Althouse: "When things get divisive and controversial so easily, I think it’s an important wake-up call to all of us marketers to be very humble...."

June 20, 2023

"When things get divisive and controversial so easily, I think it’s an important wake-up call to all of us marketers to be very humble...."

Said Marcel Marcondes, Anheuser-Busch’s global chief marketing officer, quoted in "Bud Light is ‘coming back’ but controversy is a ‘wake-up call,’ Anheuser-Busch exec says" (CNN).

78 comments:

Alexander said...: "I'm sorry we got caught. Buy our beer again and we'll see if you're a little more pliable in a year or two."; 6/20/23, 12:13 PM
Michael K said...: Took him long enough.; 6/20/23, 12:13 PM
Aggie said...: The Budweiser brand is dethroned by a Mexican beer. Who would have thought that, 25 years ago? But look at this guy's picture: The startled executive. Who declares confidently that the crisis is over. OK, then. The Zen Master says: We'll see.; 6/20/23, 12:22 PM
Gahrie said...: That's an acknowledgement that they fucked up, not an apology.

The stupid Dylan can could have been excused and forgotten pretty quickly. The real sin was the open and casual contempt expressed by the brand manager for the people who at the time were buying her product. As far as I can tell, she still has a job and has not attempted an apology.; 6/20/23, 12:25 PM
PM said...: "coming"? "back"?; 6/20/23, 12:29 PM
Wa St Blogger said...: The wakeup call should be to not hate your customers; 6/20/23, 12:29 PM
RNB said...: Not found in the article: The word 'apology.'

Not found in a Bud Light can: Beer; 6/20/23, 12:31 PM
rcocean said...: Yeah whatever. Funny, how even though Budwieser (actually their parent company) has lost BILLIONS in revenue, they refuse to say they're sorry and won't do it again.

Losertarians shown to be wrong again.

If Budweiser was motivated by profit, they would've apologized. They haven't. There is no "Free Market" because they are "too big to fail".; 6/20/23, 12:39 PM
Gusty Winds said...: I don't think you're going to see straight white men returning to Bud Lite. You think beer chugging frat boys are going back? Bikers? Blue collar ditch diggers?

It's now "the gay beer" or whatever. There are too many other options in the light beer market. Why return??

But, Subaru has done just fine being the lesbian vehicle and I'm not sure they even tried as hard as Bud Lite did.; 6/20/23, 12:45 PM
tim in vermont said...: Bud Light was the #1 selling beer at the time, and we were told that this kind of divisive advertising was required because it was a "dying brand."

Personally, I am not bothered by what a guy who transitioned at an age where he was old enough to make his own decision, does, but why can't we just leave the proles alone? You know, the guy who goes to work every day at some job most Democrats wouldn't take on a bet, and just wants to drink some beers wile sitting in some lawn chair at the side of some river, next to a fire, fishing, and be left alone, at least until he goes to work the next day at that same tiresome job.; 6/20/23, 12:46 PM
tim in vermont said...: "'It’s coming back,' he said."

No numbers given.; 6/20/23, 12:47 PM
Leland said...: There is no controversy here. When your VP of Marketing says they don’t like the customers they attracted and decides to purposely be divisive to get rid of them; being humble isn’t the only problem. This was an intended action with the intended response. The mistake was misjudging the effectiveness of the campaign.; 6/20/23, 12:50 PM
Dude1394 said...: I would be surprised if it is “coming back”. You don’t call all of your customers frat boys, not fire the two marketers saying that and come back.; 6/20/23, 12:52 PM
Oh Yea said...: Bud Light is never coming back. This not a boycott it is a permanent change of preferences. There are plenty of mediocre mass market beers to choose from. Image is the biggest differentiator and your stupid marketing people didn’t realize they could insult your core market and expect them not to defect.; 6/20/23, 12:57 PM
Anthony said...: The only people I ever saw drink Bud Light were old people and women.

Not something I want to drink, but I'm not a beer snob. Drink whatever the ^#(@ you want and shut up about it.; 6/20/23, 12:58 PM
Original Mike said...: How hard is it to say "we screwed up"? Say that, the woke community (who weren't Bud drinkers in the first place) will protest, and the former Bud drinkers will comeback to spite them.

I don't see anything other than a clear apology working. And even that is going to need some help (like rilling up the lefties).; 6/20/23, 1:02 PM
cassandra lite said...: I remember when the USSR broke up, and western eco charities gave Gorbachev great-stewardship awards even after the ecological destruction from Soviet policies was becoming known.; 6/20/23, 1:04 PM
CJinPA said...: Bud Light sales have tumbled since the company’s partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney sparked an anti-trans backlash...

What a sleazy take. The backlash was against a multibillion-dollar corporation using its wealth and power to influence a cultural and public policy debate that THE PEOPLE ARE STILL HAVING.

The left-wing movement will demonize anyone who stands and says "Why don't you give us five minutes to think about this unprecedented change before outlawing debate?"; 6/20/23, 1:08 PM
Dave Begley said...: That won't work. AB InBev needs to issue an apology and beg for forgiveness.

The Left constantly plays the civility bullshit card. Oh, please don't be so mean. Stop the divisiveness!

But the Left always starts it with some extreme position like child mutilation. They then bitch that we conservatives are mean and divisive. Any sane, rational and halfway decent person has to be against child mutilation. It shouldn't be political at all but the Dems made it political. Fuck'em.; 6/20/23, 1:09 PM
walter said...: "So easily"? Still haven't a clue.
Gusty,
Subaru didn't force the issue. They just happened to be the first car to offer plaid.; 6/20/23, 1:12 PM
Enigma said...: And the millions of protests against divisive Wokesters since Jordan Peterson circa 2016 and Bret Weinstein at Evergreen College in 2017 weren't wake up calls? The "mostly peaceful protests" of 2020 weren't a wake up call?

Attempts to cancel lefty Joe Rogan wasn't a wake up call?

Marketers are notorious trend followers and money grubbers. They are not known for humility nor wisdom.; 6/20/23, 1:13 PM
Mason G said...: "It's now "the gay beer" or whatever."

I believe the correct term is "tranny fluid".; 6/20/23, 1:23 PM
Kai Akker said...: Wake-up call. Ah, yes, surely that's all it is when you lose almost 30% of your business for months on end. Where is that end? I dunno, but it's obviously not here and not now.

Many more Wokester companies to go. Hit 'em. bust 'em, that's our custom. As our lesbian Little League moms would chant when their (and my) sons' teams played. I am looking forward to it with all due respect.; 6/20/23, 1:23 PM
Greg the Class Traitor said...: The people running Bud Light hate their customers.

Thus they hired a "Marketing Director" who publicly talked about how shitty the current customers were, and how she was going to focus on getting different ones.

Bud Light could get the "fratty" customers back. All they have to do is publicly apologize for their disrespect of their customers, and announce that they've fired the people in upper management who hated the customers.

But they're not going to apologize for making Dylan a "Bud Light Influencer", and so they're toast.

quoted in "Bud Light is ‘coming back’ "
No, it isn't. because they burned the bridge to the ground, and there is no way they're going to be wiling to rebuilt it.

Because rebuilding it requires publicly rejecting Dylan and all the other ESG freaks.; 6/20/23, 1:25 PM
tommyesq said...: Subaru has done just fine being the lesbian vehicle and I'm not sure they even tried as hard as Bud Lite did.

Subaru has (or at least early on had) a clear differentiation over the rest of the market - a relatively small, relatively inexpensive car that still had all/4-wheel drive and could take on any environment. Bud Lite is virtually indistinguishable from other light beers, and its marketing (as with most other light beers) is entirely the associations the ads draw between drinking Bud Lite and being cool/fun/sexy/whatever - you associate with the guys and gals in the ad (at least if the ad is being done right). That is why it was so stupid to not only associate the brand with something so niche and controversial, but to compound it by crapping on all past associations as negative "frat-boy" stereotypes that must be cast aside. Very foolish, when it is so easy to switch allegiance to a Miller Lite, Coors Lite, etc.; 6/20/23, 1:33 PM
William said...: The spokesman has to match the brand. Dylan might have some use as an endorser for light, sparkling wines or for certain swimsuits at Target, but s/he wasn't right for Bud Light. For Bud Light you need a party animal like Spuds McKenzie. I would recommend Hunter Biden. There's a guy who can pose with sunglasses, a beer and a bikini model by the pool, and you get the message. It's sure to attract a lot attention especially among the many beer drinking, hetero Dem voters. Some Republicans might also go for it. If they can sign on one of Trump's kids all the better. Not Ivanka though. She'd be off brand. Baron might be a good fit. Attract the youth market.; 6/20/23, 1:36 PM
Kate said...: Hobbits just want to grill.; 6/20/23, 1:53 PM
Michael said...: Why on earth would you virtue signal over such a tiny, inconsequential, bit of the gay spectrum? Did they not know arithmetic; 6/20/23, 1:55 PM
Dave Begley said...: Original Mike, "How hard is it to say "we screwed up"?"

The Left never apologizes or admits error. They got that from the Clintons.; 6/20/23, 2:01 PM
Paul A. Mapes said...: A few times I've ordered Bud Light because it was the only beer I could think of. In the future I'll always order something else simply because Bud Light is the only beer I can remember not to order.; 6/20/23, 2:18 PM
Paul A. Mapes said...: A few times I've ordered Bud Light because it was the only beer I could think of. In the future I'll always order something else simply because Bud Light is the only beer I can remember not to order.; 6/20/23, 2:19 PM
Paul A. Mapes said...: A few times I've ordered Bud Light because it was the only beer I could think of. In the future I'll always order something else simply because Bud Light is the only beer I can remember not to order.; 6/20/23, 2:20 PM
Bob Boyd said...: "Bud Light is ‘coming back’

It's de-transitioning?; 6/20/23, 2:24 PM
Meade said...: Indigestion.; 6/20/23, 2:33 PM
Meade said...: *burp*; 6/20/23, 2:33 PM
mccullough said...: Bud is over.

Young guys, including teens, aren’t drinking it anymore.

That’s why sales dropped. Middle age guys don’t pay attention and don’t care.

As Bud drinkers die off they aren’t replaced anymore.

So the 25% drop will continue slowly over the next 35 years or so when most of the Bud drinkers are dead.; 6/20/23, 2:52 PM
AMDG said...: What they need t9 do is resurrect the “Real Men of Genius” campaign. Cut an ad dedicated to “Mr. Out of Touch Marketing Exec who insults his customer base”. That close an ad with a shot of all the prior characters saying “we’re sorry, we screwed up”.; 6/20/23, 2:56 PM
Biff said...: You don't often see the words "marketers" and "humble" in the same sentence.

I've had my share of exposure to marketers in professional contexts. It is common to hear them speaking of their targets as "sheeple" to be herded according to the marketers' wills.; 6/20/23, 2:58 PM
Free Manure While You Wait! said...: ""When things get divisive and controversial so easily, I think it’s an important wake-up call to all of us marketers to be very humble...."

Tangential to this issue:

Transgender Hormone Therapy
Planned Parenthood believes you deserve high-quality, compassionate health care that’s appropriate for your needs — no matter your gender identity.

Our health centers provide gender-affirming hormone therapy for transgender and nonbinary patients.

Get Care
Planned Parenthood is proud to provide a safe and welcoming place to get transgender/nonbinary hormone therapy. We offer services to transgender women, transgender men, and nonbinary people.

Services include:

Estrogen and anti-androgen hormone therapy
Testosterone hormone therapy
Puberty blockers
Not every Planned Parenthood health center provides all services. Check with your local Planned Parenthood health center about the services they offer.

https://www.plannedparenthood.org/get-care/our-services/transgender-hormone-therapy#:~:text=Planned%20Parenthood%20believes%20you%20deserve,for%20transgender%20and%20nonbinary%20patients

What on Earth does gender transitioning have to do with Planned Parenthood's mission of family planning?; 6/20/23, 3:04 PM
Jupiter said...: I guess I'm just a contrarian. I kind of feel like, if you are really upset that the beer you've been swilling since high school ran some ads featuring some pervert, doesn't that mean that you have been drinking it for the ads? Like, when they showed me pictures of chicks' tits, I sucked the slop down, 'cuz I really like chicks' tits! Even if they're really only pictures of chicks' tits. But I have my standards, and there is some tasteless bubble-water I refuse to suck down! Cuz they showed me the wrong pictures!

Well, OK. He sez he's gonna show you the old pictures again. So what's the problem? Suck some bubble-water already.; 6/20/23, 3:05 PM
Jupiter said...: "Anheuser-Busch’s global chief marketing officer"

How much do you suppose they pay this insufferable asshole to manage bubble-water marketing?; 6/20/23, 3:06 PM
Free Manure While You Wait! said...: What's really funny is that here in Minneapolis, the gay bars have stopped selling Bud products now too.; 6/20/23, 3:09 PM
iowan2 said...: It doen't take a marketing genius to understand not to offend a huge portion of their customer base.

I have worked sales/service my entire life. It only takes a couple throw away lines that lose you a sale or a customer, to realize you don't bring up controversial topics. Like politics. And since everything today has been politicized by democrats, the topic subjects is getting narrow.

Don't insult your customers...How many years of college do you need to figure that out.

But as I noted. I learned my stupid mouth cost me sales. For me, Sales=Salary.; 6/20/23, 3:13 PM
Free Manure While You Wait! said...: "transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney"

As someone else pointed out, transgender is basically cosplay and I made a mental note of that.

I finally saw Dylan Mulvaney for the first time on TV last night and thought, yes, it absolutely is cosplay. The tell, is that I have never seen a woman dress as hyper-female stereotype as he does. And pearls before five o'clock? WTF?

It's an act. Plain and simple.; 6/20/23, 3:16 PM
Gravel said...: Riffing on a theme, here: I don't think the Bud Light boycott would have taken root if they hadn't taken the extra step of insulting their core customer base. Once they did that, it gave the boycotters extra oomph, until it finally took on a life of its own. Conservatives learned that they can do significant damage to what previously appeared to be unassailable brands. This won't be the last time.; 6/20/23, 3:19 PM
Drago said...: AMDG: "What they need t9 do is resurrect the “Real Men of Genius” campaign. Cut an ad dedicated to “Mr. Out of Touch Marketing Exec who insults his customer base”. That close an ad with a shot of all the prior characters saying “we’re sorry, we screwed up”."

AmBev would never allow it.; 6/20/23, 3:49 PM
tim in vermont said...: "That’s why sales dropped. Middle age guys don’t pay attention and don’t care."

Yes, this gradual process of the aging of the customer base caused sales to drop off of a cliff on the same day that this marketing initiative came out...

Do you really believe that, or are you part of some bot farm pushing back on the power of the working class to impact the pocketbooks of the owning class? You kind of sound like ChatGPT whenever it's asked about anything controversial.; 6/20/23, 3:51 PM
Dave Begley said...: AMDG

Spot on! Using that Jesuit education, I can see.

Although it would be legally problematic, how about a Justice Kavanaugh-like character saying, "I like beer."; 6/20/23, 4:31 PM
Skeptical Voter said...: Yeag--he's going to go on a "listening tour". Listening tours are what happens when a particularly stupid politician --or CEO does when they have really put their foot in the deep dung.

And who cares about a listening tour? Will it cure the defect? Nope--just a waste of time and breath.; 6/20/23, 5:01 PM
FleetUSA said...: @Dave Begley,
Yes the Clintons were experts at denial and pointing the finger elsewhere. I think they learned it at Oxford.; 6/20/23, 5:12 PM
Mikey NTH said...: No apology and no acknowledgement of error let alone what those errors would be. Just a speech made out of pap and pablum.; 6/20/23, 5:14 PM
Mary Beth said...: Marketers need to market, not politick.

They call it a boycott, their former customers call it brand-switching. We'll see who's right.
I agree with everyone who said the Dylan thing would have been quickly forgotten if it weren't for the disrespect, contempt, even, that Alissa Heinerscheid has for their customers.

I don't get it. If having a fratty image was making my product the best seller, I'd embrace that.; 6/20/23, 5:15 PM
Mason G said...: "I don't get it. If having a fratty image was making my product the best seller, I'd embrace that."

It's not about having a best seller. It's about showing who's in charge and putting the deplorables in their places. You must wear the ribbon.; 6/20/23, 6:29 PM
cfs said...: "Gusty Winds said...
I don't think you're going to see straight white men returning to Bud Lite. You think beer chugging frat boys are going back? Bikers? Blue collar ditch diggers?"

----

That's the kicker there. Not one previous blue-collar Bud Light drinker wants to be the one that goes into the local bar and order a Bud Light. Their co-workers will mock them, their girl will not sleep with them, and their biker-buddies will kick their ass.

It's not going to happen.

P.S. The company has yet to apologize. The company wants those that quit drinking the cheap beer to apologize for ever leaving and return to the brand. That's not going to happen either.; 6/20/23, 6:38 PM
cfs said...: A/B's problem wasn't exactly that they brought in the guy pretending to be a pre-teen girl (although that was pretty sick) to be a spokeswo(man), it was the fact that after questions as to why, a 40-something year old woman told the guys who had been drinking the beer for years that she didn't want them as the brand's main buyers anymore. She told them she was looking for other "communities" to take over their spot because they were too "fratty". The "fratties" and the "fatties" who were previously fratties said, "Okay" and that was that!; 6/20/23, 6:52 PM
donald said...: Why did it take so long for me to see “tranny fluid”? I’m putting that on Facebook.; 6/20/23, 7:12 PM
Greg the Class Traitor said...: Free Manure While You Wait! said...
What on Earth does gender transitioning have to do with Planned Parenthood's mission of family planning?

"Transitioning" == "sterilization"; 6/20/23, 7:20 PM
Greg the Class Traitor said...: iowan2 said...
Don't insult your customers...How many years of college do you need to figure that out.

Zero. Because "insult your low class customers" is firmly taught at most colleges.; 6/20/23, 7:25 PM
Greg the Class Traitor said...: Mary Beth said...
They call it a boycott, their former customers call it brand-switching. We'll see who's right.

Yes, "brand-switching" is correct.; 6/20/23, 7:29 PM
mccullough said...: Tim in Vermont,

Get the maple syrup out of your eyes and improve your reading comprehension.

The reason sales are down 25% is because young guys (ages 16-25) stopped drinking Bud Light.

It’s a cheap beer, which is why 30% of its drinkers are young. As they make more money, they drink better beer. It’s that simple.

The remaining demographic (age 26 - 65) drink it because it’s cheap and because it’s a brand name. They don’t follow social media and don’t care.

You can glorify The Working Class as much as you want. The Working Class don’t pay attention to this shit.; 6/20/23, 7:38 PM
Big Mike said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/20/23, 8:51 PM
Big Mike said...: (1) Know your customers.

(2) Respect your customers.

(3) if you are eying other markets, make sure you won’t lose more customers than your ad campaign will pick up, assuming the campaign is successful. Which does get back to (1).

With respect to (1), if Bud Light’s customer base was just frat boys, how did the brand get to be #1?; 6/20/23, 8:53 PM
traditionalguy said...: Like Gillette a few years ago, they announced they were now the Gay Pride brand expecting that adds gays but has no effect on straight white men’s image. They went WOKE STUPID when their customers were not that fucked up. Gay marriage is a constitutional right ( ask Professor Althouse). But that’s for them. Not for normals.

So now they say they will await for the normals to convert to Gay. Just another few years marketing it will suffice to eliminate the human race. Oops. That is WOKE STUPID again.; 6/20/23, 10:55 PM
Bunkypotatohead said...: The new budlite commercial is a bunch of cowboys and cowgirls dancing in the rain at some country music hootenany. It's as fake and gay as Mulvaney.
AB should probably just replace bud Lite with Busch Lite...they can't be significantly different products.; 6/20/23, 11:03 PM
Old and slow said...: Blogger mccullough said...
...The reason sales are down 25% is because young guys (ages 16-25) stopped drinking Bud Light.

This is a very stupid take on the situation. I don't speak for Tim in Vermont, but glorifying the working class is not something I do. I do, however, live among them and I hear what they say. Bud Light is now considered a big joke. People are not buying it, they are mocking it. The drop in sales is entirely about the trans marketing campaign.; 6/21/23, 3:03 AM
gilbar said...: What on Earth does gender transitioning have to do with Planned Parenthood's mission of family planning?

as Greg the Class Traitor pointed out..
Gender transitioning == sterilization
sterilization has ALWAYS been the end game.
The Whole Point of PP is to STOP Babies; what better why, then to stop women?; 6/21/23, 5:18 AM
gilbar said...: AB should probably just replace bud Lite with Busch Lite...they can't be significantly different products.

Bud Light, and Busch Light, and Natural Light are EXACTLY the same beer.
Back when gilbar drank beers, he drank Natural Light at home, and Bud Light at the bars*; trust him

at the bars* Except at The Lost and Found Lounge; where gilbar would drink Bass Ale (on the rocks);
just to piss people off; 6/21/23, 5:22 AM
Rusty said...: Old and slow said...
Blogger mccullough said...
"...The reason sales are down 25% is because young guys (ages 16-25) stopped drinking Bud Light.

This is a very stupid take on the situation. I don't speak for Tim in Vermont, but glorifying the working class is not something I do. I do, however, live among them and I hear what they say. "

How very broad minded of you. We are so grateful.; 6/21/23, 6:26 AM
Leland said...: I guess I'm just a contrarian. I kind of feel like, if you are really upset that the beer you've been swilling since high school ran some ads featuring some pervert, doesn't that mean that you have been drinking it for the ads?

I’m not sure to whom you are being contrarian. I don’t think people were just drinking Bud Light because of ads and quit drinking because of new ads. It helps, because people are not drinking Yuengling Flight due to lack of national advertising. It is not like Adolphus Busch name is causing people to drink the swill that is Lone Star Beer. But lots of people drink Shiner Bock and perhaps Blonde, and they don’t have the marketing of A-B. If Spoeltz brewery, in the middle of Texas, said we don’t like our redneck customers and prefer to have Social Influencers drinking our beer; I’m fairly sure the current market would oblige.; 6/21/23, 7:12 AM
Tina Trent said...: Humbly spoken at something called the "Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity."; 6/21/23, 7:28 AM
Tina Trent said...: Mccullough, how far nose-up does one need to be to believe that beer drinkers between 26-65 are entirely unaware of a widely broadcast national debate?

Involving beer?; 6/21/23, 7:36 AM
LakeLevel said...: "When-things-get-divisive and controversial so easily"
First, that is not an apology. Second, I'm sure it took a concerted effort to eliminate all of the executives and marketing people who would have raised an alarm at the stupidity of this ad campaign. That kind of cowing and purging does not come "easily".; 6/21/23, 8:38 AM
tim in vermont said...: Tell me that you can't think quantitatively without telling me you can't think quantitatively.; 6/21/23, 2:20 PM
Jim at said...: The Working Class don’t pay attention to this shit.

Wanna bet?

That's exactly who's paying attention to this shit.; 6/21/23, 3:16 PM
Mason G said...: "Wanna bet?

That's exactly who's paying attention to this shit."

Not to mention- it doesn't take all of The Working Class paying attention. Just a couple of people will do. They'll tell their friends, who will tell their friends, who will tell... well, you can see where this is going.; 6/21/23, 8:47 PM
wildswan said...: You sell the sizzle, not the steak. At any time in bar or at a party, someone can use their cell phone to show someone else Alison H., Bud Light's chief marketer, being very unlikeable and very dismissive of Bud Light customers. She's now the face of Bud Light and there's no coming back from that. But if I were in marketing I would show an Alison H type presenting an insult-your-customer ad campaign and being challenged by a seasoned, older man, e.g., "My son and I do things together just the way my father and I did (cut to hunting season and campfire, drinking Yeungling beer) and we still drink Yeungling (cut to campfire with camera equipment and shots of fawns playing, father and son comparing cameras, drinking Yeungling beer." Alison snarls. Company president suit says: "Let's think about this." Final scene. Alison, emptying her desk while drinking white wine and saying to a Zoom meeting: "I don't get it. I don't think beer tastes good, anyhow." Everyone nods. As she leaves, the remote workers, shield their cameras, tilt back and hoist a Yeungling; 6/22/23, 1:10 AM
Steve said...: “ The remaining demographic (age 26 - 65) drink it because it’s cheap and because it’s a brand name. They don’t follow social media and don’t care.”

A friend of mine manages a golf course that is swarming with 26-65 year olds. I don’t know how closely those fold follow social media but the stopped drinking Bud Light. Bud light went from the top selling beer to him keeping a six pack in the cooler in case someone orders. Bud Light has become a meme. The longer folks are drinking something else the harder it’ll be to win them back.; 6/22/23, 7:39 AM
Greg the Class Traitor said...: mccullough said...
You can glorify The Working Class as much as you want. The Working Class don’t pay attention to this shit.

1: I can't think of ANY greater praise for "The Working Class" (or anyone else) than "completely ignores social media"

2: As others pointed out, all it takes is one guy who's heard something. Then when someone else tries to order a Bud Light, the one in the know asks "why are you buying that tranny fluid"? Then the story comes out, and 99% of them switch to something else.

Because:
A: Bud Light is not in any way better than its competitors
B: There's nothing about the "trans community" that's attractive to 99% of "working class males"

Guys like to give each other grief. So what's going to be a long term change is that in the "fratty" culture that Tranheiser Busch decided it didn't want, the jokes are going to be there, for decades.

It's not a "boycott". A boycott is where there's something you want, but you don't let yourself have it.
It's a "brand-switch". People are moving from one product to another equal product. There's no reason for them to ever go back. And in a couple of months supermarkets et. al. will be doing their regular fall "shelf space reassignment". at which the much less selling Bud Light will lose a bunch of shelf space, causing fewer people to buy it (because many people just grab whatever's most obvious), which will cause it to lose more shelf space 6 months later.

We'll know that sanity has finally hit the Universities when this event because a classic case study on "why you dont' piss off your customers"; 6/22/23, 10:13 AM