Clowning Around With A Classic Beer Brand
How would wine drinkers respond to clowns?
I’m unaware of a pop-culture controversy resulting in a significant drop in sales for a specific wine or the wine category. My thinking cap may be too small, but I just don’t recall it. I certainly can’t think of any instance in which a wine suffered the same fate as Bud Light is currently undergoing as a result of using transgender TikTok star Dylan Mulvaney to promote its brand.
For those of you catching up, Mulvaney is a transwoman who often refers to themself as a “girl”. They are particularly controversial because in the TikTok videos that have documented their transition from “man” to “woman”, Dylan has put on display demeaning and stereotypical caricatures of women and girls. It’s just insulting.
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Nevertheless, Mulvaney has millions of followers on TikTok, has been invited to the White House to sit and chat with the president, and has snagged a number of endorsement deals including with Ultra, MAC, Kate Spade, Instacart, Nike (for sports bras) and, most recently, with Bud Light. It’s this latter endorsement that seems to have had an impact not intended by the marketing geniuses at the beer brand.