Transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney spoke about her partnership with Bud Light, which caused sales of its parent company, Anheuser-Busch, to drop by $27 billion.
The 26-year-old thespian-turned-activist prefers not to talk about her critics, saying she does not want to "[give] them the satisfaction they're on [her] mind."
"It shows my followers that I'm standing up for myself, but also pushes that their narrative is loud enough to matter," she told them magazine in an interview.
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Outrage and Shakeups
Mulvaney partnered with Anheuser-Busch as part of its March Madness campaign, where she was given a can of Bud Light with an image of her face.
The move sparked a boycott among the anti-woke crowd after American singer-songwriter Robert James Ritchie, more known by his stage name Kid Rock, opened fire on a bunch of cans and other packages of Bud Light with a Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine gun.
As a result of Kid Rock's stunt of using Bud Light cans for target practice, the brand's sales decreased by more than 25% in the past few months, prompting its parent firm, Anheuser-Busch InBev, to sell off the beer brand AMB back to its original owners, Appalachian Mountain Brewery and Cidery.
Meanwhile, Modelo Especial replaced Bud Light as the King of American beers, with store sales soaring past $333 million last month, a 15.6% increase from the same period last year.
Anheuser-Busch was also internally affected by the backlash. Alissa Heinerscheid stepped down as its vice president for marketing, while Daniel Blake also stepped down as vice president for mainstream brands. Both executives were officially on leave for the marketing flop.
Moreover, Captiv8, the advertising agency that directly worked with Mulvaney and Anheuser-Busch for the partnership, recently announced they were in "serious panic mode" in the aftermath of the Bud Light boycott.
Mulvaney Wants to Move On
Mulvaney, on the other hand, wanted to put the matter behind her. "I think so much of my purpose could be elevating others' voices," she said. "Right now, the headlines call me 'TikTok Trans Activist Dylan Mulvaney.' I want to be 'Actress Dylan Mulvaney.' I want to be 'Comedian Dylan Mulvaney.'"
While she planned on minimizing her activism to focus on her career, including potential book authorship, she said she had no regrets about chronicling her gender transition and partnership with Bud Light. "I don't regret any of the things that I've posted, but I want to make sure that my transition is for me now," she added.