Anheuser-Busch heir Billy Busch told Newsmax on Friday that had the company apologized shortly after controversy erupted over its partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, it might not have faced as much backlash.
Sales of Bud Light, once the most popular beer brand in the U.S., dropped 29.5% during the week that ended July 29 since it partnered with Mulvaney on April 1, according to data from NielsenIQ and Bump Williams Consulting. Revenue has taken a nearly $400 million hit since the controversy started.
"It would have made a big difference if they would have at least come out and explained to people that they made a huge mistake," Busch told "American Agenda." "It backfired on them. Instead of being inclusive, which I think they tried to be, it was destructive, and it tore people apart."
Busch is author of a new book about the company's history "Family Reins: The Extraordinary Rise and Epic Fall of an American Dynasty" that was published Aug. 1.
"My family led by the motto, 'Making friends is our business,' and that brought people together," he said. "It was all about fun and enjoyment and honoring America."
Busch said the current owners of the company, InBev, developed a poor marketing strategy because they lost touch with the identity of the company's core consumers.
"My family, they knew America. They knew their consumer," Busch said. "They were out every day, shaking hands, working with the retailers, working with bar owners, with convenience store owners, liquor stores, grocery stores, managers of all kinds and the people who drank the beer at that time.
"They understood, and I'm the same way. I worked in the distributorship and had our own brewery, and that's the kind of grassroots marketing that we knew and understood.
"When you're out there delivering cases of beer in the heartland of America, [you] knew America and what it was all about, and knew that our [average] drinker was a blue-collar, hard-working American who doesn't relate to the advertising that Bud Light is using now."
About NEWSMAX TV:
NEWSMAX is the fastest-growing cable news channel in America!
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.