Anheuser-Busch execs ‘held a closed-door meeting with beer distributors’ echoing the Dylan Mulvaney saga

Anheuser-Busch executives have promised beer distributors that marketing will be heavily screened in the future following Bud Light’s Dylan Mulvaney backlash.

Bosses held a closed-door meeting this week with distributors in Washington, D.C., where they laid out plans for the future — and pledged to “spend heavily” on Bud Light to save its public image, according to reports.

Benj Steinman, editor of Beer Marketer’s Insights, said spending on the brand “fell off a cliff last year,” but Anheuser-Busch executives vow to rectify the situation, New York Post reported.

Bud Light sales have dropped dramatically since transgender influencer Mulvaney first posted to the brand on April 1, but a new marketing campaign will arrive this week.

The company is expected to make a big move during the NFL draft in an effort to revive the brand in the coming days, Steinman said.

On top of the marketing blitz, executives working for Bud Light will also go through a stricter screening process, according to a Northeast-based beer distributor who spoke to NYP.

“There will be an improved screening process before any marketing reaches the public … executives will have to go through a stricter screening process,” Bud Light execs said at Zoom meetings this month.

According to Beer Business Daily, wholesalers received a letter in which executives explained the whole situation, including, “This was one can given to one social media influencer.

“This can is not made for production or sale to the general public.”

However, Beer Business Daily has determined that Anheuser-Busch’s impact of the Mulvaney drama is “inconsequential” to the company’s global financial performance.

Bud has “bounced back to its previous quite lofty heights,” according to the trade journal.

This comes after the number of people ordering Bud Lights from bars and restaurants across the country plummeted in the weeks following the company’s partnership with Dylan Mulvaney.

Between early and mid-April, Bud Light donations fell 6 percent at 3,000 locations, according to research from technology firm Beer sign.

In comparison, between March 18 and April 1 — the two weeks before the transgender influencer partnered with the beer company — Bud Light actually outperformed its category by 15 percent.

On April 1, transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney posted a video of herself cracking open a Bud Light on her Instagram page. She showed off a can with her face on it that Bud Light sent her – one of the many business freebies she receives and shares with her millions of followers.

In the six days that followed, Anheuser-Busch lost more than $6 billion in market cap.

Between April 2 and April 15, Bud Light dropped from third to fourth in overall sales, according to BeerBoard data.

Bud Light has long been America’s best-selling beer. But U.S. sales are down 2 percent so far this year, part of a long-running decline as younger consumers flock to sparkling seltzers and other beverages, according to Bump Williams Consulting.

Those sales declines accelerated rapidly in April. In the week ending April 15, Bud Light sales were down 17 percent from the same week a year ago.

Mulvaney was sent a personalized beer can to mark 365 days since her transition. Mulvaney documented her journey on TikTok and gained millions of online followers

Whitworth issued a public statement two weeks after the controversy

Meanwhile, rivals Miller Lite and Coors Lite saw their sales increase by more than 17 percent.

Bud Light’s partnership with Mulvaney angered some customers and hurt sales, while the brand’s lack of support for the influencer infuriated the very people it was trying to reach.

Three days after Mulvaney’s post, Kid Rock posted a video of him photographing boxes of Bud Light. Shares of Bud Light’s parent company, AB InBev, temporarily plummeted and the company issued a terse statement in response to the controversy.

This week, Anheuser-Busch – the US subsidiary of AB InBev – confirmed that Alissa Heinerscheid, her vice president of marketing, and her boss, Daniel Blake, are going on leave.

The company won’t say when they’ll return or if they’ll be paid.