Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth just released a statement that was ostensibly about the current situation his company is facing after bringing Dylan Mulvaney on as a marketing partner. But, of course, the statement said nothing of note and certainly didn’t back down from supporting Mulvaney. In the statement, Whitworth said:
As the CEO of a company founded in America’s heartland more than 165 years ago, I am responsible for ensuring every consumer feels proud of the beer we brew.
We’re honored to be part of the fabric of this country. Anheuser-Busch employs more than 18,000 people and our independent distributors employ an additional 47,000 valued colleagues. We have thousands of partners, millions of fans and a proud history supporting our communities, military, first responders, sports fans and hard-working Americans everywhere.
We never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people.
We are in the business of bringing people together over a beer.
My time serving this country taught me the importance of accountability and the values upon which America was founded: freedom, hard work and respect for one another. 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. spend much of my time traveling across America, listening to and learning from our customers, distributors and others.
Moving forward, I will continue to work tirelessly to bring great beers to consumers across our nation.
Just as predictable as the CEO doing the cowardly thing and trying to thread the needle was the left not being appeased by the waffling nature of the statement and instead treating it as a stab in the back.
Leading the charge on the front was NBC reporter Ben Collins, who said, “Bud Light caves to a mob that was shooting at and running over its product for giving a one-minute sponsored Instagram post to a trans person.”
Bud Light caves to a mob that was shooting at and running over its product for giving a one-minute sponsored Instagram post to a trans person. pic.twitter.com/ZqWDGPM36z
— follow @bencollins on bluesky (@oneunderscore__) April 14, 2023
Collins is just wrong, as Auron MacIntyre pointed out on Twitter, saying, “It’s not a cave, it’s not even an apology. It’s a non-statement to make sure red America will keep buying their beer. But anything short of worship is insufficient for the left.”
And that’s why the statement was entirely predictable. Framed as an apology of some sort, it was really just a barely veiled attempt to appease notoriously easy-to-convince red staters and get them to start buying Bud Light again while also not actually reversing a far-left decision or saying anything that would infuriate the radical left.
Fortunately, the statement seems to have failed and people are sticking with it so far, avoiding buying Anheuser-Busch products and trying to teach the woke company a lesson by doing so. We’ll see if it works and if people manage to stick to it long term, avoiding the failure to follow through that came with the aborted NFL boycott, but so far it’s a very promising start.
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