The outcry over
Anheuser-Busch InBev SA’s
partnership with a transgender advocate could cause brands to rethink whether and how they address contentious social issues, putting in question an increasingly common strategy for marketers as they try to reach younger consumers.
Anheuser-Busch’s trouble began when the world’s largest brewer enlisted social media star Dylan Mulvaney to help generate some publicity for its Bud Light beer brand during the annual March Madness college basketball tournament.
The effort was criticized by some customers and celebrities including musicians Kid Rock and Travis Tritt, who called for a boycott of the brand. A raft of politicians also weighed in, fueling the controversy.
Many brands in recent years have positioned themselves as forces for promoting what they see as social good. Marketing departments have embraced what they call purpose-driven marketing, which often entails promoting a cause or working to shed light on a societal issue.
While aligning with societal or political issues has always carried some risk, marketing experts said the partisan politics that have polarized the U.S. are making the approach even tougher to navigate. Bud Light’s imbroglio will likely cause some brands to reconsider aligning with societal issues, they said.
“Boardrooms are likely going to be asking, ‘Is it really worth the risk?’” said
Harris Diamond,
former chief executive of ad giant McCann Worldgroup.
Companies that weigh in on issues are increasingly finding themselves “in the crosshairs,” thanks in part to the heightened political climate and partisan politics, Mr. Diamond said. We’ve never seen politicians from the left and the right step into these controversies to the extent that they are stepping into them today, he added.
Florida Gov.
Ron DeSantis
released a video that mocked Bud Light and the transgender community. The video promoted merchandise tied to the governor and parodied “Real Men of Genius,” an ad campaign that Bud Light began airing in the late 1990s.
On the other side of the aisle, Rep.
Ted Lieu
(D., Calif.) tweeted a photo of himself and several other California Democrats smiling and holding Bud Lights.
Christopher Graves, president of the center for behavioral science at ad agency Ogilvy, said the price companies pay for taking a point of view has escalated as people look for ways to define who is in and who is out in the culture wars. That escalation is acceptable for some companies if they and their employees feel strongly about an issue, but some will likely take a pass on weighing in on social issues if it is not “truly aligned with their deep-seated values,” he added.
Business purpose
Companies from Walt Disney Co. and
Airbnb Inc.
to Pernod Ricard SA and Coca-Cola Co. have populated the airwaves and internet with ads that hit on social themes such as the Black Lives Matter movement, immigration, gender pay equality, LGBT rights, climate change and sustainability.
Weeks before the 2016 presidential elections, Tecate, a beer brand owned by Heineken NV, made light of a campaign promise by then-candidate
Donald Trump
with an ad in which Hispanic consumers come together over a wall marking the border between the U.S. and Mexico, which is revealed to be only 3 feet tall. The ad made its debut during a debate between Mr. Trump and Democratic presidential nominee
Hillary Clinton.
Tecate’s head of marketing said at the time that the ad wasn’t political.
Airbnb and 84 Lumber Co. used the 2017 Super Bowl to run ads taking on President Trump’s immigration priorities while luxury car maker Audi used the big game to promote gender pay equality. In 2019,
Nike Inc.
ran ads that featured National Football League quarterback-turned activist Colin Kaepernick. Dove, a skin-and-hair-care brand owned by consumer-products giant
Unilever,
has an initiative that aims to stop discrimination around Black hairstyles and texture.
Marketing executives say purpose-driven efforts not only promote what brands consider to be positive social outcomes but also help drive company growth. Consumers around the world are increasingly taking into account what a brand stands for when they buy a product, according to an annual study conducted by public relations firm Edelman. About 63% of consumers choose to switch, avoid, or boycott a brand based on its stand on societal issues, the 2022 Edelman survey of 13,700 consumers found.
Companies have also embraced the practice because it helps them attract workers, who have come to expect employers to share their values, marketing experts say.
Anheuser-Busch has a long history of tackling social issues in its marketing. In 2016, Bud Light aired a commercial that featured actors Seth Rogen and Amy Schumer promoting equal pay and another that supported same-sex marriage, in which the duo attend a wedding.
A 2017 Super Bowl ad from Budweiser touched on immigration themes amid a political debate over immigration. Budweiser’s commercial, which the company said at the time wasn’t attempting to make a political statement, centered on the immigration story of Adolphus Busch, co-founder of parent company Anheuser-Busch.
Wading into societal issues has always come with some risk. Consumers and activists have routinely used social media to call out brands for being too political or for failing to back up their marketing with tangible actions. Audi’s 2017 Super Bowl commercial drew criticism, as some found the ad to be disingenuous, while some consumers called for shoppers to boycott Nike over its campaign featuring Mr. Kaepernick.
Fifty-nine percent of male U.S. consumers who describe themselves as conservative or very conservative reported having a negative opinion of the Bud Light brand on April 23, up from 4% on April 1, when Ms. Mulvaney’s post first went live, according to market research-firm
YouGov.
Nearly 4% of all respondents in a separate poll run by YouGov on April 23 said they would consider buying Bud Light, down from 5.7% on April 1.
Brands such as Nike and Disney, whose audiences skew younger and are more likely to support progressive causes, could ultimately suffer more for not engaging on social issues, said Anjali S. Bal, an associate professor of marketing at Babson College.
Disney faced criticism last year for initially declining to publicly oppose Florida’s Parental Rights in Education bill, dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” legislation by opponents, and then for taking a stand against it.
“Had Disney never come out against ‘Don’t Say Gay,’ I think it would have been problematic for them in the long term,” Dr. Bal said.
Write to Suzanne Vranica at Suzanne.Vranica@wsj.com and Patrick Coffee at patrick.coffee@wsj.com
Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
The outcry over
Anheuser-Busch InBev SA’s
partnership with a transgender advocate could cause brands to rethink whether and how they address contentious social issues, putting in question an increasingly common strategy for marketers as they try to reach younger consumers.
Anheuser-Busch’s trouble began when the world’s largest brewer enlisted social media star Dylan Mulvaney to help generate some publicity for its Bud Light beer brand during the annual March Madness college basketball tournament.
The effort was criticized by some customers and celebrities including musicians Kid Rock and Travis Tritt, who called for a boycott of the brand. A raft of politicians also weighed in, fueling the controversy.
Many brands in recent years have positioned themselves as forces for promoting what they see as social good. Marketing departments have embraced what they call purpose-driven marketing, which often entails promoting a cause or working to shed light on a societal issue.
While aligning with societal or political issues has always carried some risk, marketing experts said the partisan politics that have polarized the U.S. are making the approach even tougher to navigate. Bud Light’s imbroglio will likely cause some brands to reconsider aligning with societal issues, they said.
“Boardrooms are likely going to be asking, ‘Is it really worth the risk?’” said
Harris Diamond,
former chief executive of ad giant McCann Worldgroup.
Companies that weigh in on issues are increasingly finding themselves “in the crosshairs,” thanks in part to the heightened political climate and partisan politics, Mr. Diamond said. We’ve never seen politicians from the left and the right step into these controversies to the extent that they are stepping into them today, he added.
Florida Gov.
Ron DeSantis
released a video that mocked Bud Light and the transgender community. The video promoted merchandise tied to the governor and parodied “Real Men of Genius,” an ad campaign that Bud Light began airing in the late 1990s.
On the other side of the aisle, Rep.
Ted Lieu
(D., Calif.) tweeted a photo of himself and several other California Democrats smiling and holding Bud Lights.
Christopher Graves, president of the center for behavioral science at ad agency Ogilvy, said the price companies pay for taking a point of view has escalated as people look for ways to define who is in and who is out in the culture wars. That escalation is acceptable for some companies if they and their employees feel strongly about an issue, but some will likely take a pass on weighing in on social issues if it is not “truly aligned with their deep-seated values,” he added.
Business purpose
Companies from Walt Disney Co. and
Airbnb Inc.
to Pernod Ricard SA and Coca-Cola Co. have populated the airwaves and internet with ads that hit on social themes such as the Black Lives Matter movement, immigration, gender pay equality, LGBT rights, climate change and sustainability.
Weeks before the 2016 presidential elections, Tecate, a beer brand owned by Heineken NV, made light of a campaign promise by then-candidate
Donald Trump
with an ad in which Hispanic consumers come together over a wall marking the border between the U.S. and Mexico, which is revealed to be only 3 feet tall. The ad made its debut during a debate between Mr. Trump and Democratic presidential nominee
Hillary Clinton.
Tecate’s head of marketing said at the time that the ad wasn’t political.
Airbnb and 84 Lumber Co. used the 2017 Super Bowl to run ads taking on President Trump’s immigration priorities while luxury car maker Audi used the big game to promote gender pay equality. In 2019,
Nike Inc.
ran ads that featured National Football League quarterback-turned activist Colin Kaepernick. Dove, a skin-and-hair-care brand owned by consumer-products giant
Unilever,
has an initiative that aims to stop discrimination around Black hairstyles and texture.
Marketing executives say purpose-driven efforts not only promote what brands consider to be positive social outcomes but also help drive company growth. Consumers around the world are increasingly taking into account what a brand stands for when they buy a product, according to an annual study conducted by public relations firm Edelman. About 63% of consumers choose to switch, avoid, or boycott a brand based on its stand on societal issues, the 2022 Edelman survey of 13,700 consumers found.
Companies have also embraced the practice because it helps them attract workers, who have come to expect employers to share their values, marketing experts say.
Anheuser-Busch has a long history of tackling social issues in its marketing. In 2016, Bud Light aired a commercial that featured actors Seth Rogen and Amy Schumer promoting equal pay and another that supported same-sex marriage, in which the duo attend a wedding.
A 2017 Super Bowl ad from Budweiser touched on immigration themes amid a political debate over immigration. Budweiser’s commercial, which the company said at the time wasn’t attempting to make a political statement, centered on the immigration story of Adolphus Busch, co-founder of parent company Anheuser-Busch.
Wading into societal issues has always come with some risk. Consumers and activists have routinely used social media to call out brands for being too political or for failing to back up their marketing with tangible actions. Audi’s 2017 Super Bowl commercial drew criticism, as some found the ad to be disingenuous, while some consumers called for shoppers to boycott Nike over its campaign featuring Mr. Kaepernick.
Fifty-nine percent of male U.S. consumers who describe themselves as conservative or very conservative reported having a negative opinion of the Bud Light brand on April 23, up from 4% on April 1, when Ms. Mulvaney’s post first went live, according to market research-firm
YouGov.
Nearly 4% of all respondents in a separate poll run by YouGov on April 23 said they would consider buying Bud Light, down from 5.7% on April 1.
Brands such as Nike and Disney, whose audiences skew younger and are more likely to support progressive causes, could ultimately suffer more for not engaging on social issues, said Anjali S. Bal, an associate professor of marketing at Babson College.
Disney faced criticism last year for initially declining to publicly oppose Florida’s Parental Rights in Education bill, dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” legislation by opponents, and then for taking a stand against it.
“Had Disney never come out against ‘Don’t Say Gay,’ I think it would have been problematic for them in the long term,” Dr. Bal said.
Write to Suzanne Vranica at Suzanne.Vranica@wsj.com and Patrick Coffee at patrick.coffee@wsj.com
Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8