As Bud Light and its parent, Anheuser-Busch, are facing serious consumer backlash over its hiring Dylan Mulvaney as a marketing partner, one of its competitors is angling to capture a much larger slice of the market by presenting itself as non-woke.
That would be Yuengling, America’s oldest beer company and one owned by a Trump supporter. It, shortly after Anheuser-Busch’s CEO released a predictably mealy-mouthed statement that said little of value while attempting to get red staters to start buying it again, posted a tweet that differentiated itself from the woke beer brand.
In the tweet, Yuengling said, “Yuengling, The Oldest Brewery In America. Independently Owned and Family Operated since 1829 because we make good beer,” In other words: “want to support a pro-American, family-owned company rather than some woke, global behemoth that wants to push transgenderism on you? Then buy Yuengling!” Here’s that tweet:
Yuengling, The Oldest Brewery In America. Independently Owned and Family Operated since 1829 because we make good beer. pic.twitter.com/5TdmGiUc5R
— Yuengling Brewery (@yuenglingbeer) April 14, 2023
Outkick Sports called the move “perfectly timed,” with numerous other commenters jumping in to say that Yuengling is fantastic and to thank it for not being woke and gross like Bud Light.
One commenter, for example, said, “Just tried your beer, its excellent. I had to dispose of my last 3 Budweiser beers since i won’t be buying it anymore.” Another said, “Actually, as far as non-craft beers go, it is very good. Haters gonna hate. A Pittsburgh favorite, but I was in Nashville this weekend and lots of folks were drinking Yuengling –no so much bud.”
In the statement that came shortly before Yuengling’s “perfectly timed” tweet, Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth said, in part:
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.
That stood in contrast to what Bud Light’s VP of Marketing said. She said, “I’m a businesswoman. I had a really 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 really long time. And if we do not attract young drinkers to come and drink this brand, there will be no future for Bud Light. So I had this super clear mandate, like we need to evolve and elevate this incredibly iconic brand and my what I brought to that was a belief in okay, what is what are we what does evolve and elevate mean?”
“It means inclusivity it means shifting the tone. It means having a campaign that’s truly inclusive and feels lighter and brighter and different and appeals to women and to men and representation is it sort of the heart of evolution, you got to see people who reflect you in the work and we have a hangover.” Heinerscheid continued, “I mean, Bud Light had been kind of a brand of Friday. Kind of out of touch humor, and it was really important that we had another approach.”
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