ST. LOUIS — Anheuser-Busch is now telling customers and investors that a recent marketing controversy is just a tempest in a pint glass.
In a letter to wholesalers that was forwarded to local bars and restaurants around Missouri, the brewery addressed the backlash to a marketing campaign featuring transgender social-media influencer Dylan Mulvaney, which led to a steep decline in Bud Light sales over the last month.
“This was one single can given to one social media influencer,” the letter states. “It was not made for production or sale to the general public. This can is not a formal campaign or advertisement.”
Anheuser-Busch InBev CEO Michel Doukeris repeated the stance on Thursday in a call with investors.
“This was one can, one influencer, one post and not a campaign,” he said.
Mulvaney, 26, posted a video on TikTok showing a can of Bud Light with her face on it that was given to her to celebrate her 365th day of girlhood. The video also showed her sipping a beer as part of March Madness, and she joked that she did not know which sport she was promoting.
Three days after Mulvaney’s post, Kid Rock posted a video of himself shooting cases of Bud Light. InBev shares temporarily plunged. Within weeks, two marketing executives at Anheuser-Busch — InBev’s U.S. subsidiary — took a leave of absence.
It is unclear if those executives have returned. A message seeking comment from Anheuser-Busch was left Thursday.
Todd Allen, most recently the global vice president of Budweiser, is the new vice president of marketing for Bud Light, which is a bigger brand.
Doukeris didn’t reveal updated sales figures Thursday. But in the week ending April 22, Bud Light’s U.S. sales dropped 21% compared to the same week a year ago, according to Bump Williams Consulting. Bud Light’s U.S. sales are down 3% so far this year.
Robert Lachky, the former chief creative officer at Anheuser-Busch, said the decision to use a transgender influencer to sell Bud Light was a calamitous mistake.
“The minute you step into the political or religious spectrum, when you know your target audience is going to have a real issue with this, you know you’ve alienated at least half of your target audience,” he said.
“In the end, people don’t like getting preached to, especially when it comes to drinking beer.”
After several weeks of silence on social media, Mulvaney posted a video to her Instagram page this week thanking supporters but also not mentioning Bud Light by name.
“What I’m struggling to understand is the need to dehumanize and to be cruel. I don’t think that’s right,” she said. “I’m just going to go ahead and trust that the people who know me and my heart won’t listen to that noise.”
Doukeris said InBev will reallocate resources from other markets to support U.S. marketing this summer, with a focus on sports and music festivals.
“”Everything we do should be about beer and should promote beer. It is an essential part of life’s meaningful moments, whether in sports, music or celebrations,” he said.