PHOTO: Dylan Mulvaney.
I was just cracking a can of Bud Light the other day, when I heard about the Dylan Mulvaney controversy.
The Anheuser-Busch company, in a well-meaning effort to find new customers for Bud Light — a beer that’s apparently been struggling to remain relevant — had sent a customized can of Bud Light to Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender actress with 10 million TikTok followers, hoping she would promote a ‘March Madness’ beer promotion.
The company also wanted to congratulate Mulvaney on ‘Day 365’ of her official transition to womanhood.
In early April, Mulvaney thanked Anheuser-Busch by posting a video of herself (dressed like Holly Golightly from Breakfast at Tiffany’s) promoting a sweepstakes challenge where people can win $15,000 from Bud Light by sending in videos of themselves carrying a lot of beers, dressed however they want to dress.
Apparently, this made some people very mad. Celebrity Kid Rock posted a video of himself shooting Bud Light cans with a semi-automatic rifle.
Some people have called for a boycott. A ‘Bud-lash’, you might call it.
As for me, I have been paying for my Bud Light out of my own pocket. But if I knew that I could get free beer just by putting on some costume jewelry and a black dress and gloves, sign me up.
Unfortunately, that idea never came to me. And now, with all the right-wing backlash over Dylan Mulvaney, it’s probably too late.
I will, however, take my hat off to anyone who can attract 10 million TikTok followers. I’m lucky to get a few dozen readers when I post a column here in the Daily Post. Obviously, I’m a ‘nobody’ compared to people like Dylan Mulvaney.
And truth be told, I’m a nobody compared to a lot of people.
People can really stand out, by identifying themselves with this or that ideology. But me? I’d not gay or lesbian; I’m not a person of color; I’m not registered with a political party; I don’t belong to any church or religion; I’m not a Baby Boomer or a Millennial; I’m not a vegetarian; I don’t belong to the NRA…
If there were anyone who fits that song by John Lennon…
He’s a real Nowhere Man, living in his Nowhere Land,
Making all his Nowhere Plans for Nobody…
… that would be me.
Paying for my own Nowhere Beer.
The latest news is that Alissa Heinerscheid, Bud Light’s vice president of marketing at the time of the Mulvaney campaign, has taken a leave of absence, and will be replaced by Todd Allen, the global vice president of Budweiser.
From Rolling Stone magazine:
“We have made some adjustments to streamline the structure of our marketing function to reduce layers so that our most senior marketers are more closely connected to every aspect of our brands activities,” Anheuser-Busch confirmed in a statement, adding the change will “help us maintain focus on the things we do best: brewing great beer for all consumers, while always making a positive impact in our communities and on our country.”
If Ms. Heinerscheid had aimed a bit lower, and hired a “nobody” like me to promote the March Madness sweepstakes event, she would probably still have a job.
Just saying.
Underrated writer Louis Cannon grew up in the vast American West, although his ex-wife, given the slightest opportunity, will deny that he ever grew up at all.