A few weeks ago, I noted that Tranheuser-Busch was between a rock and a hard place: They had alienated one third of their customer base, and meanwhile, the LGBT lobby was demanding they validate Dylan Mulvaney even harder to show those Bigots that H8 Has No Home Here.
I wrote that Tranheuser-Busch had validated the delusions of Dylan Mulvaney as part of a very stupid, insignificant internet marketing campaign -- but that the Rainbow Mafia would insist that the Unending Validation of Dylan Mulvaney was now their core business and chief stock-in-trade going forward.
Or, there would be consequences.
Well here are the consequences of not "defending" Dylan Mulvaney hard enough: a "top" Rainbow Mafia group has downgraded Tranheuser-Busch's
LGBTQ+ rating, which will impact its ESG rating.
Anheuser-Busch loses top LGBTQ+ rating over its Bud Light response
Last year, the Human Rights Campaign Foundation gave Bud Light parent company Anheuser-Busch a top rating for LGBTQ+ equality. But because of how the company handled backlash to a sponsored post by Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender woman, it's now off the list.
The organization informed Anheuser-Busch of its decision in a May letter viewed by CNN, after previously writing to the company in April, criticizing its response. USA Today first reported on the decision.
Tranheuser-Busch refused to apologize for featuring Dylan Mulvaney. But they also didn't go so far as to double-down on their embrace of transgenderism, writing meekly that they "never intended" to provoke a "conversation," and just wanted to go back to the good old days of Rubes drinking their crap beer.
The Rainbow Mafia found this problematic and even homophobic.
The statement and management decisions "raise considerable concern for the LGBTQ+ community," Brown wrote in the April letter, which was also seen by CNN.
"In this moment, it is absolutely critical for Anheuser-Busch to stand in solidarity with Dylan and the trans community," he wrote at the time. "However, when faced with anti-LGBTQ+ and transphobic criticism, Anheuser-Busch's actions demonstrate a profound lack of fortitude in upholding its values of diversity, equity, and inclusion."
...
Brown asked A-B to make a public statement in support of Mulvaney and the trans community, offer transgender inclusion training to its executives and reach out LGBTQ+ employees to hear their concerns. He also asked to meet with A-B's leadership team.
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About two weeks after the first letter, Brown sent another informing the company of the suspension of the 100% rating that had earned it entry to the list, citing a lack of response to those earlier requests. The foundation could reinstate the rating if the company addresses these concerns, Brown noted. A-B has about three months to respond.
Tranheuser-Busch is now paying people to buy their beer.
Tranheuser-Busch -- oh, sorry, that's Anheuser-Busch -- is panicking. Sales of Bud Light have been in the gutter ever since it presented the ubiquitous fingernails-on-chalkboard fake woman Dylan Mulvaney as the new face of the brand, and there is no sign that the alleged beer will break out of its nosedive anytime soon. And so now, Anheuser-Busch's obediently woke but desperate marketing wonks are giving the stuff away, offering a $20 rebate on a $19.98 case of Bud Light. Can patriots be bought for two cents and some watery beer? We shall see.
Meanwhile, if a couple of pennies isn't inducement enough to get the guys who used to drink Bud Light to go back to what has now been dubbed the "tranny fluid," Anheuser-Busch has decided to have Bud Light imitate Mulvaney and make its own transition: its familiar blue bottles will soon give way to camouflage packaging. One can picture the cynical millennial marketing team saying, "That'll bring those redneck rubes back. They love the military and war." Bud Light might as well put up billboards nationwide saying, "Please, patriots, don't be angry, even though we haven't apologized, and buy our beer again!" But the beer baron's cynicism and desperation are palpable.
The New York Post reported Wednesday that "a Bud Light seller apparently stuck with too many cases of the unsold brew in the wake of the company's Dylan Mulvaney fiasco is offering $20 rebates on purchases of a $19.98 case of beer." The Post added: "A photo posted to social media shows stacks of 24-can cases of Bud Light with a promo taped to them touting a full rebate from the unidentified beer vendor."
Starting at 0:42 here, pictures of cases of Bud Light being sold at 50% off or even $1.78 for an entire case:
Midnight's Edge points out that losing the HRC's Rainbow Mafia Protection means that their ESG score will go down, which will make it harder for them to get lines of credit from the financial institutions pushing this on us.