Anheuser-Busch recently announced a new plan to save jobs at the company amid an ongoing boycott of its popular beer brand, Bud Light.
"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 CEO Brendan Whitworth said in a statement on Thursday.
The announcement went on to state new actions Anheuser-Busch is taking, which included investing in Bud Light to protect the jobs of frontline employees and providing financial assistance to independent wholesalers. The third point in Thursday's announcement was aimed toward consumers and said, "Our summer advertising launches next week, and you can look forward to Bud Light reinforcing what you've always loved about our brand—that it's easy to drink and easy to enjoy."
The announcement comes amid an ongoing boycott by many conservatives of Bud Light, following the beer's partnership with transgender influencer and activist, Dylan Mulvaney.
Mulvaney posted a video on Instagram in April showcasing a customized Bud Light can with her face on it in celebration of her one-year anniversary of transitioning. The video prompted an array of criticism across social media mainly from conservatives who oppose aspects of the transgender community.
The row over transgender brand ambassadors is symbolic of a wider debate about the inclusion of transgender women in female issues and spaces. Some say transgender women should be treated the same as other women, while others say they are different and that hard-won women's rights must be protected.
Transgender rights and inclusion are issues that are proving deeply polarizing in the U.S. A survey by the Pew Research Center last year found that 38 percent of Americans believed that society had gone too far in accepting transgender people, while 36 percent said it had not gone far enough.
In addition to Bud Light, some other companies such as Target and Kohl's faced criticism and calls for boycott over LGBTQ+ items they sold for Pride Month, which began in June. Target eventually responded to the criticism and removed some items from some stores in the South saying in a statement that it was "making adjustments to our plans, including removing items that have been at the center of the most significant confrontational behavior."
Shortly after the boycott of Bud Light, Anheuser-Busch inBev CEO Michel Doukeris spoke about the controversy and said the company planned to invest more money into Bud Light.
"This situation has impacted our people and especially our frontline workers, the delivery drivers, sales representatives, our wholesalers, bar owners and servers. These people are the fabric of our business," Doukeris said in early May. "We are providing direct financial support to the frontline teams that work for us and our wholesalers as to Bud Light have significantly increased our investments behind the brand in the US."
Doukeris also responded to the situation with Mulvaney and said, "This was the result of one can. It was not made for production or sale to general public. It was one post, not a formal campaign or advertisement."
Meanwhile, Bud Light sales have continued to decline amid the boycott, but over the past week, Anheuser-Busch inBev saw a slight increase in its share price.
Newsweek perviously reached out to Anheuser-Busch via email for comment.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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