Today’s society, economy, and even politics evolve around transparency, diversity, acceptance, and equality. Nowadays, spoken and written English widely uses various pronouns; not necessary in accordance with the guidance and principles that we all learned in grammar school. The newly defined pronouns seemed to be popular and accepted by the society. But is society truly accepting the change?
Well, that is what Anheuser-Busch, the one of the largest beer manufacturers in the US, assumed. Based on their market research and marketing assumptions, the company with Bud Light beer, being number one for the past 20 years, back in April 2023 decided to print a face of transgender influencer on their label can and send it to her hoping to gain the LGBTQ+ members to try the beer. The influencer, having a sizable count of followers, with pride posted the video on her Instagram.
Dylan Mulvaney showcasing the Beer in her Instagram story
The market response was as expected, instantaneous, however instead of high sales and respective profits, the sales plunged. The response from a well-known and respective American singer and songwriter, Kid Rock, shooting a can of the beer set the tone. Many other artists followed, asking for the specific beer to be removed from the bars and their tour rides. Many white-collar and blue-collar Americans started boycotting the company’s message and stopped buying this beer. Anheuser-Busch quickly realized the backlash and responded with “damage control” actions. Two of the top executives took a “leave of absence,” the company, just recently, hired a new ambassador, Whoopi Goldberg. All of it to revive plunging sales.
The financial impact of the transgender marketing campaign not only costed the Bud Light to lose its prime position, that was held strongly for 20 years to a Mexican brand, but the company sales in the US started showing alarming trends. The January-March sales in North America, prior to the campaign, were 1% worse than the same period of 2022. However, after the infamous campaign, the sales in North America for April-June 2023 dropped by 14% as compared to Quarter 2 of 2022; for the six months of 2023 (January-June) the sales for North America were worse by 8% than sales in 2022 for the same period. One can say for sure; it was one costly can of beer.
Anheuser-Busch was not the only company that experienced a backslash from the LGBTQ+ campaign. Target, the American retail corporation that operates general merchandise retail stores in all 50 states, faced a significant reduction in sales and profits that were a result of general reaction to similar marketing campaigns. The retailer responded to controversies between shoppers and store works by pulling the Pride merchandise off the shelves. The company during the second quarter earnings release announced 5% sales decline. However, it was not clear if all of it was a result of LGBTQ+ backlash.
The massive controversies reached our favorite Caramel Macchiato and Frappuccino coffeehouse, Starbucks. The Seattle, WA headquarters coffeehouse responded to market reaction to Bud Light’s marketing campaign retaliation by pulling down Pride decors and flags. This time the backlash came from LGBTQ+ members. Workers from over 150 Starbucks coffeehouses were planning on going on strike to demand better pays and freedom with Pride decorations.
The US society remains very divided, the companies are weighing opportunities that will optimize their financial performances, not always with an accurate assessment, and the state legislatures are just waiting for the right chance to propose bills regarding LGBTQ+ individuals.