Trump Touts Bud Light Boycott Success in Weekend Post

Former President Donald Trump praised the recent boycott of beer maker Anheuser-Busch for using transgender personality Dylan Mulvaney in an advertising promotion for its Bud Light brand, saying in a social media post this weekend that “money does talk.”

“It’s time to beat the Radical Left at their own game,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform Sunday. “Money does talk—Anheuser-Busch now understands that. Great new book [‘the Great Patriot Buy-cott Book; The Great Conservative Companies to Buy From & Invest In!’] by Wayne Allyn Root. Buy your copy today!”

Mulvaney appeared on Instagram April 1 opening a can of the alcoholic beverage that had her face on it, sent to her by the company.

Conservative rocker Kid Rock then posted a video of himself shooting cases of the beer with a rifle and then shouting an expletive directed to the beer and the company, causing the company’s stock value to drop, the Associated Press reported.

According to the report, sales for the brand in the U.S. fell 21% over the same week ending April 22 in 2022, with both competitors Coors and Miller Lite picking up that drop.

The move led the company to announce it would triple its advertising spending over the summer, but parent company InBev CEO Michel Doukeris told the AP that he believes the negative backlash is stabilizing.

“We believe we have the experience, the resources and the partners to manage this,” the AP reported Doukeris saying during a conference call with investors last Thursday. “This was one can, one influencer, one post and not a campaign.”

While the company has not directly apologized for the incident, Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth put out a statement April 12 saying that he and the company “cares deeply” about the country, company, customers, and partners, being proud of the brand.

“We never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people,” he said in the statement. “We are in the business of bringing people together over a beer.”

The marketing executive responsible for the idea of sending Mulvaney the product, Alissa Heinerscheid, was placed on a leave of absence from the company April 22, the AP reported.

The blowback has not just come from the right side of the political spectrum, however.

AdAge reported May 1 that LGBTQ+ bars in Chicago are no longer offering the brands and are also calling to boycott the company for not fully defending Mulvaney and “transgender rights.”

The 2Bears Tavern Group, said in a statement May 4 “in view of Anheuser-Busch InBev’s abandonment of its support of transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney, the subsequent reprehensible and divisive comments by its CEO, and Anheuser-Busch putting on involuntary leave at least two marketing executives involved in the marketing campaign that celebrated Mulvaney’s transgender journey, 2Bears Tavern Group is discontinuing all Anheuser-Busch InBev products, including Busch Light, Bud Light, and Goose Island 312.”