Stung by the backlash from US political conservatives over its collaboration with a transgender influencer to promote Bud Light, Anheuser-Busch InBev pledged on Thursday that it would turn the conversation back to beer with its summer advertising campaign.
“We recognize that over the last two months, the discussion surrounding our company and Bud Light has moved away from beer and this has impacted our consumers, our business partners, and our employees,” Anheuser-Busch InBev North America CEO Brendan Whitworth said in a statement.
The ad campaign, which begins next week, will reinforce that Bud Light is “easy to drink and easy to enjoy,” he said.
Whitworth did not directly reference the brewer’s decision to team up with transgender social media personality Dylan Mulvaney for a March Madness Bud Light promotional video, a move that sparked off a brand boycott that has hit sales volumes in the months since.
AB Inbev will also provide financial support to independent wholesalers struggling to offload its beer, including a sales incentive payment and reimbursing freight and fuel surcharges, Whitworth said.
He also reiterated CEO Michel Doukeris’s comments in May that the company would be “investing to protect the jobs” of its frontline employees.
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