No one believes the Budweiser Clydesdales have been threatened

(AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Anheuser-Busch is having a bad string of days. It’s all self-inflicted so don’t feel too sorry for the company. It’s mind-boggling, though, just how tone-deaf the corporate overlords are, or at least the marketing department.

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First, transgender social media influencer and actor Dylan Mulvaney was hired to promote Bud Light. Bud Light. Dylan isn’t just any ole transgender social media influencer, he is a slap in the face to women everywhere. He’s not transitioning into a woman, he’s doing performance art. But, he’s got corporate movers and shakers convinced that paying him to promote their products is the way to go. So, they do because no company wants to be left off the Woke World train. Tampax (yes, I’m serious), Nike sports bras, and Olay skin care are only three of the companies falling for Dylan’s act, before Bud Light did. The stupid, it burns. Dylan doesn’t have the need for a sports bra. Face moisturizer? That’s more reasonable, at least. If you don’t understand why Tampax is just flat-out wrong, I can’t help you. Men don’t menstruate. Follow the science, Tampax.

It turns out that Bud Light drinkers don’t appreciate being taken for fools. They know that Dylan is an actor and they aren’t buying his act. They are insulted that Anheuser-Busch has no idea who their consumers are, too. So, they simply stopped buying the product. There are a bazillion beers on the market and Bud Light is far from the best one out there. Sorry. Not sorry. Beer distributors immediately noticed that customers were boycotting Bud Light. Sales are way down. The company’s value is taking a hit.

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Beer juggernaut Anheuser-Busch has seen its value nosedive nearly $5 billion since Bud Light’s polarizing partnership with transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney.

According to the Dow Jones Market Data Group, Bud Light’s parent company is down 4.7 percent and has lost about $4.56 billion in market cap since March 31.

The beer maker’s stock shed more than 1.5% on Wednesday alone. The stock was $66.73 per share on March 31 and closed at $63.38 on Wednesday.

Bud Light has gone silent on social media. Ironic, considering the use of a social media influencer got them into this mess in the first place. Why spend money on a TikTok star and not promote it on other social media platforms?

The marketing vice president responsible for going woke with Bud Light is accused of hypocrisy now that her college days at Harvard have exposed her as a party girl. College photos have surfaced of Alissa Heinerscheid drinking beer, some of it out of condoms, with friends. Many Bud Light drinkers are calling her out for now jumping ugly on “fratty” behavior. I don’t, though. She was in college doing what college students do. Now she is a grown-ass woman working in corporate America and she no longer, I assume, drinks beer out of condoms. Here’s the thing, most Bud Light drinkers don’t act “fratty” because all Bud Light drinkers aren’t college kids. Most are regular working Americans who come home after a long day and just want to have a beer and relax. Her snotty attitude toward her own customers is what should be criticized. She really missed the mark with this marketing decision. Harvard, you say?

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Now we are up to the latest poor decision made by Anheuser-Busch. Someone thought it was a good idea to claim that the Budweiser Clydesdales have been threatened. Absolutely no one believes that malarkey. Anheuser-Busch claims that Clydesdales events are being canceled due to security concerns.

Missouri Budweiser distributor Wil Fischer Distributing canceled all of the Springfield Clydesdale showings, citing safety concerns for their employees. Is it a concern for the horses or the employees who handle them? Either way, it doesn’t sound credible. A CBS affiliate for the Springfield area said Anheuser-Busch provided no other details.

“We aren’t going to comment on the issue … everything is still sensitive in social media,” an executive at Wil Fischer told the New York Post, asking not to be identified by name.

The Clydesdales are American treasures. No one would threaten them and probably not their humans, either. It looks like a cowardly act from a corporation trying to hide from its customers. It didn’t go over very well on social media, which is what the company was trying to avoid.

Our sister site Twitchy has some good examples:

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Do better, Anheuser-Busch.

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John Sexton 8:00 PM | December 13, 2024
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