How Bud Light Ended Up with Dylan M. and a Controversy

The second statement from Anheuser-Busch was no better than the first. A-B responds to Bud Light controversy: ‘One single can’ sent to one influencer

You can click the link for details on the statement, and how the executives are screaming about how it isn't their fault. "The buck stops nowhere," apparently.

Someone with perspective on the company has some interesting insights.

Robert Lachky was the chief creative officer at Anheuser-Busch, until the company was purchased by Europeans. They brought in European marketers who were clueless about America, so he left.

His main point is about stepping into the religious or cultural arenas and pissing off half of your customers. But I am interested in what he had to say about the current state of the marketing team.

Now that the marketers are all American again, they still do not understand who consumes Bud Light and other mainstream Anheuser-Busch products, he said.

”None of these marketing folks has ever been to a NASCAR race, none has been to a football game or a rodeo,” he said.

“That’s insanity. That’s marketing incompetence,” he said.

That is the state of AB today. Insult your customers. Crap on their basic ideology. Be surprised when that doesn't work out. Probably not too far off from the rest of American industry. (It certainly sums up Disney's view of their customers.)

Why would you hire someone with an undergraduate degree from Harvard and an MBA from Wharten to market Bud Light? I know they thought Alissa Heinerscheid was good, but I think she proved that she wasn't good, not at that job anyway. I'm sure she would do fine in high-end apparel, or gourmet kitchen gadgets or whatever, but exactly what does she know about people who actually work for a living? Nothing, by her actions and statements.

On a side note, AB-InBev keeps saying that this is nothing. The 1st quarter was great. (Of course, all of this erupted in the 2nd quarter, but don't cloud the issue with facts.) I mean be fair, what are they going to say, without admitting that they're idiots, without apologizing, or without admiting that they're f-ing idiots?

And to add insult to injury, the LGBTwhatever bars are now dropping Anheuser-Busch products, because they don't like the fact that AB-InBev has "disavowed" Dylan. Some Chicago bars drop Bud Light, other beers in protest over company’s handling of transgender partnership.

Granted, the story is only about Chicago, but you cannot appease the Woke crowd.

Sidetrack Bar, in Chicago’s Northalsted neighborhood, posted a message to their Instagram account Friday with the caption, “In response to actions and statements taken by Anheuser-Busch which strongly bring into question their support of the LGBTQ+ community, Sidetrack will cease selling Bud, Bud Light and 312.”

They go on to make a statement about solidarity with the LGBTQeieio community. (I can't keep up with the letters, and I don't even try anymore.)