Bud Light has been pulling a full marketing 180 in an attempt to revive their image after the Dylan Mulvaney scandal.
A quick recap for the uninitiated: in April, Bud Light announced a partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
In just one week they lost billions of dollars in value, their market share plummeted and conservatives and apolitical folk across America revolted against the transgender agenda in an effective grassroots boycott of the brand.
They eventually fired the people responsible for the asinine decision and have been trying to claw their way back to the top of the beer market ever since.
After cutting ties with Mulvaney, they struck a massive partnership with the UFC. And if you know anything about UFC president, you know he has zero tolerance for PC nonsense.
In January, the brand brought on notoriously anti-woke comedian Shane Gillis as a brand ambassador.
Then, just this week, they released a TV ad featuring White and NFL legend Peyton Manning. (RELATED: Big Business Took A Beating From Conservatives Over Woke Marketing In 2023, But Did It Change Anything?)
Bud Light’s attempts to rejuvenate its image have captured the attention of conservatives everywhere, including the former president.
Trump seems willing to accept the brand’s olive branch. “The Bud Light ad was a mistake of epic proportions, and for that a very big price was paid, but Anheuser-Busch is not a Woke company, but I can give you plenty that are, am building a list, and might just release it for the World to see,” he posted on Truth Social.
But some conservatives aren’t buying it. “Social conservatives/the right wing in general lose because they fundamentally deserve to lose—not because their priorities are ‘bad’ but because they are weak losers,” Twitter personality Indian Bronson tweeted.
“Trump’s defense of Bud Light and their defense of Trump is the sharpest demonstration of that,” he concluded.
Social conservatives/the right wing in general lose because they fundamentally deserve to lose—not because their priorities are “bad” but because they are weak losers.
Zero backbone.
Trump’s defense of Bud Light and their defense of Trump is the sharpest demonstration of that.
— ib (@Indian_Bronson) February 7, 2024
Conservative journalist Pedro Gonzalez pointed out Trump’s financial ties to Bud Light and claimed Trump is undermining “one of the rare instances in which Americans successfully stood up to a major corporation that tried to force some ideological obscenity.”
Americans boycotted Anheuser-Busch when it shoved transgenderism down people’s throats. It’s been one of the most effective protests in recent memory.
Trump just called for the boycott to end. Why? Because a lobbyist for AB plans to host a fundraiser for him next month. The… pic.twitter.com/ayOaJBPTKz
— Pedro L. Gonzalez (@emeriticus) February 7, 2024
Some in Trump world are ready to forgive, though. The Twitter user known as Johnny Maga claims he stopped holding the Mulvaney partnership over Bud Light because Trump said to.
Trump said to stop and I obliged. https://t.co/EjsvvQ6ijM
— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) February 7, 2024
In our office chat, Daily Caller editor Grayson Quay suggested that ending the boycott might be a more effective way for conservatives to throw their weight around. “[W]e won, so we should end the boycott to send the signal that when you do things we like, we reward you,” he wrote.
But no matter what happens next with Bud Light, the Mulvaney saga has clearly stained their reputation in a way that will take years, maybe decades, to fully wash off.