Bud Light said it will donate $200,000 to an LGBTQ+ nonprofit — the latest in a slew of mixed signals as the brand grapples with blowback over its ties to transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
Bud Light said this week it will extend its partnership with the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC) “to continue supporting economic opportunities and advancements for LGBTQ+ Americans and business owners across the country,” according to a press release.
The Tuesday statement goes on to say that Bud Light parent company Anheuser-Busch “has a strong track record of industry leadership in supporting the LGBTQ+ community.”
Conservative critics have notoriously dragged Bud Light through an ongoing boycott over the Mulvaney partnership that has spurred plunging sales of Bud Light and other Anheuser-Busch brands, as well as a whopping $27 billion drop in Anheuser-Busch’s market value.
In response, Anheuser-Busch mostly remained tight-lipped — and managed to sow further confusion on the rare occasions when it speaks up.
After two weeks of radio silence over Mulvaney’s April 1 TikTok video, Anheuser-Busch’s CEO released a vague statement about “bringing people together over a beer” that irked Bud’s older white male customer base and LBGTQ members alike.
In a response that has since appeared haphazard and hamfisted, Bud Light has occasionally doubled down on its LGBTQ+-related efforts — only to apparently abandon them again.
Last month, Bud Light revealed it was sponsoring the Cincinnati Pride Parade that’s slated for June 24.
Last week, the list of sponsors on the event’s website included Anheuser-Busch, with an image of a rainbow-colored bottle of Bud Light under the heading “Together in Pride.”
However, as of Friday, the Anheuser-Busch and Bud Light logos no longer appear on the parade’s “Sponsors and Partners” landing page.
It’s unclear why the logos have been removed.
The Post sought comment from the Cincinnati Pride Parade and Anheuser-Busch.
Meanwhile, Anheuser-Busch CEO Michel Doukeris’ desertion of Mulvaney during the onset of the culture war has even caused gay bars to steer clear of Bud Light.
Five Chicago gay bars boycott Anheuser-Busch for distancing itself from transgender social media star Dylan Mulvaney after her April 1 collaboration with Bud Light for a March Madness promo, when the beer maker also sent the trans social media star a custom Bud Light can with her face on it to celebrate her “365 Days of Girlhood.”
Sidetrack Bar in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood shared its boycott plan on Instagram early last month, noting the brewer’s moves “strongly bring into question their support of the LGBTQ+ community.”
Days prior, Doukeris told investors during an earnings call: “We need to clarify the facts that this was one can, one influencer, one post and not a campaign.”
He went on to decry the “misinformation” spread on social media after Mulvaney posted a photo with a Bud Light while in a bathtub on TikTok to her more than 10 million followers.
The controversy that ensued prompted Bud Light to place two marketing executives — Alissa Heinerscheid, the vice president of marketing, and her boss, Daniel Blake — on leave.
To save face among its conservative customer base, Anheuser-Busch has been gave away rebates that made 15-pack cases of Bud Light and Budweiser free in honor of Memorial Day weekend, and bought back unsold cases of beer that have gone past their expiration date as they’ve collected dust on liquor store shelves following the disastrous partnership.
Most recently, Bud Light sister brand Budweiser released a Harley-Davidson-themed commercial that was slammed for pandering its disgruntled consumers with the ad.
“The greatest legacies are built with grit and resilience — one detail at a time,” the narrator of the commercial said in between footage of a mechanic tending to a Harley Davidson motorcycle.
The commercial then cuts to shots of a can of Budweiser that bears the motorcycle brand’s logo before showing a mechanic wiping sweat from his brow as he shines a Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
This week, Anheuser-Busch was slammed by a 5% stock drop, bringing the brand’s losses to a total of $27 billion since its star-crossed partnership with Mulvaney.
AB InBev’s market capitalization fell to $107.44 billion through the end of May — down more than $27 billion from the $134.55 billion value the company had on March 31, the day before Mulvaney’s partnership went live, according to Dow Jones Market Data Group.
This story originally appeared on NYPost
