As the Bud Light boycott rolls into its second month, it doesn’t seem to be losing any traction. In fact, it looks to be picking up steam. A recent viral TikTok video from Boston’s Fenway Park has gone viral and shows that even Red Sox fans have some good taste sometimes.
TikTok user Luis Tejada made sure to film fans lined up at a nearby refreshment stand before panning to the empty concession selling Bud Light. His video has been viewed well over a million times and reflects what many distributors, bars, and restaurants nationwide have been experiencing. In short, beer drinkers aren’t ready to forgive yet, and despite the effects too many beers have on a person’s memory, they haven’t forgotten either. Check this out.
A viral video shows baseball fans leaving a stand selling Bud Light at Fenway Park high and dry during a game between the Boston Red Sox and the Toronto Blue Jays.
“Guys, this is so funny and bizarre. Look at that,” Tejada says in the video. “Look at that,” he says, claiming, “That is every single Bud Light stand here at Fenway Park.” He accompanied the video with a statement saying, “Fenway Park Bud Light stand Ghost Town!”
People nationwide have been reporting similar experiences, and if one takes the time to notice when they are in the grocery or gas station, they will see stacks and stacks of unsold Bud Light.
No one is buying Bud Light at the Red Sox game https://t.co/evTMApnYGx
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) May 4, 2023
Since the ill-fated decision by a marketing team to make Dylan Mulvaney a paid product endorser, Bud Light drinkers have fled en mass. Sales are down, the company has backpedaled, and other brands are surging. No matter, as fans are still pissed.
The backlash against Bud Light was catalyzed when the company sent trans-identifying influencer Dylan Mulvaney a can of beer with Mulvaney’s face on it as part of an ad partnership. Mulvaney posted a TikTok video with that can of Bud Light, celebrating 365 days of “being a woman.”A subsequent video showed Mulvaney in a bikini while sitting in a bathtub drinking a Bud Light beer.
Meanwhile, the brewery sent a letter to wholesalers about the backlash, trying to convince them that the Mulvaney controversy has been overblown.
Despite the efforts to control the damage, and the excuses the brand has made, it has largely fallen on deaf ears.
“This was one single can given to one social media influencer,” the letter declares. “It was not made for production or sale to the general public. This can is not a formal campaign or advertisement.”
What AB doesn’t get is it doesn’t matter if it was one can or a million. You simply don’t take a blue-collar brand like Bud Light and decide to use Dylan Mulvaney in any form or fashion. It was simply a big middle finger to middle America and the beer drinkers Bud Light built their brand on.
Making matters worse was the marketing exec responsible for this debacle labeling Bud Light drinkers as “fratty” and “out of touch”. Whose in touch now?
AB has reassigned or fired Alissa Heinerschneid, the person responsible, and issued several statement, but to little avail.
“Anheuser-Busch did not intend to create controversy or make a political statement.”
“In reality, the Bud Light can posted by a social media influencer that sparked all the conversation was provided by an outside agency without Anheuser-Busch management awareness or approval,” Grey Eagle continued. “Since that time, the lack of oversight and control over marketing decisions has been addressed and a new VP of Bud Light marketing has been announced.”
Too little, too late. Beer drinkers and blue-collar Americans have long memories, and they are taking their dollars elsewhere. Some will come back, and many won’t, but you can bet Bud Light won’t pull a stunt like this again.
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