How are things going over at Anheuser-Busch right now? Well, their stock market price hasn’t held up well to the Dylan Mulvaney controversy and sales are hard for them to come by now, so the latest in woke marketing did the opposite of what it was ostensibly meant to. And so the company’s CEO is doing the predictable thing and, rather than taking a stand one way or another on the issue, issued a pathetic statement in which he didn’t really say anything but tried to appease those who now won’t buy his company’s products.
In the statement, Anheuser-Busch US CEO Brendan Whitworth said:
As the CEO of a company founded in America’s heartland more than 165 years ago, I am responsible for ensuring every consumer feels proud of the beer we brew.
We’re honored to be part of the fabric of this country. Anheuser-Busch employs more than 18,000 people and our independent distributors employ an additional 47,000 valued colleagues. We have thousands of partners, millions of fans and a proud history supporting our communities, military, first responders, sports fans and hard-working Americans everywhere.
We never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people.
We are in the business of bringing people together over a beer.
My time serving this country taught me the importance of accountability and the values upon which America was founded: freedom, hard work and respect for one another. As CEO of Anheuser-Busch, I am focused on building and protecting our remarkable history and heritage.
I care deeply about this country, this company, our brands and our partners. spend much of my time traveling across America, listening to and learning from our customers, distributors and others.
Moving forward, I will continue to work tirelessly to bring great beers to consumers across our nation.
Just as predictable as the CEO doing the cowardly thing and trying to thread the needle was the left not being appeased by the waffling nature of the statement and instead treating it as a stab in the back.
Leading the charge on the front was NBC reporter Ben Collins, who said, “Bud Light caves to a mob that was shooting at and running over its product for giving a one-minute sponsored Instagram post to a trans person.”
Bud Light caves to a mob that was shooting at and running over its product for giving a one-minute sponsored Instagram post to a trans person. pic.twitter.com/ZqWDGPM36z
— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) April 14, 2023
Collins is just wrong, as Auron MacIntyre pointed out on Twitter, saying, “It’s not a cave, it’s not even an apology. It’s a non-statement to make sure red America will keep buying their beer. But anything short of worship is insufficient for the left.”
Hence why it’s predictable. He didn’t back down and move away from wokeness. The partnership is still in effect, so far as we know. But he wants red staters to start buying Bud Light and other Anheuser-Busch products again, so he gave a mealy-mouthed statement to try and get them to focus on something else and start consuming woke beer again. As usual, the company stayed woke while using vague patriotism to try and pull unfocused red staters back in.
In any case, the CEO’s statement, though not much of a stance one way or the other and instead a desperate plea to start buying Bud Light again, still stands in stark contrast to what Bud Light’s marketing VP said after the Dylan Mulvaney deal blew up. She said:
“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 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. So I had this super clear mandate, like we need to evolve and elevate this incredibly iconic brand and my what I brought to that was a belief in okay, what is what are we what does evolve and elevate mean?
“It means inclusivity it means shifting the tone. It means having a campaign that’s truly inclusive and feels lighter and brighter and different and appeals to women and to men and representation is it sort of the heart of evolution, you got to see people who reflect you in the work and we have a hangover. I mean, Bud Light had been kind of a brand of Friday. Kind of out of touch humor, and it was really important that we had another approach.”
"*" indicates required fields