Bud Light, UFC deal reveal two possibilities of what’s really going on

Bud Light is fighting for survival. The once No. 1 beer is now on the back burner after a disastrous PR campaign and backlash from conservatives. As it turns out, people don’t want their beer to have an aftertaste of left-wing propaganda. And now, beer companies may finally be listening.

Back in April, Bud Light teamed up with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney to promote its beer. The company sent out some special cans featuring Mulvaney’s face to commemorate “365 Days of Girlhood.”

As a result, beer changed as drinkers moved elsewhere. Bud Light has long held a conservative position in the beer world. The Mulvaney deal sparked a huge amount of negative reaction, from choosing better-tasting beer to singer Kid Rock using Bud Light cans for target practice.

Foam makers are now betting that strong men and women will help them sell beer that biological males are losing out on. The company finally realized that it was in big trouble. So I took action. In the past few weeks:

Bud Light has launched an initiative to help Folds of Honor provide $3 million in educational scholarships to families of first responders.

The company tried to appease dealers by offering them $150 million to prevent them from being kicked out.

And, perhaps for purely business reasons, Captiv8, the marketing company involved in the Mulvaney debacle, has fired a number of its executives.

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Then there’s the sensible UFC contract. UFC CEO Dana White said in a press release. “There are many reasons why I chose Anheuser-Busch and Bud Light, but most importantly, we are very aligned in our core values ​​and what the UFC brand stands for. Because I feel that I am.”

What White is saying is that they gave the UFC a lot of money. Those are our shared values. Nothing else. I’m a supporter of capitalism, so I don’t blame him one bit. He’s making decisions with the financial health of the UFC as a whole in mind. How many Americans would refuse to pay $100 million and drink weak beer?

UFC announces Bud Light as official beer in partnership with Anheuser-Busch

There are currently two possibilities. Bud he’s either Wright really changing his mind and trying to get his old customers back, or he’s pretending and trying to wipe it all out.

forgiveness is a virtue

Bud Light is making a good move here. In my house, helping the families of first responders is always appreciated. We have five generations of firefighters. And signing up with the UFC again, even if it’s just a front, is smart business. This is a proud league and White represents that well.

But the important thing about forgiveness is that you must first admit that you were wrong. And you have to promise never to do it again. That means Bud Light executives have to be honest with customers about the Mulvaney fiasco and say that mixed martial artists and first responders represent beer values, and Mulvaney’s stunt was not. Thing.

Now, it’s possible Bud Light intends to throw in the towel and stick with a primarily conservative, beer-buying public. That’s one of the options I predicted earlier this year. But I doubt it. Not yet, anyway.

it’s just a marketing stunt

This isn’t the first time Bud Light has tried to recover from a disaster. This is the same leader whose former marketing chief derided the brand as “cheating.” Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth told CBS on June 28, “Just to be clear, this was a gift and it was one can,” Mulvaney said. I tried to keep my relationship to a minimum.

Then there was the summer commercial where Bud Light teased its customers to the tune of Thicke’s ’70s song “Good Times.” The spot showed a large group of people drinking Bud Light having picnics and doing all sorts of silly things. One man had a cell phone on his stomach and was left with sunburn marks. Another person is walking through the screen door. There are two people who can’t close the refrigerator, and a man who falls from a hammock.

“Easy to drink” goes the slogan, which is apparently necessary since the company thinks its customers are too stupid to open a can of beer.

After all, customers are smarter than marketers, and they didn’t like it either. So is Bud Light simply spending more money to acquire customers? probably. But no matter how hard the UFC tries, it won’t solve the core problem of Mulvaney being a brand supporter turned critic.

“I think it’s worse for companies to hire transgender people and not publicly support them than not to hire transgender people at all,” Mulvaney said.

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A photo of a commemorative Bud Light can featuring TikTok influencer Dylan Mulvaney. (Dylan Mulvaney/Instagram)

So Bud Light risks offending both woke drinkers and woke media. And the problem is not easily solved. “Transgender support and employment shouldn’t be political, and the people who are saying that are bigots, and we shouldn’t let them win,” Mulvaney said.

It is impossible to appease conservatives and Mr. Mulvaney, who considers it bigoted to do so. Not the same brand. What the company could do is make Bud Light the conservative brand it has always been, make a new, workier beer, and bring Mulvaney into it. But I think it’s too late. Both parties will notice and respond.

In other words, Bud Light has to offend someone. The latest spending does not mean the company is choosing sides, but it is likely to be forced to do so or waste the money and goodwill it is trying to restore.

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