In the latest version of Get Woke, Go Broke, Anheuser-Busch saw its company’s market cap plummet more than $5 billion since the beer giant announced its branding partnership with controversial transgender social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
Reaction to the new influencer deal was swift and dramatic. Singer Kid Rock to shoot up several cans of Bud Light with an assault rifle on social media.
Many large distributors in the Midwest and South reported that keg sales have fallen off a cliff since the deal became public.
The backlash even prompted a local Missouri distributor to cancel an appearance by the famous Budweiser Clydesdale horses due to fears for the safety of staffers.
Mulvaney fired back at the critics saying her trolls intentionally twist her words and actions in an effort to blast the transgender community.
“The reason that I think I am so … I’m an easy target is because I’m so new to this,” Mulvaney said. “I think going after a trans woman that’s been doing this for like 20 years is a lot more difficult. I think maybe they think that there’s some sort of chance with me … But what is their goal?
“These people, they don’t understand me and anything that I do or say then somehow gets taken out of context and is used against me and it’s so sad because everything I try to put out is positive. It’s trying to connect with others that maybe don’t understand me. It’s to make people laugh or to make a kid feel seen.”
“This boycott seems to have more legs than most,” Justin Kendall, editor of beer industry trade publication Brewbound, told The Post.
“It started out as a conversation on social media and has breached into mainstream media.”
It will be another week before Bud Light sales data at grocery and convenience stores is available but industry experts say its sales have been declining for years.