Go woke go broke: AB InBev Learned the Hard Way That Woke Propaganda Is Bad for Business

When companies do not know their audience or, as has often been the case lately, want to jump on the ‘woke train’, what often happens is exactly what happened to one of the largest beer producers Anheuser-Busch when they decided to hire a man pretending to be a woman for their campaign for their popular beer Bud Light, in order to expand their audience and to be, as Alissa Heinerscheid, the vice president of marketing for Bud Light, said, more inclusive and inclusive.

Needless to say, this move backfired, and many are now using the slogan ‘go woke go broke’, as this is exactly what happened to this beer producer whose sales plummeted as did its stock price.

But let’s start from the beginning.

When the well-known NCAA March Madness basketball tournament, which determines the national champion in men’s college basketball, was held at the beginning of the month, Bud Light decided to air an advertisement featuring Dylan Mulvaney during the semifinals. More precisely, he posted it himself on his networks as a promotional video for the popular beer brand.

In the video, this character is flailing in a bathtub full of foam while a tower of Bud Light cans stands behind him.

Of course, such an advertisement did not sit well with anyone except liberal woke leftists whose entire politics now revolves around woke, not to mention nonsense. There is no longer room for worker rights and similar leftist themes, while space has been made for people like Mulvaney, who became famous among the woke crowd by documenting his year-long transformation into a ‘woman’ on TikTok.

In this first video of his transformation, it can be concluded that he is actually mocking women, at least from my perspective, but that did not stop many, like Drew Barrymore, who knelt before him in a talk show to thank him for his courage.

This first video is not the only one of its kind. All his works resemble more of a mockery of the female gender than anything else, but I will leave that for everyone to assess.

However, Bud Light did not stop at just flailing in a bathtub full of foam. To mark, pay attention now, the one-year anniversary of Mulvaney’s transformation, they also made beer cans with his likeness to ‘celebrate everyone’s identity‘.

Many critics have of course condemned this move by Bud Light, claiming that the company is out of touch with the demographics of its customers. It is also incredible that corporations in the West are so fixated on the woke movement that they are willing to alienate their long-time brand fans, all to include some characters pretending to be women in their campaigns, presumably to satisfy 0.01 percent of the population.

Admitted Mistake

After two weeks of criticism, two leading marketing executives responsible for the campaign with this character, Alissa Heinerscheid and Daniel Blake, were ‘put on leave‘, while sales continued to decline as did the stock price. The Wall Street Journal quoted a spokesperson for AB InBev who said that both decided to take leave themselves, while insiders from the company confirmed to the Wall Street Journal that the decision was not voluntary. This is also shown by the fact that Todd Allen, vice president of global marketing for Budweiser, has already been appointed to Heinerscheid’s position.

– We made some adjustments to simplify the structure of our marketing department to reduce layers, so that our top marketing experts are more closely connected to every aspect of our brand activities. These steps will help us stay focused on the things we do best: brewing great beer for all consumers – said the AB InBev spokesperson, somewhat admitting the mistake of hiring this character.

Management changes followed the accelerated decline in Bud Light retail sales. According to data from the Bump Williams Consulting (BWC) analytics and insights department, Bud Light experienced a ‘significant acceleration in sales decline’. Specifically, Bud Light sales fell by -17 percent in the week ending April 15, according to NIQ data shared by BWC, while the brand’s share decreased by 6.7 percent. Additionally, the market value of the parent company Anheuser-Busch lost $6 billion in just two weeks.

The quantitative sales of Bud Light outside of business premises fell at an even higher rate (-21.1%). The brand’s share in premium volume fell by -6.5 percent.

And while Bud Light’s popularity is declining, some other brands have jumped in to fill the void. Thus, the sales of Coors Light and Miller Lite increased by +17.6 percent, surpassing Bud Light’s sales.

Nike, hold my beer

That some never learn was also shown by Nike, just a few days after this whole Bud Light story. Namely, the smart heads in the marketing of the increasingly unpopular Nike decided it would be great to hire Mulvaney to get closer to Generation Z, so they used him to advertise women’s sports bras, a guy without breasts advertising bras. Once again, a guy without breasts advertising bras. It has been intentionally written twice.

After the man Mulvaney posted a video wearing Nike leggings and a sports bra, it didn’t take long for this collaboration to backfire on Nike as well, as a man in women’s clothing advertises clothing items for women. So who is crazy here, our well-known actor Rene Bitorajac would say.

Retired British Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies led the protests, calling it a ‘punch in the face’ to women and saying that Mulvaney parading around in tight workout gear ‘makes a parody of what women are’. Feminist activist and writer Jean Hatchet was equally horrified: ‘All of this looks ridiculous and offensive,’ she wrote, stating that ‘flailing’ humiliates women and ‘implies that weakness and stupidity are inherent to a woman who engages in sports’.

Of course, a war broke out on social media against Nike, which certainly did not need this considering how many female athletes they have in their sponsorship embrace. But evidently, no one represents women as well as a man, which is actually a defeat for all women in this world.