May 7, 2023
Some Chicago Bars Will No Longer Serve Anheuser-Busch Products After CEO Back Aways from Dylan Mulvaney Post
READ TIME: 2 MIN.
Is Anheuser-Busch its own worst enemy?
"Anheuser-Busch products will no longer be served at some gay bars in Chicago in light of the beer giant's distancing from transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney," reports MSN.
"2Bears Tavern Group, which owns four gay bars in the Windy City, called out Anheuser-Busch InBev's 'abandonment of its support' of Dylan Mulvaney on Thursday."
That came when Anheuser-Busch CEO Michel Doukeris addressed the Bud Light controversy on an earnings call with investors Thursday, downplaying the brand's partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney that prompted a boycott from conservatives, reports Fox News.
Doukeris told investors there is "misinformation" spreading on social media about the company's team-up with Mulvaney. "We need to clarify the facts that this was one can, one influencer, one post and not a campaign," Doukeris said.
The Chicago franchise will no longer serve Anheuser-Busch beverages at their bars, which includes Bud Light, Goose Island 312, and Busch Light.
"Anheuser-Busch had partnered with Mulvaney in March, sending her a personalized pack of beer as part of an ad for March Madness and Mulvaney's first-year anniversary of her gender transition," writes MSN. "The marketing move led to Anheuser-Busch losing roughly $5 billion in market value and significant boycotts from conservative drinkers."
2Bears Tavern Group called Whitworth's remarks "reprehensible and divisive," along with Anheuser-Busch's move to put two executives involved in the campaign on leave.
"Anheuser-Busch's decision to drop its support of Mulvaney in response to ignorant and hateful objections by some of its customers shows how little Anheuser-Busch cares about the LGBTQIA+ community, and in particular transgender people, who have been under unrelenting attack in this country," the statement read.
"CEO Brendan Whitworth's excuse that Anheuser-Busch 'never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people' was tantamount to saying that the rights and safety of transgender people are topics worthy of debate," the statement added.
