Posted on 04/15/2023 6:42:41 PM PDT by Morgana
Anheuser-Busch's handling of backlash to its Bud Light brand partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney has been branded a historically-bad marketing gaffe by a leading expert.
In a Bloomberg Opinion column on Saturday, advertising and brands expert Ben Schott called the Bud Light imbroglio 'a marketing case study for the ages' in 'how not to handle brand collaborations in a dangerously polarized space.'
Schott ranked the incident alongside infamous brand 'gaffes' in history, such as the chairman of Barilla pasta's 2013 declaration that he 'would never do a commercial with a homosexual family'.
And in 2006, the CEO of Abercrombie and Fitch notoriously said the company only wanted 'cool' and 'attractive' customers, saying, 'Are we exclusionary? Absolutely.'
'But Bud Light's action is worse than a gaffe, it's a betrayal,' wrote Schott, noting that the brand retreated into 'cowardly' silence, leaving Mulvaney high and dry, as the controversy exploded online and in bars across the country.
'Bud Light actively and eagerly sought out a controversial influencer in a dangerously polarized space, with neither the wisdom to plan for a backlash nor the bravery to stand by its partner,' he wrote.
Schott was sympathetic to Mulvaney - but condemned Bud Light for choosing to use the star for a campaign, then abandon her when the going got tough.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
My advice : just ignore it and pretend that it never happened . It works for me all the time
Well, it DOES outrank GM calling a car they intended to sell in Mexico the NO-VA.
Who thinks trannys drink beer anyway? Aren’t they more into wine coolers and carrot smoothies?
The statements reads like it was written by ChatGPT.
Dylan Mulvaney is not a “her” or a “she”. He is a man, pretending to be a woman. Anyone who refers to him as “her” or “she”, is someone who is willingly participating in Mulvaney’s delusion (or fraud, if he is doing it simply for the money).
Is Bud’s gaffe even worse than the “new coke” debacle?
It does surprise me that Lia Thomas doesn’t get endorsement deals. Or would that ruin its amateur status? After the NBA and NHL players started in the Olympics, defining “amateur” is harder than defining what a woman is.
Or Honda naming its sport car aimed for women after the most popular vaginal sex toy of the decade. the Prelude.
New Coke was a monumental marketing failure but at least people didn’t worry that their friends would think they were queer if they drank it. :)
Arf! :-D
Some CIA clown ends up the CEO of AB. What luck in life. I would bet he is still on the CIA payroll for info.
That is how she is spinning it. Rogan came out saying “Most bud drinkers are racist!”
Oh, I went out for Mexican food tonight. InBev is out of the bar. As in gone.
What I’m thinking. AB is an international company. Having associates on the inside would be a very nice asset.
Bud lite is now butt lite.
That's news to me but I'm glad to hear it. Barilla pasta is my first choice and now, happily, it can continue to be.
Boycott Anheuser Busch.
Nothing beats the classic coke fiasco.
I think this just did. Coke is still around. This may have ended Budweiser
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While it looks like the Bud thing was a total disaster, it technically is still too early to tell (bear with me as I’m being generous to make a point). In the end, the ‘coke fiasco’, really wasn’t a bad thing at all as measured by what happened to market share later that year and in subsequent years. Coke had been losing market share to Pepsi for 15 straight years.... take a look at the turnaround to market share following the coke fiasco of 1985-86..... https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2020/10/01/the-cola-wars-made-pepsi-and-coke-the-worlds-best-marketers How did that happen? I think it was because the whole thing got people talking about coke, rushing out to stock up before it couldn’t be found on store shelves, folks feeling nostalgic as they felt they were losing a bit of history etc.... and at that point, things took on a life of their own.
In the end, Coke didn’t lose market share, they gained market share. Was what they did a smart strategic move? Of course it wasn’t but in the end, some fancy footwork managed to get them out of the self induced mess and they came out of it ok. Rest assured, the Coke experiment of 1985 will never be held up as model of how to run a smart marketing program.
I think the Bud mess is far worse... except for one thing. AB own so many brands, the average consumer doesn’t even know what all falls under the AB umbrella. If people refuse to buy Bud but just switch over to Corona, AB won’t sell any less beer even though what Bud did was incredibly stupid.
“He is a man, pretending to be a woman.”
From what I’ve seen, he’s a man mocking women.
Honestly, sounds like an “it” to me.
Her as in the “enlightened” ad exec who screwed up.
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