Bud Light and parent company Anheuser-Busch are still facing backlash and conservative boycotts following their brand partnership with transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney. Endless stories of restaurants not selling any Bud Light, country music stars bashing the beer on stage, and social media users vowing never to drink the beer have mounted since early April.
Recently, a popular Florida seafood restaurant chain owner announced that Bud Light and other Anheuser-Busch products would be removed from its business over the Mulvaney sponsorship. Grills Seafood Deck and Tiki Bar owner Joe Penovich wrote an open letter to Anheuser-Busch on Facebook expressing his disappointment with the company.
Penovich said, “I am disgusted by what you have done and what you are doing. You are the one causing this division and anger in our society. You are responsible for making some of the gay community think Grills does not welcome them. And you knew EXACTLY what you were doing when you launched this campaign. How could you not? ‘Good ole boy beer…meets Dylan Mulvaney? Hmm. Let’s see what that does to the country.’ NOBODY is that stupid. This goes way beyond transgenderism.”
Penovich continued to say his restaurant would remove Bud and Bud Light beer from his restaurants and any promotional items with those brand logos. The letter said, “We are going to pray deeply about whether we should vaporize all your brands and corporate corruption from all our restaurants and shift to all locally brewed beer. Decision pending.”
Country music singers have particularly disagreed with Bud Light over their marketing decision. Recently artist Riley Green changed the lyrics in his song “I Wish Grandpas Never Died” to say “Coors Light” instead of a former reference to Bud Light. Green’s audience roared with applause at the Nashville concert when Green refused to sing about the woke beer.
Country Music Artist Riley Green Cancels Bud Light at Nashville’s Nissan Stadium Friday Night
Riley changed the lyrics from his hit song ‘I Wish Grandpas Never Died’ from Bud Light to Coors Light…and the crowd went wild!@RileyGreenMusic pic.twitter.com/VYUZySG0Zh
— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) April 16, 2023
Similarly, country singer Brantley Gilbert expressed frustration with Anheuser-Busch when he was thrown a can of Bud Light at one of his recent concerts. Upon catching the beer, he looked at it and said, “Yeah, f*** that,” and spiked it on the stage, smashing the can.
Even though Brantley Gilbert doesn’t drink anymore his reaction to someone throwing him a Bud light was Awesome🙌🏼👏👏👏😂❤️.#GoWokeGoBroke pic.twitter.com/HYDfApZXmx
— ꪻꫝể ꪻꫝể (@TheThe1776) April 16, 2023
Country music legends John Rich and Travis Tritt have also joined forces in boycotting Bud Light. Rich tweeted, “What beer should my bar [Redneck Riviera] in Nashville replace #BudLight with?” Travis Tritt similarly tweeted, “I will be deleting all Anheuser-Busch products from my tour hospitality rider. I know many other artists who are doing the same.”
“In full disclosure, I was on a tour sponsored by Budweiser in the 90’s. That was when Anheuser-Busch was American owned. A great American company that later sold out to the Europeans and became unrecognizable to the American consumer. Such a shame,” Tritt also said.
The Bud Light backlash has perhaps been one of the most successful conservative boycotts in recent years. When there are so many other beers on the market, and you alienate your consumer base, they will drink a superior beer such as Yuengling. Maybe other companies will think twice about their branding decisions.
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