If the Bud Light controversy over an endorsement deal with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney continues for two more weeks, it will seep into the 2023 NFL Draft.
In late 2021, Bud Light’s parent company Anheuser-Busch renewed a deal for the light beer to be the NFL’s official beer sponsor that runs through the 2026-27 season, according to the sports trade publication Sportico.
As observed by Fox News, Bud Light is the presenting sponsor of the NFL Draft.
“We’re excited that Bud Light continues to be the beer of choice for NFL fans across the country,” Anheuser-Busch’s head of sports marketing Matt Davis said in a statement last year. “We know fans love watching their team play with a cold beer in-hand, and we’re excited that the Bud Light brand will be part of the season’s biggest moments – beginning as presenting sponsor of the NFL Draft.”
An NFL spokesperson did not immediately respond to an email seeking to confirm Bud Light’s status is unchanged as the controversy swirls.
Bud Light’s popularity has taken a hit in recent weeks over backlash from conservatives who were irate that the beer sent commemorative cans to Mulvaney to celebrate the one-year anniversary of her transitioning from man to woman.
A boycott campaign mounted, as Kid Rock shot a bunch of cases of Bud Light with an automatic weapon and country music star Travis Tritt announced he’d be removing the beer from his tour riders.
The backlash has continued to cascade, as $4-5 billion in value in Anheuser-Busch stock has been lost since March 31.
Last week, Anheuser-Busch VP of marketing Alissa Heinerscheid defended the campaign with Mulvaney on the “Make Yourself at Home” podcast.
“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 a 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,’” Heinerscheid said.
She criticized the brand’s “fratty” marketing.
“We had this hangover,” Heinerscheid continued. “I mean Bud Light had been kind of a brand of fratty, kind of out-of-touch humor, and it was really important that we had another approach.”
Despite this endorsement of the campaign by a high-ranking executive at the company, other anonymous executives have distanced themselves from it.
“No one at a senior level was aware this was happening,” an unnamed source told the Daily Wire earlier this week.
“Some low-level marketing staffer who helps manage the hundreds of influencer engagements they do must have thought it was no big deal,” the unnamed source continued.
“Obviously it was, and it’s a shame because they have a well-earned reputation for just being America’s beer — not a political company.”
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