for everyday Americans.
But its recent decision to partner with transgender TikTok personality Dylan Mulvaney to attract younger drinkers has infuriated some of its most loyal, more conservative customers.
It has been slammed as tone-deaf by everyone from Tucker Carlson to Kid Rock.
If recent sales figures are anything to go by, Middle America is fighting back with a vengeance.
Distributors of Anheuser-Busch, the country’s largest beer producer, which encompasses Budweiser, Michelob and Bud Light, have been “spooked” by their dwindling sales over the Easter weekend, according to trade publication Beer Business Daily.
The drop in sales was reported in midwestern and southern America, most particularly in rural areas.
Mulvaney, a 26-year-old influencer who describes herself as one of “the most privileged trans women in America”, posted images of the customised Bud Light cans with her face on to mark “365 Days of Girlhood”.
She also published a video of herself drinking a Bud Light in the bath.
Mulvaney has scooped up dozens of major sponsorships. Photo / Twitter
Modernising the brand
Days before Mulvaney’s partnership was unveiled, Alissa Heinerscheid, vice-president of marketing at Bud Light, said she wanted to modernise Bud Light from a “brand of fratty, kind of out-of-touch humour”.
In the eyes of Anheuser-Busch’s marketing executives, Bud Light had become a brand “in decline”.
Heinerscheid told the Make Yourself at Home podcast that she wanted “a campaign that is truly inclusive”.
In response, the musician Kid Rock filmed himself taking a machine gun to several cases of the beer and shouting: “F*** Bud Light. And f*** Anheuser-Busch.”
Tucker Carlson, one of America’s conservative TV anchors, said: “Bud Light fails over this. I don’t want to root for bankruptcy, but in this case, I think we have to hope for that.”
The decision to work with Mulvaney appeared to anger some loyal customers, including country singer Travis Tritt, who made the decision to remove all of the products from his tour bus.
American singer-songwriter Kid Rock angrily shot at several cases of Bud Light.
‘Distributors have rung the bell’
“This is probably the biggest controversy we’ve seen in a long time,” Harry Schuhmacher, the publisher of Beer Business Daily, told Fox News.
“It could be a tempest in a teapot, could be temporary, but it’s enough that distributors have rung the bell.”
The trade publication said it had spoken to distributors across the country, but noted its data was limited and the Easter weekend could also have affected consumer patterns.
However, it did appear that “Bud Light took a volume hit ... particularly in rural areas, which consist of their higher share markets”, Beer Business Dailyreported.
Mulvaney alluded to the backlash in a recent TikTok video of her performing a song, captioned “it’s hard to see the light right now”.
“Thank you all for making me feel supported. I am not alone,” she wrote on TikTok.
It is not the first time Mulvaney has been at the centre of a PR storm.
Sports bra storm
It is not the first time Mulvaney has been at the centre of a PR storm.
Earlier this month, she faced an outcry after she was paid to promote one of Nike’s sports bras.
Critics, including the British former Olympian Sharron Davies, questioned why an influencer without breasts had been asked to model a sports bra.
Mulvaney also provoked outrage from Caitlyn Jenner, after she advocated for normalising “women having bulges” while wearing shorts.
Jenner, who underwent gender reassignment surgery in 2017, said: “There is a difference between acceptance and tolerance, and normalising exposing your genitals in a public way and a public place.
Mulvaney, who comes from a well-connected, wealthy San Diego family, grew a large online following when she began sharing her journey of transitioning from male to female.
She is reported to use a high-powered Hollywood team to push her brand and is estimated to have earned more than a million dollars from her brand endorsements.
Her grandfather, James Mulvaney Sr, served as president of the San Diego Padres baseball team, while her father, James Jr, is a philanthropist who spends his free time baking and handing out free cookies.
Last year, she met US President Joe Biden at the White House and told him she was on day 221 of transitioning, to which Biden replied: “God love you.”
In a statement after the backlash, Anheuser-Busch said it “works with hundreds of influencers across our brands” and Mulvaney’s customised cans were not for general sale.
