TheQuartering [9/22/2023]
After Dylan Mulvaney, the transgender influencer, promoted the beer on Instagram, conservatives called for a boycott. The fallout has grown to include the retailer Target and the country singer Garth Brooks.
Months after Bud Light was featured in a social media promotion by a transgender influencer, Dylan Mulvaney, the beer company is still dealing with the strong response to its campaign.
Bud Light has faced a boycott from some conservative commentators and celebrities as its sales have plummeted. It was also criticized by some in the L.G.B.T.Q. community for its tepid response to the backlash.
The criticism of Bud Light, amid other complaints about brand partnerships with transgender people, comes as Republican state lawmakers are proposing legislation that seeks to regulate the lives of young transgender people, restrict drag shows in a way that could include performances by transgender people and require schools to out transgender students to their parents.
Bud Light has become an unexpected symbol in these efforts.
The controversy began on April 1, when Ms. Mulvaney posted a video on her Instagram account, where she has 1.8 million followers, to promote a Bud Light contest.
Ms. Mulvaney, 26, is popular on TikTok, where she has more than 10.6 million followers and documented part of her transition online in her “Days of Girlhood” series.
Her Bud Light promotional post was less than a minute long and was mostly about a $15,000 giveaway that the company sponsored during March Madness. She mentions that the company sent her a tallboy can with her face on it to celebrate a full year of her “Days of Girlhood” series.