There have been rumors of serious drops in customer purchasing after Anheuser Bush rebranded Bud Light as the beer for transvestites & transgenders.
The stock value of the company has dropped, but the Main Street (consumer-driven) financial outcomes are not clarified in data yet, and everything is nonempirical. However, with the CEO of Anheuser Bush now stepping into the discussion [see statement here], it is safe to anticipate the impacts at a retail level have reached the executive suites.
Unfortunately, the milquetoast statement from the company is exceptionally weak and shows a heavily influenced group and board filter which ends up creating a very white-washed corporate statement from CEO Brendan Whitworth. Saying, “we never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people,” is a long way from saying something akin to, ‘hey guys, we really screwed up, and have fired everyone associated with this visit into the world of brand image stupidity.’
The way I read between the lines of this statement is that Mr. Brendan Whitworth was well aware of the branding effort and marketing plan. He approved it. CEO Whitworth cannot fire Budweiser Light Vice President of Marketing, Alissa Heinerscheid, because Whitworth himself approved the marketing strategy. That’s the way the weasel-words read to me.
Bottom line, this is very weak… pathetically weak… and Budweiser brands deserve to be publicly shunned. Give them a few weeks with zero sales and let’s see what happens.
