Behind the Bud Light Boycott: a Social Media Crisis
In April 2023, Bud Light partnered with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney for a social media promotion. It led to a huge backlash and consumer boycott. So, what can we, as marketers, learn from Bud Light’s innocent mistake?
The Backstory
On April 1, the transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney posted on her social media a video sponsored by Bud Light, a top American beer brand. The videos were nothing inappropriate, but they stirred intense anti-trans sentiment and led to a severe boycott. Bud Light’s sales then tumbled by more than 20%. The brand soon fell out of №1 in the U.S. beer market and had to place its executives on leave.
How did this happen?
This partnership with Mulvaney was an extension of Bud Light’s effort to cater to the LGBTQ+ community. In June 2022, the brand showed support for the community by bringing LGBTQ+ supportive rainbow cans to the market during Pride Month. It received some backlash already, perhaps not enough to bring to the management’s attention.
In 2023, with a lack of deliberation and research, Bud Light seemingly decided to outreach its effort to support the community. Knowing that gender topics can be very controversial, the brand still went bold and extensive. So Bud Light had no one else to blame for its ignorance and the almost disastrous outcome.
How did Bud Light extinguish the fire, or did it?
It didn’t seem like this issue would fade away by itself, so Bud Light had to address it. In July, the brand released a series of new commercials to restore its brand image and get its target audience back. In this series of videos titled ‘Backyard Grunts,’ ‘Summer Shirt,’ ‘Lawn Lines,’ and ‘Feel the Power,’ Bud Light featured several seemingly straight men in their daily routines.
Besides the new commercials, the brand also decided to give Mulvaney the cold shoulder to let things pass. Not once did Bud Light respond to Mulvaney; the new management team might have decided to abandon the LGBTQ+ market after this hard-learned lesson.
Some final thoughts
Although this crisis seems to be fading away, I still think Bud Light could have done better at resolving this issue. The brand could have seized this opportunity to take a step forward, educate its target audience, and win the LGBTQ+ community. Instead, they flinched, stepped back, and tried to please their target audience to get them back. Will they make another attempt to reach the LGBTQ+ community in the future? I don’t have an idea, but I’m curious to see. I bet you are curious too. That is to say, please stay tuned, and I’ll keep you updated!
