A viral video shows baseball fans leaving a stand selling Bud Light at Fenway Park high and dry during a game between the Boston Red Sox and the Toronto Blue Jays.
TikTok user Luis Tejada made sure to film fans lined up at a nearby refreshment stand before panning to the empty concession selling Bud Light, which was apparently situated in the bleacher concourse. His 38-second video has been seen over 1.2 million times.
“Guys, this is so funny and bizarre. Look at that,” Tejada says in the video. “Look at that,” he says, claiming, “That is every single Bud Light stand here at Fenway Park.” He accompanied the video with a statement saying, “Fenway Park Bud Light stand Ghost Town!”
No one is buying Bud Light at the Red Sox game pic.twitter.com/evTMApnYGx
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) May 4, 2023
The backlash against Bud Light was catalyzed when the company sent trans-identifying influencer Dylan Mulvaney a can of beer with Mulvaney’s face on it as part of an ad partnership. Mulvaney posted a TikTok video with that can of Bud Light, celebrating 365 days of “being a woman.”A subsequent video showed Mulvaney in a bikini while sitting in a bathtub drinking a Bud Light beer.
Meanwhile, the brewery sent a letter to wholesalers about the backlash, trying to convince them that the Mulvaney controversy has been overblown.
“This was one single can given to one social media influencer,” the letter declares. “It was not made for production or sale to the general public. This can is not a formal campaign or advertisement.”
The letter was forwarded to retailers, bars, and restaurants by Grey Eagle, which distributes Anheuser-Busch products, the St. Louis Dispatch reported. A cover letter from Grey Eagle stated, “Anheuser-Busch did not intend to create controversy or make a political statement.”
“In reality, the Bud Light can posted by a social media influencer that sparked all the conversation was provided by an outside agency without Anheuser-Busch management awareness or approval,” Grey Eagle continued. “Since that time, the lack of oversight and control over marketing decisions has been addressed and a new VP of Bud Light marketing has been announced.”
In the wake of the controversy, Anheuser-Busch is reportedly offering a free case of beer to every employee of its wholesaler network.
Related: ‘One Single Can’: Anheuser-Busch Sends Letter To Minimize Disastrous Mulvaney Backlash
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