News/Commentary

Bud Light sucks up to LGBT group with $200K donation after backlash for not having Dylan Mulvaney’s back

June 1, 2023 | | Print Article

After being punished by the gay and trans communities over the catastrophic transgender Dylan Mulvaney marketing blunder, Bud Light announced on Tuesday that it will donate $200,000 to the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce in support of its Communities of Color Initiative.

Despite the company hemorrhaging market value and its beer staying on shelves even though they are trying to give it away, Bud Light is doubling down on the gay and transgender issue.

This isn’t the first time Bud Light has shown support for the LGBTQ+ community. For over two decades, the company has partnered with the LGBTQ+ nonprofit Glaad. In 2019, the brand launched rainbow aluminum bottles in recognition of Pride Month, with a dollar for every case sold, up to $150,000, donated to the organization. The beer maker brought back its rainbow bottles in 2022. There’s no sign of them this year, however.

According to the Daily Mail, Bud Light’s parent company Anheuser-Busch has lost $26 billion in value since April 1. Shares for the embattled company tanked Wednesday to a new eight-month low of $53. Anheuser-Busch’s overall sales have reportedly dipped by 10 percent compared to the same time last year. In the same time period, the company’s competitors have added $3.2 billion in market value to their brands.

The donation to the LGBTQ group follows Bud Light forming a partnership with the company last year. Bud Light and Anheuser-Busch have donated to and worked with the LGBTQ community for many years.

“This initiative is designed to support the growth and success of minority LGBTQ+-owned businesses through certification, scholarships, and business development in an effort to create equal opportunities for the economic advancement of small businesses in the LGBTQ+ community,” a statement announcing the initiative read.

“The brand will also be supporting NGLCC’s first-ever CoCi Biz Pitch program, where the winning minority LGBTQ+ business owner will receive $5,000 and have the chance to go on to compete at the 2023 NGLCC International Business & Leadership Conference LGBT Biz Pitch Competition for $50,000 in cash and prizes,” the statement added.

The NGLCC is a not-for-profit corporation that seeks to expand the LGBTQ+ business community and advocate for LGBTQ+ rights worldwide, according to its website. Established in 2002, the group is the largest of its kind and officially certifies businesses as being LGBTQ+-owned. The NGLCC claims it represents 1.4 million LGBTQ business owners and $1.7 trillion in annual economic activity in the US alone.

In May, several gay bars in Chicago stopped selling Anheuser-Busch products in protest of the company allegedly trying to placate conservatives.

Chicago’s 2Bears Tavern claimed that the company’s response “shows how little Anheuser-Busch cares about the LGBTQIA+ community, and in particular transgender people, who have been under unrelenting attack in this country.”

“Since Anheuser-Busch does not support us, we will not support it,” the company asserted.

Sidetrack, which is the largest gay bar in the Midwest, followed suit, claiming that Anheuser-Busch “wrongfully validates the position that it is acceptable to acquiesce to the demands of those who do not support the trans community and wish to erase LGBTQ+ visibility.”

“Now’s not the time to back down,” remarked Brian K. Bond, who is the executive director of PFLAG, an organization founded in 1973 to advocate for LGBTQ+ people and their families.

As Bud Light continues to thumb its nose at its consumer base, JPMorgan analysts wrote in a note to clients last week, “We believe there is a subset of American consumers who will not drink a Bud Light for the foreseeable future.”

Anheuser-Busch is now telling wholesalers that it will buy back unsold cases of Bud Light that are past their expiration date. It’s also giving rebates that basically give their beer away. A $15 rebate was offered online during Memorial Day weekend.

The company partnered up with Harley-Davidson and also ran a patriotic Clydesdale ad to attempt to win back its base. That didn’t work and now continuing to flaunt the gay/trans issue is likely only going to make it worse for the company.

There has been no rebound for the brand and it is little wonder why. Somehow, the marketing team at Bud Light can’t seem to grasp why that is or be able to read the room when it comes to their consumer base.

According to the Daily Mail, “For the week ending May 6, in-store sales of Bud Light across the US were down 23.6 percent compared to the year before. And the week before that, ending April 29, sales dropped by 23.3 percent. This follows declines in sales for the week ending April 22, which saw a 21.4 percent decline. Seven days earlier, the dip has been 17 percent, according to NielsenIQ data provided to Dailymail.com by Bump Williams Consultancy.”

Data is coming out that shows ongoing sales of Bud Light are allegedly dropping by as much as 20 percent each week. Industry experts see it as a negative trend that is not likely to change anytime soon.

Bud Light has turned off the reply function for its accounts across social media platforms because the response to the company is so negative. The company has not posted to its Twitter account since April 14, skipping Memorial Day weekend, one of the biggest weekends for beer sales of the year.

Get the latest BPR news delivered free to your inbox daily. SIGN UP HERE

DONATE TO AMERICAN WIRE

If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to American Wire News to help us fight them.

$10
$15
$25
$50
Other
$
Thank you for your donation!
Latest posts by Terresa Monroe-Hamilton (see all)

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

Latest Articles