Why Some Transgender People Are Turning On Bud Light After Mulvaney Drama

Newsweek ^ | May 2, 2023 | Aleks Phillips

[Morgana]

While Bud Light has seemingly seen the brunt of the backlash to its partnership with Dylan Mulvaney coming from conservatives opposed to the brand aligning itself with the transgender community, a growing number of voices from that community are now speaking out against the beer.

Since calls for a boycott emerged on social media at the start of April, Bud Light's parent company has, in the words of a marketing strategist, made a series of "knee-jerk" moves to quell the outrage, including releasing an advert for Budweiser infused with patriotic imagery and placing marketing executives involved in the partnership on leave.

But these appear to have only drawn accusations that the brand was pandering to transphobes after committing to supporting the LGBTQ+ movement, and the row has crystallized into a broader debate about the acceptance of transgender individuals in public life.

On April 14, Brendan Whitworth, CEO of parent company Anheuser-Busch, issued an official statement, saying: "We never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people. We are in the business of bringing people together over a beer."

Supporters of Kari Lake, the Donald Trump-backed GOP candidate for Arizona Governor in 2022, refused to drink the beer at an open bar at a rally in Iowa. A bar owner in Kentucky said he had noticed the drink sparking rows between patrons and other licensed venues have withdrawn the beer from sale.

Sales of Bud Light have also dropped "dramatically" since the controversy began, according to industry monitors, with its market share being absorbed by its main competitors—though there are competing accounts as to whether the boycott calls were the primary driver of this.

[viewfromthefrontier]

Near is relative - I’m about 300 miles away.

[FamiliarFace]

Ahh, yes. Bit of a drive.