Anheuser-Busch CEO bullish about future, tries to distance from Dylan Mulvaney: ‘We will meet the moment’

Anheuser-Busch, the parent company of Bud Light, is beginning to seriously distance itself from Dylan Mulvaney, the infamous biological male who identifies as a ridiculously flamboyant woman.

In a letter sent this week to wholesalers, the company stressed that the decision to involve Mulvaney with Bud Light wasn’t supposed to be part of an advertisement.

“This was one single can given to one social media influencer. It was not made for production or sale to the general public. This can is not a formal campaign or advertisement,” the letter reads, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Anheuser-Busch is headquartered in St. Louis.

As previously reported, Bud Light briefly teamed up with Mulvaney by sending him a can featuring his face. Mulvaney then appeared on TikTok with the can, which in turn inspired massive controversy, with critics accusing Bud Light of promoting transgenderism. The controversy has in turn devolved into the brand hemorrhaging massive amounts of sales.

“In the week that ended April 22, the brand’s in-store sales plummeted more than 26%, according to figures reported by Bump Williams Consulting, a Connecticut-based firm that specializes in the alcoholic beverage industry. And the decline is only accelerating. The week before, sales dropped by 21%. The week before that, it was 11%,” the Post-Dispatch reported this Monday.

It appears Anheuser-Busch is now trying to desperately backtrack. Whether its efforts will work remains to be seen.

Dovetailing back to the brand’s letter, it also claimed that the brand had never meant to make some kind of political statement and that the one can had been given to Mulvaney because of a bad decision made by a third-party advertising agency.

“Anheuser-Busch did not intend to create controversy or make a political statement. In reality, the Bud Light can posted by a social media influencer that sparked all the conversation was provided by an outside agency without Anheuser-Busch management awareness or approval,” the letter reads.

“Since that time, the lack of oversight and control over marketing decisions has been addressed and a new VP of Bud Light marketing has been announced,” it continues.

This is true.

Anheuser-Busch CEO Michel Doukeris personally addressed the controversy during an earnings call Thursday with investors by slamming all the “misinformation” surrounding it.

“We need to clarify the facts that this was one can, one influencer, one post and not a campaign,” he said, according to Fox Business Network.

He added that the company is “providing direct financial support” to frontline Budweiser workers who’ve been impacted by the ongoing boycott of Bud Light.

“Doukeris said the brewing giant will triple media spending on advertising for Bud Light over the summer, confirming reports that the company is planning a major marketing push to recover its brand,” FBN reported.

He added that it’s too early to discern how badly the boycott has affected the company’s sales. But, he continued, he’s personally bullish on the brand’s ability to rebound.

“We believe we have the experience, the resources and the partners to manage this. And our four-year growth outlook is unchanged,” he said.

“We want to reiterate our support for our wholesaler partners and everyone who brings our great beers to the market. I can tell you that we have the agility, resources and people to support the U.S. team and move forward. We will continue to learn, meet the moment in time, all be stronger and we work tirelessly to do what we do best: Bring people together over a beer and creating a future of more cheers,”  he added.

Anheuser-Busch’s mea culpa comes a day after The Wall Street Journal reported that the brand has started effectively giving away free Bud Light to distributors to “make amends” for the whole Dylan Mulvaney controversy.

What remains unclear is whether any of this will be enough to appease the Bud Light drinkers who’ve since turned their back on the brand. Judging by the initial Twitter response to Anheuser-Busch’s efforts, it doesn’t seem like it.

Indeed, many critics say that what’s still missing is a direct apology with the simple words, “I’m sorry.”

Look:

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