Country music singer John Rich revealed he has removed cases of Bud Light from his Nashville bar, joining a boycott against Anheuser-Busch for their polarizing promotional campaign featuring transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney.
Rich shared his decision on “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” emphasizing the importance of catering to customer preferences.
“The customers decide. Customers are king,” Rich said. “I own a bar in downtown Nashville. Our number one selling beer up until a few days ago was what? Bud Light. We got cases and cases and cases of it sitting back there. But in the past several days you’re hard-pressed to find anyone ordering one. So as a business owner, I go, hey if you aren’t ordering it, we got to put something else in here. At the end of the day, that’s capitalism. That’s how it works.”
Anheuser-Busch ignited controversy when they celebrated Mulvaney’s “365 Days of Girlhood” by sending custom-made cans featuring Mulvaney’s face.
The campaign sparked significant backlash, with some describing it as an attempt to push gender propaganda.
Kid Rock even used Bud Light cases as target practice in a viral video, echoing calls to boycott the brand.
Rich, founder of Redneck Riviera, a popular Nashville bar and restaurant, asked his Twitter followers for replacement suggestions after removing Bud Light from his establishment.
“It’s their right to market it however they want. They’re making a bet [that] this is going to sell more product,” Rich said. “…What’s happening, Tucker, is people who have been loyal to brands for decades and decades are finding it hard to stay loyal to them, so they start hunting down other brands that they can support. There are tons of up-and-coming American brands out there that people are flooding to, kind of like mine.”
Bud Light’s Vice President of Marketing, Alissa Heinerscheid, seemingly defended the controversial marketing move in a recent interview with the podcast “Make Yourself At Home.” She expressed her desire to update the brand’s humor and make it more inclusive.
“I’m a businesswoman, I had a really clear job to do when I took over Bud Light, and it was ‘This brand is in decline, it’s been in a decline for a really long time, and if we do not attract young drinkers to come and drink this brand there will be no future for Bud Light,'” Heinerscheid said.
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Anheuser-Busch also defended their partnership with Mulvaney in a statement to Fox News: “Anheuser-Busch works with hundreds of influencers across our brands as one of many ways to authentically connect with audiences across various demographics. From time to time we produce unique commemorative cans for fans and for brand influencers, like Dylan Mulvaney. This commemorative can was a gift to celebrate a personal milestone and is not for sale to the general public.”