There’s a difference between marketing to women and marketing to wannabe women and Bud Light could be in the midst of learning that lesson the hard way courtesy of the marketing VP’s disastrous trajectory.
The long-term impact of Anheuser-Busch partnering with transgenderist Dylan Mulvaney to promote Bud Light remains to be seen, but should there be lasting damage there will be little question as to who to hold responsible. Previously, it had been reported how the vice president of marketing, Alissa Heinerscheid, had led the team to sponsor Mulvaney and how before his videos came out she had touted “shifting the tone” of the brand to be “truly inclusive…lighter and brighter.”
Looking back at the parent company’s stocks since Heinerscheid came on in June 2022, making her the first woman in charge of the brand in its four-decade history, though it had hit a low near $44 under her watch, since Oct. there had been a climb that saw new vigor after the premiere of a couple of popular Super Bowl LVII ads.
Her goal to gear the product toward women as well as men played out in a spot featuring actor Miles Teller and his wife, Keleigh Sperry, where he casually entertained her with a dance routine as she appeared to be waiting on hold on her cell phone. The tagline “Easy To Drink, Easy To Enjoy” resonated.
So too did “The Bud Light Carry” ad that showed a woman deftly maneuvering her way through a crowded bar carrying five pints, passing a timid-looking man using a tray to hoist only four.
Following the Super Bowl, the brand had seen an overall uptick in stock value climbing from around $59 on Feb. 13 to shy of $67 on April 3. Though it has recouped some, it appeared that boycotts had significantly impacted trading on Monday when the stock price dropped from $66 to $64.
Heinersheid had admitted to the “Make Yourself At Home” podcast on March 30 that she “had a really clear job when [she] 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.'”
Bud Light VP tries to explain their shift into wokenesshttps://t.co/rHNQrEl8ot
— American Wire News (@americanwire_) April 10, 2023
“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,” she continued. “And representation is sot of the heart of evolution. You gotta see people who reflect you in the work.”
In November, Provoke Media named Heinerscheid one of their 25 American Innovators of the Year and she had told them at the time, “I have always been impressed with how culturally relevant and impactful the marketing is for Nike.” Notably, Nike has been facing similar backlash for its sponsorship of Mulvaney in selling women’s athletic wear.
Social media from the company has remained quiet since the fallout from the transgenderist partnership has continued and the company defended its move in a statement that read in part, “Anheuser-Busch works with hundreds of influencers across our brands as one of many ways to authentically connect with audiences across various demographics.”
Should the financial losses from the woke endeavor continue, Bud Light will be able to mark the time and date they pushed “inclusivity” too far to get away from their earlier “fratty” image.
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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