Pennsylvania beer company Yuengling appeared to be targeting Bud Light on Friday, with a tweet shortly after their rival’s CEO apologized for the “divisive” decision to partner with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
Brendan Whitmore, the CEO of Anheuser-Busch, the parent company of Bud Light, issued a statement Friday about the crisis that has engulfed the brewer, which has seen $6 billion ricochet off its market value.
Soon after, Yuengling tweeted, “Yuengling, the oldest brewery in America. Independently owned and family-owned since 1829 because we make good beer.’
They accompanied the tweet with a photo of their can, which reads “Traditional Lager” beer.
Mulvaney’s April 1 Instagram post said she drank a beer with her face pressed to the can and lay in a bathtub knocking Bud Light back
Yuengling’s tweet – which has been “liked” 54,000 times – was seen as a dig at his much bigger rival, who is struggling to get out of the drama that began on April 1, when Mulvaney announced the partnership.
On Friday, after nearly two weeks of silence, the Bud Light Twitter account posted again. The brand tweeted out an icy can of its classic brew that read “TGIF?”
The post immediately drew negative comments, but received much more attention than usual, with 11.1 million views and 25,000 comments.
Most of their recent tweets have been viewed less than a million times.
Even a recent popular tweet from late last month promoting the brand’s March Madness sweepstakes was viewed just 1.2 million times.
The brand returned to social media on Friday to post for the first time since the controversy erupted. The post was viewed 11.1 million times
Even a recent popular post from the brand promoting the March Madness sweepstakes received a whopping 1.2 million views compared to its more recent work
Bud Light’s partnership with Mulvaney seems to have paid off in terms of the amount of exposure it’s brought the brand.
Brand reach is a primary tool used to measure the success of marketing campaigns.
And by the numbers alone, the partnership with Mulvaney has probably exceeded all expectations.
Typically, however, that reach isn’t supposed to come with a $6 billion market cap loss and dissatisfied customers.
The disastrous fallout from the Mulvaney partnership led to a lukewarm apology for the Anheuser-Busch CEO last week, but it remains unclear exactly what the next step for the struggling brand will be.
Budweiser, its sister brand, released a patriotic new ad featuring its iconic Clydesdale horse on Friday.
The one-minute commercial features shots of the animal galloping through western landscapes and past landmarks including the Lincoln Memorial and Brooklyn Bridge.
The ad for the beer — which, like Bud Light, is owned by Anheuser-Busch — appeared to represent a return to traditional values for the brand, which historically appealed to American workers.
Online users, however, denounced the ad as a feeble attempt to right the ship that had been permanently steered in the wrong direction with the Mulvaney partnership.
The iconic Clydesdales gallop through iconic American environments
“My favorite ad by far was the Clydesdales after 9/11. It was absolute perfection. After your embrace of the trans agenda, glorifying a man seeking his 15 minutes of fame by mocking women. I will never buy, drink or serve your beer again’ wrote a user.
“Is the horse trans now?” wrote radio host Dan O’Donnell.
“No, you destroyed your own base and market because you had to wake up. I will never drink any of your products again,’ wrote Brandon Saario.
‘Lol, hard spindle huh?’ wrote Angela McArdlethe president of the Libertarian Party.
Commentator Philip Holloway wrote, “Now don’t look at Anheuser Busch and Budweiser, but the Clydesdale has already left the barn. The train has left, the ship has left the station.’
Bud Light and Budweiser are different brands under the same parent company.
With the new ad, the latter – often referred to as The King of Beers – appears to be stepping in to save Bud Light’s reputation.
In her controversial ad, Mulvaney posted a clip of herself sipping face down on a one-off custom Bud Light can to promote the March Madness contest.
The backlash caused parent company Anheuser-Busch to lose $6 billion in market cap within six days.
Mulvaney became known for the ‘days of girlhood’ videos, in which the 26-year-old documented her first year of identifying as a girl.
But the TikTok star has angered some feminists and conservatives over claims that she’s a “girl” and adopts parts of being a woman that she finds interesting — without dealing with the misogyny or prejudice that many women face.
Analysts said the decision to pair Bud Light with a transgender activist was a strange marketing idea.
“I just don’t understand why they hired the person who did the marketing,” said Ted Jenkin, CEO of Oxygen Financial, which he founded to provide financial services to business owners and high net worth individuals across America.
He told Fox News Digital, “I mean, if your target customer is Kid Rock, and then all of a sudden you decide to go to RuPaul, it doesn’t make any sense.”
Anheuser-Busch is led by US CEO Brendan Whitworth, former Navy lieutenant, CIA officer and Harvard Business School graduate who joined AB in 2014
Whitworth issued this public statement on Friday, two weeks after the controversy
On the eve of Mulvaney’s announcement of the partnership, Alissa Heinerscheid, the vice president of marketing for Bud Light, said she wanted to make the brand less “fratty.”
“I’m a business woman, I had a very clear job to do when I took over Bud Light, and it was ‘This brand is in decline, it’s been in decline for a long time, and if we don’t get young drinkers to come and drink this brand , there is no future for Bud Light,” she told a podcast.
She also condemned the company’s previous branding, saying, “We were hungover, I mean, Bud Light had been kind of frats, kind of out-of-touch humor, and it was really important that we had a different approach. “
On Friday, CEO Whitworth said: “It was never our intention to be part of a discussion that divides people.
‘It’s our job to bring people together over a beer.’
Whitworth, a former Navy lieutenant, CIA officer and Harvard Business School graduate, did not speak directly about the partnership with Mulvaney and did not apologize.
Instead, he signaled that he wanted to move away from divisive topics, saying, “It’s my responsibility to make sure every consumer is proud of the beer we brew.”
He continued, “My time serving this country taught me the importance of responsibility and the values on which America is founded: freedom, hard work, and respect for each other. As CEO of Anheuser-Busch, I am focused on building and protecting our remarkable history and heritage.
“I care deeply about this country, this company, our brands and our partners. I spend much of my time traveling across America listening and learning from our customers, distributors and others.
“Going forward, I will continue to work tirelessly to bring great beers to consumers across our country.”
Until Friday, Anheuser-Busch’s only comment on the matter was a single statement confirming that the Bud Light cans featuring Mulvaney’s face were a personal gift to the influencer and not for sale to the public.
“Anheuser-Busch is partnering with hundreds of influencers across our brands as one of many ways to authentically connect with audiences from a variety of demographics,” said last week’s statement.
“From time to time we produce unique commemorative tins for fans and for brand influencers, such as Dylan Mulvaney.
“This commemorative tin was a gift to celebrate a personal milestone and is not for sale to the general public.”