A big story a few weeks back is that Bud light has made its pitch person a trans person of some gender or other. The person is named Dylan Mulvaney, which they was born with a penis, and to all reports, still sports one.
The marketing manager for Bud Light, Allisa Heinerscheid, explained that Bud Lite was losing sales faster than the wink of a young girls’ eye, (apologies to Bruce Springsteen.)
To address this decline, Ms Heinerscheid ignored the billions in advertising spent to create its then current branding. Many would call changing the branding that made Bud Light the NUMBER ONE SELLING BEER IN THE UNITED STATES just a little reckless. The brand of choice for middle aged. blue collar guys who liked the branding as funny and overtly masculine.
Ms Clueless marketing doofus, was unhappy with the brand image for Bud (taste) light before she was given responsibility for its rejuvenation. It was too “fratty” to pass her Harvard Business School sensibilities.
As a member of a frat in my lifetime, I can attest, that we drank A LOT of beer. So appealing to this demographic would seem to be worthwhile marketing goal. Guys drink 3x more beer than females. Appealing to drunken frat boys is not an illogical approach to selling beer.
Additionally, when talking about beer for mass consumption, it is understood that supporting the brand aspirationally is important. Most mass consumption beers taste very similar, so creating a favorable image is important to sustaining brand loyalty. This is why beer commercials imply that by drinking their brand, you will get laid by awesome girls. That you are cool, manly, someone to be respected. And actually may have a chance with a female.
So Ms. anti frat decided that a new, updated image was in order. She chose to advertise the brand as one which defines coolness as biological males wearing dresses and hanging around in gay bars. Now, there may be many males of the current generation who want to project the image of being supportive of persons with penises wearing dresses. I have no idea. But the beer guzzling frat boys whom Bud spent billions appealing to, were unlikely to be among them.
Watch this Monty Python sketch to get a more realistic idea as to what men really think about the Dylan Mulvaney imagery being associated with their favorite down market brand.
All I can say, is no matter what guys say in a focus group or survey, they will likely not want to be associated with a fem image. Not passing judgement, just saying. Now ordering a Bud Light, many guys would feel that every person in the bar would be saying, is it/she/they/Ze wearing a thong under its wranglers? Did they bring their own KY? I am not sure this would have the desire effect on chicks, but of course, maybe they are turned on by this.
So good luck to Bud Light. For clarification, I have not drunk your cheap taste free watery product since I could afford to buy something better. So, my consumption will not change, proving I am not a transphobic person. I am enlightened man of the third millennium. Regardless, I predict that the downward sales trajectory will be vastly accelerated. I in fact predict that Bud Light sales will NEVER recover, and that regular bud will be affected also.
But I am not a Harvard Business School trained marketing expert such as the distinguished Ms. Heinerschneid, so what do I know? I can say that I never caused the loss of $30 billion in market value, like the now fired Ms. Heinerschneid; (who would have predicted that?)
Sometimes disastrous decisions actually result in consequences for the idiot responsible. Not in government, unfortunately. We can only dream.
Billy Bushwood's BS Blog 