Bud Light, the American beer brand, started offering free beer to wholesale sellers. The move comes amidst persistent backlash following the Dylan Mulvaney campaign.
Besides the free cases of beer, the Bud Light maker is also planning to spend more on advertising.
Bud Light Free Beer
NEW YORK, NY - JULY 26: A six pack of Bud Light sits on a shelf for sale at a convenience store, July 26, 2018 in New York City. Anheuser-Busch InBev, the brewer behind Budweiser and Bud Light, said on Thursday that U.S. revenues fell 3.1% in the second quarter. Drew Angerer/Getty Images
The new initiative of Anheuser-Busch, the firm behind Bud Light, seeks to relieve the tensions with various distributors.
According to the Wall Street Journal, some retailers reportedly experienced backlash and plummeting sales after the beverage maker partnered up with the transgender influencer Mulvaney. The news outlet sometimes reports that stores and bars had to deal with "angry people."
The beverage giant has reportedly given all Bud Light employees under the wholesale distribution department free cases of beer. Business Insider notes that it has been over a month since the controversy started.
On April 1, the famous transgender influencer, Mulvaney, shared commemorative beer cans in an Instagram post. Unlike the Bud Light beverages we see off the shelves, she showcased cans with her face printed. The beer maker created the customized design to celebrate her gender transition to "girlhood."
Since then, conservatives and right-wingers have started expressing disgust, triggering a boycott of the American beer brand.
The sales figures of alcoholic beverages in the US show a striking effect of the conservative uproar. The Wall Street Journal highlights that the sales of Bud Light saw a 17 percent dive amid the backlash, the data of the Bump Williams Consulting shows, which Nielsen has analyzed.
On the other hand, the close rivals of Anheuser-Busch beer, namely Miller Light and Coors Light, benefit from the conservative-led boycott campaign. The sales of these competing alcoholic drink brands soared by roughly 18 percent, Neilsen analyzed data shows.
Bud Light Maker Anheuser-Busch InBev Bumps Ad Budget
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MARCH 03: Dylan Mulvaney speaks onstage at PFLAG National 50th Anniversary Gala at Marriott Marquis on March 03, 2023 in New York City.
Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images for PFLAG
Besides giving away beer to distributors, the company behind Bud Light is also expanding its advertising spending. Amid the drop in sales, the beer giants are looking to boost the promotion of their alcoholic beverages.
Vine Pair reports that Anheuser-Busch has bumped the advertising budget, specifically for Bud Light. The new campaign promotes beer as "easy to drink" and "easy to enjoy."
On top of that, the beer giant reportedly reached out to distributors to address the campaign with the trans women influencer. In a letter, the Bud Light maker says that the commemorative can of Mulvaney, celebrating her "girlhood," is "not a formal campaign or advertisement."
As the beverage maker seeks to move forward, they plan to "remind" customers in the United States why they loved Bud Light in the first place, which made it the "No. 1 beer in America," the letter to the wholesaler notes.
