An “all ages drag show” scheduled for next week appeared to hit the mark at Bud Light by touting the brand as one of its sponsors – before backtracking the next day when publications began reporting on the alleged partnership.
Hosted by Flagstaff Pride, the June 17 event will still be held this Saturday in the small town of Arizona — but contrary to social media signage, it won’t be funded by the embattled beer maker.
That revelation came Wednesday, less than 24 hours after the 27-year-old LGBTQ group posted promotions falsely billing Bud Light as a sponsor, prompting reports from publications like The Washington Free Beacon.
However, the organizers released a modified poster at that time – this one without the “presented by Bud Light” tagline. It also contained a vague explanation of why they included the company as a sponsor in the first place.
The event, meanwhile, features several drag performers with sparsely themed social media accounts, and is still open to “all ages” — but asks attendees under the age of 16 to bring a guardian. The debacle seemed like a hit on the backlash since the firms’ disastrous blowout with Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender influencer.
BEFORE/AFTER: Flagstaff Pride released signage Tuesday, seen at right, touting Bud Light as the sponsor of the small-town Arizona drag event this Saturday. When the collaboration started to attract news attention, the organization came back and released the poster on the right, as well as a message claiming the first sign was a “mistake.”
When the future partnership hit the headlines, the 27-year-old group released an altered poster – this one without the “presented by Bud Light” tagline. It also contained a vague explanation of why they included the company as a sponsor in the first place
The debacle seemed like a bull’s-eye on the backlash since the disastrous partnership with Dylan Mulvaney
“We posted an incorrect promotional poster that listed Bud Light as a sponsor,” read a post on Flagstaff Pride’s Facebook Wednesday night, as Modelo Especial dethroned Bud Light as the top-selling beer in America after 22 years.
“Attached is the correct poster,” the organization added, attaching an almost identical sign — which showed several men in cross-dressing — without the Bud Light call.
A spokesperson for Anheuser-Busch, the parent company of Bud Light – which also owns Modelo – further confirmed to DailyMail.com that the partnership was not on par, writing that “Bud Light was falsely listed as a sponsor.”
The rep wrote Wednesday night, “Bud Light is not a sponsor of this event” — pointing out the new, “corrected” version of the poster.
Because both parties classified the change as a “correction,” outlets such as the beacon, Fox news And The Washington Examiner picked up on the story, creating an atmosphere of confusion after the organizer later relinquished the artwork shown in the first ad.
Both praised the event’s mission to “support, unite and empower our LGBTQIA2S+ community,” while Instagram posts from the artists featured on the posters included numerous scantily clad photos of them in “costume” — such as can be seen on both boards.
Two of the artists call themselves ‘sexy’, while another proudly proclaims me to be a good girl.’
The brand has not sponsored any drag performances in the past, but has recently been the subject of close scrutiny — as well as a budding boycott after collaborating with transgender influencer Mulvaney.
The partnership was first made public in April and has since erupted in pronounced fashion.
As sales slowed, Anheuser-Busch lost a whopping $27 billion in market cap as a result of the backlash.
Months later, conservatives pressed ahead with the boycott, leading the Belgium-based brewer to send two executives responsible for the partnership — Alissa Heinerscheid, its vice president of marketing, and her boss, Daniel Blake — on furlough in April.
Heinerscheid was hired in June 2022 to overhaul Bud Light’s marketing with a vision to refresh its image, while Blake spent nearly nine years at Anheuser-Busch.
Heinerscheid’s short-lived tenure reportedly included a critically acclaimed Super Bowl ad featuring Miles Teller and his wife Keleigh Sperry, as well as “the Bud Light Carry” campaign that featured a woman carrying a round of beer to a table of friends without spilling a drop.
Instagram posts from the artists billed in the posters include numerous scantily clad photos of them in “costume”
“We posted an incorrect promotional poster that listed Bud Light as a sponsor,” read a post on Flagstaff Pride’s Facebook Wednesday night, as other Bud Light lost its legendary accolade as the top-selling beer in America after 22 years
The partnership sparked protests and backlash, and parent company Anheuser-Busch has lost $27 billion in value in just months
AB placed two executives responsible for the partnership — Alissa Heinerscheid, the vice president of marketing, and her boss, Daniel Blake — on furlough in April as the backlash continues
Those ads, statements by the beer brand revealed, were part of Heinerscheid’s vision to make the brand more female-friendly — something she described just a few months ago as a “passion point.”
But that vision was quickly cut short on April 3 with the brand’s partnership with Mulvaney, a controversial trans activist with a massive social media following, proved to be a step too far for Bud Light’s loyal customers.
Following the outcry, the Belgium-based company insisted to distributors that Mulvaney’s beer can was not their work, but that of a then-unnamed “third party” advertising agency responsible for the video and several others touting the partnership.
A recent report revealed that the responsible company had a eight-year-old San Francisco marketing company, which at some point introduced Anheuser-Busch to the 26-year-old transgender activist
Republican Senator Ted Cruz has since launched an investigation into the company to investigate whether the company was targeting an underage audience through its Mulvaney partnership.
A former Anheuser-Busch InBev executive Anson Frericks also talked about the ripple effect.
“Good people will leave because they don’t make money,” former Anheuser-Busch InBev CEO Anson Frericks told ABC News.
Some stores are reportedly giving away Bud Light for free, with the company potentially resorting to buying expired unsold beer from wholesalers, The Wall Street Journal reported.
A president of a distributor in the Midwest tried to reassure his employees during a meeting with Bud Light retailers and kept hoping that the boycott will end soon.
“I am frustrated that this is the case [dragged] while it lasts,” he said.
“None of this is your fault and none of this is my fault.”