A marketing executive at the parent company of Bud Light said that the brand would recover from the Dylan Mulvaney controversy but added that the debacle was a “wake-up call” for all companies.
Bud Light and its parent company Anheuser-Busch have been absolutely pilloried on social media after entering into a marketing partnership with Mulvaney, a transgender TikTok influencer.
Anheuser-Busch’s global chief marketing officer, Marcel Marcondes, made the comments on Monday at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
“When things get divisive and controversial so easily, I think it’s an important wake-up call to all of us marketers to be very humble,” said Marcondes.
“It’s tough to see all the controversial and divisive debates happening in the US the last couple of weeks involving lots of brands and companies, including, especially, Bud Light,” he added.
Marcondes’ comments were confirmed to CNN by a spokesperson for the festival.
He went on to say that he was optimistic about the brand recovering from the public relations disaster.
“It’s coming back,” Marcondes said.
Bud Light has lost its title as America’s best selling beer over the controversy in May to the Mexican lager Modelo Especial. CNN has argued that Modelo Especial dethroning Bud Light had more to do with the Cinco de Mayo holiday in May than with the controversy sinking Bud Light’s sales.
The brand’s sales have plummeted in the U.S., and that has taken a toll on the stock price for Anheuser-Busch, which has fallen by about 15% since Mulvaney posted on Instagram about the partnership with Bud Light.
Several executives involved in the Mulvaney debacle resigned and a Rasmussen poll found that a majority of Americans supported the boycott against Bud Light. Only 19% of respondents said that the transgender TikTok influencer marketing would make them more likely to purchase the beer.
Here’s more about the Bud Light trans debacle:
Bud Light, Target Boycotts ARE WORKING, Will They LAST?www.youtube.com
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