In one of the most stunning examples of "go woke, go broke," Anheuser-Busch experienced major backlash -- both from a PR perspective and its bottom line -- after attempting to appease a sliver of a tiny minority of Americans.
According to Breitbart, within a few days of showing off its promotional partnership with transgender social media celebrity Dylan Mulvaney, the famous beer producer dropped a staggering $6 billion in market cap.
Longtime Bud Light drinkers took to social media, especially TikTok, and dragged the beer maker into the ground, launching a string of boycotts that had a devastating effect on the company's bottom line.
The company's share prices dropped within that time period, accounting for the billions in lost market cap.
Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender person, was the recipient of a promotional, limited edition can with his name and face on it. The beer maker celebrated Mulvaney's "womanhood," which triggered a massive negative reaction across the country, and really, the world.
Mulvaney sent shockwaves through social media after debuting the can with a caption that read, "This month I celebrated my day 365 of womanhood and Bud Light sent me possibly the best gift ever — a can with my face on it."
This isn’t a parody. Dylan Mulvaney is now the face of Bud Light. pic.twitter.com/cpygA74cG5
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) April 2, 2023
Breitbart noted:
Bars across the country are seeing customers avoid the brand. In one Missouri bar, sales of Bud Light and other Anheuser-Busch beverages have reportedly dropped by roughly 40 percent. A bar in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood — which has a high population of gays — reportedly saw Bud Light sales drop 70 percent.
Some distributors and liquor stores across the country stopped carrying the beer as a boycott, which ended up significant enough to impact the massive company's pocketbooks in a big way.
Some conservative celebrities, like rocker Kid Rock, used their reach to slam the beer and the company for going woke.
Aside from celebrities, distributors, and bars boycotting the beer, perhaps the most impactful side of the boycott are the beer drinkers themselves. Blue-collar Americans who've sipped cold Bud Lights after work for decades suddenly stopped, sending legitimate shivers through the executive suites at the company.
We stopped watching the NFL when they disgraced our anthem
We stopped wearing Carhartt when they enforced vax mandates against workers
Now we’ve stopped drinking Bud Light
When will these companies learn?
Get Woke, Go Broke
— Capt. D (@DB09215406) April 4, 2023
That sentiment was repeated tens of thousands of times or more.
It's truly difficult to comprehend how a company like Anheuser-Busch would make such a monumentally stupid business mistake because social issues aside, that's what it was. Perhaps that $6 billion drop will inspire board members to keep a closer eye on the woke radical executives tearing the company apart from the inside.
