By Lauren Elkies Schram
Anheuser-Busch InBev was ill-prepared when its partnership with an influencer who identifies as transgender, Dylan Mulvaney, stoked swift backlash.
On April 1, Mulvaney posted a video on Instagram promoting a Bud Light NCAA March Madness contest. The sponsored post included a custom can of beer with Mulvaney’s face on it, commemorating her first year of gender transitioning.
Some factions of conservative celebrities, politicians and consumers slammed Bud Light and called for a boycott of AB products. Bud Light’s sales plummeted and retailers were forced to decrease shelf space for the brand, causing Bud Light to fall off its perch as the leader in the U.S. beer market.
An operations manager who left the company of his own volition in the fall described the climate amid the Bud Light fallout as “a nightmare to say the least.”
SHEFALI KAPADIA 