Anheuser-Busch appears to be preparing for a public relations war — and it could be looking to buttress its army with influential Republicans.
According to Fox Business and the New York Post, the beleaguered Belgian-owned beer manufacturer is trying to fix its Dylan Mulvaney problem by throwing lots of advertising dollars and a robust PR campaign at it.
For the unaware, Bud Light and parent company Anheuser-Busch faced an intense backlash when the brand launched a promotion with Mulvaney, whose main claim to fame is being transgender.
Running afoul of the core beliefs of its target demographic appears to have been an awful business decision for the company — ultimately leading to executives being put on leave and massive losses in sales and market value.
Now, Anheuser-Busch is reportedly preparing to launch a furious counteroffensive to rehabilitate its image, with Republicans playing a key role in that effort.
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According to Fox, Anheuser-Busch has assembled a lobbying team made up of former Republican staffers whose job is to “woo lawmakers” and help stamp out Bud Light backlash in Washington, D.C.
Documents show that Anheuser-Busch secured the lobbying firm Origin Advocacy, which was founded by “veteran GOP aide” Sean McClean.
McClean has connections to Sens. Ted Cruz and Marsha Blackburn. Emily Lynch, the other lobbyist handling the case, has worked for members of Congress and on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
Will Bud Light overcome the boycott?
Yes: 21% (3 Votes)
No: 79% (11 Votes)
But lobbying and hobnobbing aren’t nearly enough for the conservative group American Accountability Foundation, which slammed Bud Light’s attempts to engender goodwill on Capitol Hill.
In a letter obtained by Fox, AAF president Tom Jones blasted McLean and Lynch for “making the rounds on the Hill trying to red-wash Bud Light’s disastrous decision to partner with a man pretending to be a woman and tell you the company really does respect conservative values.”
In a follow-up statement to Fox, AAF said, “If Bud Light wants to regain the trust of conservative customers, they should apologize for insulting their values by embracing the woke left’s radical gender agenda instead of wasting their money on lobbyists. Bud Light sided with the Left against the average American and no amount of D.C. lobbyists in fancy suits will make them forget that.”
But it sounds like no apology from Bud Light is forthcoming.
According to the Post, Bud Light has promised U.S. beer distributors that it will “spend heavily” on a marketing campaign that will try to wash the taste of Mulvaney-gate out of consumers’ mouths.
The brand also reportedly promised that there won’t be any more mistakes like this.
One distributor told the Post that Bud Light said “there will be an improved screening process before any marketing hits the public” and that any executives joining the company will “have to go through a more rigorous screening process.”
Bud Light has also apparently supplied its distributors with letters to clear up any “confusion” about the commemorative Dylan Mulvaney can.
“This was one single can given to one social media influencer,” Anheuser-Busch said in the letter. The company made sure to note that the Mulvaney can “was not made for production or sale to the general public,” nor was it a “formal campaign or advertisement.”
