NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE: Clay Travis, founder of the sports news outlet, OutKick, recently conducted a free beer experiment that revealed Bud Light has been shunned by the public in the wake of its recent controversy. On Sunday, May 7, the 44-year-old who is also a radio host, ran the “weekend experiment” at a concert in the Nashville area where he allowed those who passed to “pick which beer you want.”
Travis posted multiple videos of the experiment on Twitter, noting that as of 6.45 pm, his cooler was filled with a variety of beers, including Michelob Ultra, Yuengling, and Bud Light. However, in another video recorded at 10.15 pm, it was shown how the cooler only appeared to have cans of Bud Light remaining, indicating that those who took free beer would only choose the other brands. “No one would take the Bud Light all night long. The big issue going forward for Bud Light is many don’t even want to be seen with the product. They just pick another brand,” Travis wrote in the caption.
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'Brand is slaughtered in red state beer-drinking communities'
In a subsequent tweet, Travis explained how Bud Light’s current controversy has been an “unmitigated disaster” for the brand. “Overall consumption of Bud Light is now down 26%. That’s an unmitigated disaster for the brand. And many are now avoiding the beer to avoid being mocked for drinking the beer. There’s no quick fix here, the brand is slaughtered in red-state beer-drinking communities. Bet there is hardly any at SEC tailgates this fall,” he tweeted.
Bud Light came under fire after collaborating with controversial trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney, who, in April, announced that she has become the newest spokesperson of the beer company. She also revealed that the brewery had sent her Bud Light packs with her face as a way to celebrate her "365 Days of Girlhood" milestone. In addition, the company received criticism when its marketing vice president Alissa Heinerscheid stated in an interview that she was inspired to update the “fratty” and “out of touch” humor of the beer company with inclusive messaging to attract younger customers, according to New York Post.
'People ridiculing those drinking Bud Light'
Following the backlash, Heinerscheid and her boss Daniel Blake were placed on leave. In a recent appearance with 'Fox & Friends', Travis discussed the scandal's societal ramifications across the United States. “For Bud Light, I think this is an unmitigated disaster and it is completely and totally self-inflicted. I don’t really know how they are going to climb out of this mess, because people are now ridiculing others when they see them drinking Bud Light,” he noted.
Travis also noted that Bud Light was once the preferred option for a casual beer but “now, many people, when they walk up to the bar, or they go out to the grocery, and they’re buying beer, they’re thinking to themselves, ‘I’ll buy anything other than Bud Light.'”
“I think this is a warning to all brands out there that have learned over the past 20 years or so there are no consequences for going super woke in terms of trying to appeal to the far left wing in this country,” he said, adding that other major companies should be far warier of offending consumers.
