Embattled beer brand Bud Light is reportedly sponsoring an all-ages drag party despite its massive downturn in the marketplace after partnering with transgender TikTok star Dylan Mulvaney.
The “all-ages Pride event” will take place in Flagstaff, Arizona.
Titled “Pride of the Pines,” the event will include drag queens’ performances.
Fox News reported the event lists Bud Light as one of its corporate sponsors and featured it on its posters. The event will take place on June 17.
“The event is listed as a ‘family festival event’ and a family-friendly, ‘safe space’ for all visitors,” reported Fox News on the Bud Light drag party.
“Other big-name companies sponsoring the all-ages event for Pride Month include Old Navy, Toyota, and Coca-Cola USA, according to an event flyer. The Northern Arizona Pride Association lists a ‘No Nudity-City Ordinance’ for ‘all gender forms’ as one of the regulations for the park that the event will take place in.”
As Breitbart News reported:
Bud Light Vice President of Marketing Alissa Heinerscheid was placed on a leave of absence for her role in pushing the ad. Her boss, Daniel Blake, went on a leave of absence almost immediately after.
“Given the circumstances, Alissa has decided to take a leave of absence which we support,” an Anheuser-Busch spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal at the time. “Daniel has also decided to take a leave of absence.”
Sources indicated the two executives did not take a voluntary leave of absence, and “AB InBev named another executive to replace” Heinerscheid.
Heinerscheid came under scrutiny following the Dylan Mulvaney ad after video surfaced of her on a podcast earlier this year in which she aimed to shift Bud Light away from its “fratty” base.
“I had a really clear job to do when I took over Bud Light. It was, this brand is in decline, it’s been in decline for a really long time, and if we do not attract young drinkers to come and drink this brand, there will be no future for Bud Light,” she said.
Heinerscheid said the brand reimagining meant “shifting the tone; it means having a campaign that’s truly inclusive and feels lighter and brighter and different and appeals to women and to men.”
Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth said the company “never meant to be part of a discussion that divides people” in a lengthy statement published after the backlash.
“As the CEO of a company founded in America’s heartland more than 165 years ago, I am responsible for ensuring every consumer feels proud of the beer we brew,” Whitworth wrote, adding that the company has “a proud history supporting our communities, military, first responders, sports fans and hard-working Americans everywhere.”
“We never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people,” the statement continued. “We are in the business of bringing people together over a beer.”
Mulvaney responded to the backlash on an episode of the iHeartMedia podcast Onward with Rosie O’Donnell, saying he has become an “easy target” because he is “still new to this.”
“I think going after a trans woman who has been doing this for 20 years is a lot more difficult,” said Mulvaney.
READ: Bud Light on Race to the Bottom as It Shells Out $200,000 to LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce
