It looks like the party is over for Bud Light and its parent company Anheuser-Busch. After alienating customers with a nutty partnership with “transgender” actor Dylan Mulvaney, the beer brand has experienced a freefall in sales, resulting in major losses for the company.
And according to Bill O’Reilly, the buck should stop with the CEO, Brendan Whitworth.
On O’Reilly’s show last Tuesday, the No Spin News host lambasted Anheuser-Busch for attempting to shift the blame onto its ad agency instead of taking responsibility for the fiasco. He also gave the company a vital piece of advice to avoid sinking itself further: “Anheuser-Busch should just shut up, trot out the Clydesdales, do your little Christmas commercials, and don’t say another word, because you are making it worse.”
O’Reilly didn’t mince any words about what should have been done following the controversy and enormous losses: “The CEO of Anheuser-Busch should be fired. Boom! Out! You are in charge. This is a disaster. How any rational business-person could think that campaign isn’t going to torque off millions of people, you’re not competent to run the company.”
WATCH:
Unfortunately for Anheuser-Busch, their woes don’t end there. The multinational bank HBSC recently downgraded their stock due to the controversy, and Daily Wire podcast host Michael Knowles wrote in a May 8 piece that “Bud Light’s suggestion that the Dylan Mulvaney endorsement was just some one-time thing would be more believable if AB InBev didn’t openly admit to wanting to ‘ensure’ their pro-trans diversity ‘touches upon all functions, including … Marketing.’”
It looks like the days of woke corporations trying to win over customers with “transgender” marketing schemes have come to an end. Consumers are no longer willing to sacrifice their values and beliefs for a few extra sales, and companies like Anheuser-Busch are starting to realize it.
The lesson here is that companies should steer clear of politics and focus on what matters most: providing quality products and services to their customers. Companies should leave the policy-making to politicians, and stick to what they do best.
If Anheuser-Busch had taken O’Reilly’s advice and kept quiet, they probably wouldn’t be in the mess they’re in now. But it looks like they’ll have to learn the hard way.
