Recent from talks
Bud Light boycott
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Bud Light boycott
A boycott of Bud Light, the top beer brand in the United States, began in April 2023. The boycott began in response to a social media promotion the company conducted with actress and TikTok personality Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender woman.
On April 1, 2023, as part of a larger campaign to address Bud Light's decline in sales and attract younger audiences, Mulvaney promoted the company's Bud Light beer brand in a short video on her Instagram account during March Madness. The video triggered a backlash from American conservatives, including singer Kid Rock, who helped instigate a boycott against Bud Light and Anheuser-Busch more broadly. Proponents of the boycott described the sponsorship as "political" because it involved a transgender woman who had previously advocated for transgender rights. Several media outlets, including the Los Angeles Times and NBC News, described the backlash as anti-trans.
In the month following the advertisement, Bud Light's sales fell between 11 and 26%, while Anheuser-Busch's sales fell about 1%. In May 2023, AB InBev's stock price fell 20%, enough for it to be classified as a bear stock by Forbes. HSBC Securities downgraded its rating on the company from "Buy" to "Hold". CNBC estimated that in May AB InBev's sales fell 18%. In May 2023, Bud Light lost its status as the top-selling beer in the United States—a spot it had held for 20 years—to Modelo Especial. By February 2025, sales had not recovered, remaining approximately 40% below pre-boycott levels.
Amidst the ensuing controversy, critics blamed Bud Light's new vice president of marketing, Alissa Heinerscheid, as responsible for the brand's move. Heinerscheid, who became a vice president at the company in July 2022, stated that her goal was to evolve the Bud Light advertising to make it more inclusive, and to move it away from its "fratty and out-of-touch humor". In a March 23, 2023, interview for Make Yourself at Home, a show hosted by Kristin Twiford, Heinerscheid stated:
... this brand is in decline. It has been in decline for a really long time. And if we do not attract young drinkers to come and drink this brand, there will be no future for Bud Light ... It's like, we need to evolve and elevate this incredibly iconic brand. And my ... what I brought to that was a belief in, okay, what does evolve and elevate mean? It means inclusivity. It means shifting the tone. It means having a campaign that's truly inclusive and feels lighter and brighter and different and appeals to women and to men.
Former Anheuser-Busch executive Anson Frericks wrote that Heinerscheid's campaign was a fueled by the intensive ESG and DEI initiatives begun by InBev's new CEO, Michel Doukeris.
Dylan Mulvaney is an American social media personality, best known for her "Days of Girlhood" video series on TikTok. Mulvaney is a transgender woman, and she has documented her gender transition in the series starting in March 2022. Her videos soon became viral on TikTok, and she swiftly amassed a large following.
Mulvaney began to be subject to significant criticism and controversy amongst American conservatives in October 2022. In that month, she collaborated with genderfluid hairstylist David Lopez in a podcast for Ulta Beauty; the incident led to calls amongst conservatives for a boycott against the beauty store chain. Later that month, she interviewed US president Joe Biden for the left-wing NowThis News. The interview subsequently went viral amongst conservatives and Mulvaney began to face greater scrutiny from the American right. Mulvaney was criticized by several high-profile Republicans and right-wing personalities including Marsha Blackburn, Caitlyn Jenner, and Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Hub AI
Bud Light boycott AI simulator
(@Bud Light boycott_simulator)
Bud Light boycott
A boycott of Bud Light, the top beer brand in the United States, began in April 2023. The boycott began in response to a social media promotion the company conducted with actress and TikTok personality Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender woman.
On April 1, 2023, as part of a larger campaign to address Bud Light's decline in sales and attract younger audiences, Mulvaney promoted the company's Bud Light beer brand in a short video on her Instagram account during March Madness. The video triggered a backlash from American conservatives, including singer Kid Rock, who helped instigate a boycott against Bud Light and Anheuser-Busch more broadly. Proponents of the boycott described the sponsorship as "political" because it involved a transgender woman who had previously advocated for transgender rights. Several media outlets, including the Los Angeles Times and NBC News, described the backlash as anti-trans.
In the month following the advertisement, Bud Light's sales fell between 11 and 26%, while Anheuser-Busch's sales fell about 1%. In May 2023, AB InBev's stock price fell 20%, enough for it to be classified as a bear stock by Forbes. HSBC Securities downgraded its rating on the company from "Buy" to "Hold". CNBC estimated that in May AB InBev's sales fell 18%. In May 2023, Bud Light lost its status as the top-selling beer in the United States—a spot it had held for 20 years—to Modelo Especial. By February 2025, sales had not recovered, remaining approximately 40% below pre-boycott levels.
Amidst the ensuing controversy, critics blamed Bud Light's new vice president of marketing, Alissa Heinerscheid, as responsible for the brand's move. Heinerscheid, who became a vice president at the company in July 2022, stated that her goal was to evolve the Bud Light advertising to make it more inclusive, and to move it away from its "fratty and out-of-touch humor". In a March 23, 2023, interview for Make Yourself at Home, a show hosted by Kristin Twiford, Heinerscheid stated:
... this brand is in decline. It has been in decline for a really long time. And if we do not attract young drinkers to come and drink this brand, there will be no future for Bud Light ... It's like, we need to evolve and elevate this incredibly iconic brand. And my ... what I brought to that was a belief in, okay, what does evolve and elevate mean? It means inclusivity. It means shifting the tone. It means having a campaign that's truly inclusive and feels lighter and brighter and different and appeals to women and to men.
Former Anheuser-Busch executive Anson Frericks wrote that Heinerscheid's campaign was a fueled by the intensive ESG and DEI initiatives begun by InBev's new CEO, Michel Doukeris.
Dylan Mulvaney is an American social media personality, best known for her "Days of Girlhood" video series on TikTok. Mulvaney is a transgender woman, and she has documented her gender transition in the series starting in March 2022. Her videos soon became viral on TikTok, and she swiftly amassed a large following.
Mulvaney began to be subject to significant criticism and controversy amongst American conservatives in October 2022. In that month, she collaborated with genderfluid hairstylist David Lopez in a podcast for Ulta Beauty; the incident led to calls amongst conservatives for a boycott against the beauty store chain. Later that month, she interviewed US president Joe Biden for the left-wing NowThis News. The interview subsequently went viral amongst conservatives and Mulvaney began to face greater scrutiny from the American right. Mulvaney was criticized by several high-profile Republicans and right-wing personalities including Marsha Blackburn, Caitlyn Jenner, and Marjorie Taylor Greene.