In the latest bit of controversy over a clip that influencer Dylan Mulvaney posted on her Instagram story in partnership with Bud Light, conservatives are upset with Fox News for airing a commercial for Anheuser-Busch.
At the same time, it appears that some conservatives are ready for the Bud Light boycott to end.
Why is there a boycott in the first place?
Mulvaney, who is transgender, posted the brand deal clip on her Instagram account in April. In it, she admits that she doesn’t know much about March Madness, but that she does like beer. She ends it by saying “love ya” and it had a positive message.
However, it soon caused backlash among some conservatives. Notably, Kid Rock filmed a video of himself shooting Bud Light cans in response to the video.
“F**k Bud Light and f**k Anheuser-Busch! Have a terrific day,” he said.
Since then, things have spiraled. Conservatives called for a boycott. Musician Travis Tritt announced he was removing all products from Anheuser-Busch, Bud Light’s parent company, from his tour rider. Conservative lawmakers Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) called for an investigation into whether the 26-year-old influencer’s clip was marketing to children.
Bud Light sales have been down amid the backlash and Fox reported that bottling plants were shut down during the boycott, leaving people out of jobs. Yet, Vox noted that the company was already struggling to compete with other beers before the video was posted, and that it reached out to personalities such as Mulvaney to potentially find new customers.
Mulvaney addressed the issue in a June 29 video and said that she has felt frightened, as she has been threatened, bullied with transphobic comments and followed in the months following her post.
“I have felt a loneliness that I wouldn’t wish on anyone,” she said. Mulvaney added that Bud Light did not reach out to help her and she encouraged her followers to support other transgender people.
Per the University of California, Los Angeles, transgender people are over four times more likely than cisgender people to experience violent victimization, including rape, sexual assault, and aggravated or simple assault. As of last June, 1.6 million people in the U.S. identified as transgender.
Anheuser-Busch said in a statement that it didn’t want to ‘divide’ people. Some have criticized the brand for not doing more to defend Mulvaney.
What did Fox do?
According to Newsweek, “Fox News promoted Bud Light and other Anheuser-Busch products on its network despite the conservative backlash that the beer brand and its parent company have faced over the last couple of months.”
One of these promotions was a segment with the CEO of Folds of Honor, a nonprofit organization that provides educational scholarships to military families. Lieutenant Colonel Dan Rooney encouraged viewers to drink Anheuser-Busch beverages to help support Folds of Honor.
“We kick off 13 years of partnership with Anheuser-Buch.
They've donated $22 million. We’ve got awesome new products coming out,” Rooney said while holding up a Budweiser bottle. “So, people literally can crack a cold Budweiser, a Bud Light and celebrate their freedoms, but also provide educational scholarships to the military and first-responder families who have sacrificed so much for the freedoms that we enjoy.”
In a May press release, Folds of Honor explained that the company donated tens of millions to provide “life-changing scholarships to the spouses and children of fallen or disabled U.S. service members and first responders.”
Newsweek said conservative social media personality Rogan O’Handley called the segment a “Bud Light commercial” and that Fox was “nothing but CNN with a blue background.”
“Fox News did a segment on food prices and of course they did a Bud Light product placement,” said conservative personality Brigitte Gabriel. “They are so tone deaf.”
A divide among conservatives
While some have criticized Fox’s promotion of Bud Light and Anheuser-Busch, other conservatives appear to be over the whole thing.
Former President Donald Trump, the GOP 2024 presidential frontrunner, said the company was “too iconic” to continue boycotting. Even Kid Rock’s Honky Tonk bar in Nashville, Tenn., is reportedly selling Bud Light, according to both The New York Post and the Daily Mail.
Related
Related
