
The country music star Travis Tritt has dropped Anheuser-Busch beers from his tour after Bud Light teamed up with the transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney on an ad campaign.
Dylan Mulvaney has become the new brand ambassador for Bud Light. 🍺
The beer brand even made a special edition Dylan Mulvaney Can 🥤celebrating his 365 days of girlhood.
(This is not April Fools, it’s actually real)
🍺🍻🍺😒🍻🍺🍻 #dylanmulvaney #trans #transgender pic.twitter.com/xuu87WxrvZ
— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) April 1, 2023
Tritt Ditches Anheuser-Busch
Daily Mail reported that last weekend, Mulvaney, 26, announced her partnership with Bud Light in a series of videos that culminated in her being given a beer can with her face printed on it to celebrate her 365 days of being a woman. Tritt fired back on Wednesday evening by saying that he would be removing all Anheuser-Busch products from his tour hospitality rider.
“I will be deleting all Anheuser-Busch products from my tour hospitality rider,” Tritt tweeted. “I know many other artists who are doing the same.”
I will be deleting all Anheuser-Busch products from my tour hospitality rider. I know many other artists who are doing the same.
— Travis Tritt (@Travistritt) April 5, 2023
“Other artists who are deleting Anheuser-Busch products from their hospitality rider might not say so in public for fear of being ridiculed and cancelled,” he continued. “I have no such fear.”
Other artists who are deleting Anheuser-Busch products from their hospitality rider might not say so in public for fear of being ridiculed and cancelled. I have no such fear. https://t.co/YgjO9P03tR
— Travis Tritt (@Travistritt) April 6, 2023
Tritt then tweeted out a list of the beers that fall under the Anheuser-Busch umbrella, which include Budweiser, Stella Artois, Corona, Michelob Light, Rolling Rock, Busch, Natural Ice, O’Douls, Red Hook, and more.
Here they are. pic.twitter.com/dkGaNawNBa
— Travis Tritt (@Travistritt) April 6, 2023
Tritt also took aim at Jack Daniels after that company teamed up with drag queens from “Rupaul’s Drag Race” for another campaign.
“All the Jack Daniels drinkers should take note,” he wrote.
All the @JackDaniels_US drinkers should take note. pic.twitter.com/W0d9lMoSxq
— Travis Tritt (@Travistritt) April 6, 2023
Tritt ended his rant by saying, “In full disclosure, I was on a tour sponsored by Budweiser in the 90’s. That was when Anheuser-Busch was American owned.”
“A great American company that later sold out to the Europeans and became unrecognizable to the American consumer,” he added. “Such a shame.”
In full disclosure, I was on a tour sponsored by Budweiser in the 90’s. That was when Anheuser-Busch was American owned. A great American company that later sold out to the Europeans and became unrecognizable to the American consumer. Such a shame.
— Travis Tritt (@Travistritt) April 6, 2023
PR Expert Sounds Off
This comes after PR experts spoke out to say that Anheuser-Busch changing their marketing so drastically by teaming up with Mulvaney was like “setting their loyal fanbase on fire.”
Gareth Boyd, Marketing & PR Director at Forte Analytica, told The Mail that while he understands where the decision to do this came from, this was “not the right way to go about it.”
“I really cannot understand their approach for this because their core audience just cannot relate,” he said. “Cutting your core audience in the hope you can draw a completely new audience in, who haven’t been exposed before, doesn’t make sense.”
“Their core market is middle aged men, 50 plus, and it is kind of surprising that they have gone down this route,” he continued. “We personally would have said to not do it at all, because it doesn’t matter what way you spin it – the core market they have would not appeal to this.”
This isn’t a parody. Dylan Mulvaney is now the face of Bud Light. pic.twitter.com/cpygA74cG5
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) April 2, 2023
Related: Travis Tritt Sends Brutal Message To Musicians Trying To ‘Cancel’ Joe Rogan
Anheuser-Busch Stands By Mulvaney
Despite this, Anheuser-Busch has stood by Mulvaney, saying that their brand “works with hundreds of influencers across our brands as one of many ways to authentically connect with audiences across various demographics.”
“From time to time, we produce unique commemorative cans for fans and for brand influencers, like Dylan Mulvaney,” the company added. “This commemorative can was a gift to celebrate a personal milestone and is not for sale to the general public.”
This is Dylan Mulvaney, the new face of Bud Light. Why? 😵💫 pic.twitter.com/jf77c3TiND
— News Snapper (@newssnapper) April 3, 2023
Mulvaney rose to fame documenting her gender transition “into girlhood” on TikTok, where she has over 10 million followers. Anheuser-Busch clearly wanted to appeal to the woke left by teaming up with her, but it seems that the brand is now learning the hard way that this was a huge mistake.