Transgenderist Dylan Mulvaney may be basking in woke praise for the moment, but should Bud Light suffer lasting damage from his marketing promotion, he may well have to share the spotlight with an actual woman as the face of that sinking ship.
The near future for the marketing team at Anheuser-Busch wasn’t looking brighter after a recent interview with a Bud Light vice president went viral where she derided the brand’s traditional “fratty” image in her push for woke alternatives. Joining the “Make Yourself At Home” podcast on March 30, Alissa Heinerscheid, vice president of marketing foretold the direction of the brand ahead of Mulvaney’s coming out as a beer influencer unlike “fratty” predecessors.
“I’m a businesswoman, I had a really clear job to do when I took over Bud Light, and it was ‘This brand is in decline, it’s been in a decline for a really long time, and if we do not attract young drinkers to come and drink this brand there will be no future for Bud Light,'” she contended.
“So I had this super clear mandate. Like, we need to evolve and elevate this incredibly iconic brand and my — what I brought to that was a belief in — okay, what does evolve and elevate mean? It means inclusivity,” Heinerscheid excitedly argued. “It means shifting the tone. It means having a campaign that’s truly inclusive and feels lighter and brighter and different and appeals to women and to men. And representation is sort of the heart of evolution. You gotta see people who reflect you in the work.”
“And we had this hangover. I mean, Bud Light had been kind of a brand of fratty, kind of out-of-touch humor and it was really important that we had another approach,” she added.
Since Mulvaney’s feature as a face of Bud Light, along with paid sponsorships with Nike, Kate Spade and other brands, the company has remained silent on social media and has even canceled public events set to feature the iconic Budweiser Clydesdales. Meanwhile, numerous public figures like entertainers Travis Tritt, John Rich and Kid Rock have made clear in varied ways how they will no longer be supporting Anheuser-Busch, from simply no longer purchasing their products to outright destroying them.
Kid Rock in MAGA hat fires at #BudLight in FU video message: 'Grandpa's feeling frisky'https://t.co/tw5CZmupZn
— American Wire News (@americanwire_) April 4, 2023
The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh, a leading voice pushing back on the damages of trans ideology, noted that this should merely be the beginning, to send a message to leftist organizations. “We can’t boycott every woke company or even most of them,” he pointed out. “But we can pick one, it hardly matters which, and target it with a ruthless boycott campaign. Claim one scalp then move onto the next.”
It remains to be seen whether or not Bud Light is suffering from the backlash, but they did provide a statement to Fox News Digital attempting to temper how big a part Mulvaney has in their marketing plans: “Anheuser-Busch works with hundreds of influencers across our brands as one of many ways to authentically connect with audiences across various demographics. From time to time we produce unique commemorative cans for fans and for brand influencers, like Dylan Mulvaney. This commemorative can was a gift to celebrate a personal milestone and is not for sale to the general public.”
By contrast, Nike doubled down on support for their use of a man to sell women’s athletic apparel and posted to their Instagram account: “You are an essential component to the success of your community! We welcome comments that contribute to a positive and constructive discussion: Be kind…Be inclusive…Encourage each other…Hate speech, bullying, or other behaviors that are not in the spirit of a diverse and inclusive community will be deleted.”
As for Heinerscheid, social media reacted:
For someone that claims to be inclusive she excluded a lot of her core audience from her campaigns. That’s a big fail in marketing.
— Mark Fidelman (@markfidelman) April 9, 2023
Well, if it was in decline, you just shoved it over a cliff. And, you clearly have kids based on the background so what on earth are you thinking directly marketing alcohol to young people?
— Jerrod Sessler for Congress ’24 (@Sessler) April 9, 2023
“So, I don’t really like our current customer demographic much, soooo… I decided to make it worse to appeal to very few actual buyers of our product. “
They thought this was a good idea. LOL From the company who brought REAL MEN OF GENIUS. Heh.
— Lord Travis Wright (@teedubya) April 10, 2023
That must be some kinda Marketing program they have at The Wharton School. She placed the entire future of one of the most iconic brands in the beer industry on an ad campaign targeting less than 1% of the population.
— Bobby (@BobbyWilson1004) April 9, 2023
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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