Anheuser-Busch broke the number one rule of social media…DON’T RESPOND!

Now the real problem with Bud is it’s no longer owned by a family, but a beer conglomerate, i.e. the Belgian Brazilian InBev. Bud is no longer the King of Beers, its sales have dropped dramatically, the Clydesdales rarely appear, the company is ruled purely by spreadsheet, not emotion, and when the numbers are everything you’re heading for a bruising.

You see when it’s your own money… You pay attention. You built the company from scratch, you know the perils of the consumer, of advertising, you know when to hold ’em and when to fold ’em, when to risk and when not to.

Would family owners have empowered a marketing executive to deal with a trans person? I highly doubt it, because the company is selling beer, and previously beer was not political, nor religious, it was agnostic, you either drank it or didn’t, liked it or did not.

Not that I ever found anyone who liked Bud. It was ubiquitous, but real beer drinkers always seemed to favor something else. Like Schlitz, or Pabst Blue Ribbon, or anything where they could show their identity. That’s what America is all about, showing who you are, and what beer you drink is important.

And the big kahuna is always being attacked.

But it’s a bad look when the big kahuna reacts.

So Kid Rock shot up some beer cans. How long was that story gonna last? Kid Rock himself…there was no more news, except to recite the brief history of the Bud Light boycott. So far, in the twenty first century, boycotts have not worked. Artists not going to states, consumers not using Amazon… You see there’s no cohesiveness in society anymore, you don’t feel like you’re truly part of something, that you’re making a difference, so ultimately you take the narcissistic viewpoint, you do what is right for yourself. And Amazon is damn convenient…

And the truth is Bud Light usurped the light beer title from Miller Lite. It was a staple of society. No hard core beer drinker likes to admit they drink light beer, it’s for wimps, they want the hard core meaty stuff. But in truth, so many are worried about their waistlines and just like Diet Coke eclipsed regular Coke as the premier/best-selling brand, light beer took over the mainstream marketplace.

Of course the hipness was all on the fringe. First Boston Brewing Company’s Samuel Adams, but when that became the Bud of craft beers, it became about regional beers, local beers, beers that messed with the formula, that were unique.

And let’s be clear, beer drinkers don’t think first about social issues, that’s not the profile. They may be on social media, but we’ve learned from the original Budweiser that the advertisements were all about making loyal fans feel good about the beer that they were drinking, as opposed to convincing them that it was really the best and they should imbibe. As for social media influencers influencing people’s choice of beer… Social media isn’t about earthiness, mainstream, it’s about outliers, people saying “look at me,” promoting new, edgy products that they don’t believe in, but companies will pay them to promote. Is this the right place to promote Bud Light? OF COURSE NOT!

I mean if you want to buy canned ads on social media, sure. But just because influencers are in the news, you don’t just follow them willy-nilly into the wilderness. You just don’t hire a social media marketer because everyone else does. And if anything, you start from the ground up, not the top down. You get the people already drinking Bud Light to testify, you don’t try to get attention whores to convince them to imbibe.

And if Anheuser-Busch was still family owned, someone would have been hands-on, would have been paying attention, regarding who was hired and what messages were sent and… Because the brand is everything, you don’t screw with the brand.

As for InBev… As long as beer in total, around the world, is selling, it’s not that concerned with individual brand case volume.

In other words, InBev was hands-off.

This is why major record labels are always behind the eight ball. No one’s got any skin in the game. At best they can overpay for what independents have built. They’re not looking for unknown talent, they want you to become known, for the marketplace to vote, before they lay their bread down. Because after all, these are public companies and money comes first. Oh, believe me, money always came first at the major independents of yore… But they’d ride out fallow periods, they’d invest heavily in what they believed in. In truth, they acted more on gut instinct than financial wizardry.

So, if Bud had been on the ball, it never would have gotten into this mess…

But once you’re in the mess… Say nothing. Believe me, people shooting up Bud Light cans has none of the staying power of the war in Ukraine, or Fox News/Dominion/Tucker Carlson, or even Elon Musk’s Twitter, which everybody seems to complain about but doesn’t leave, i.e. there is no boycotting. So the Bud Light boycott would have faded away, because people like what they like, they don’t switch beer brands that easily. Come on, when was the last time you switched toothpaste? Even deodorant? You like what you like and this kerfuffle might make someone try another light beer, but beer choice is a preference, it’s not casual, and it’s nearly impossible to get someone to switch brands, so if Anheuser-Busch just clammed up, the crisis would have passed.

But even though the company was smart enough to hire a social media marketer, the executives have no knowledge of social media. Come on, everyone of age testifies against social media. They might have been on Facebook for a minute, but social media is the devil, so they don’t understand it whatsoever, furthermore their contracts are ironclad and not only are they paid a lot, if they screw up and get canned they’ve got a golden parachute. So what’s the big deal?

Well, Anheuser-Busch made it a big deal by putting the two executives responsible on leave. One a woman. So now all the non-beer drinkers are pissed off. You support your employees, and you don’t do this to a woman. So those who didn’t care before now do. Gasoline has been poured on the fire. So you’ve ended up pissing off everyone. Those on the right who drink Bud Light and those on the left who may not even drink beer at all.

What’s the lesson here? STFU! And the crisis will pass. Social media is all about controversy, you don’t want to engender one, you don’t want to amplify one, and without oxygen, the fire burns out.

But no one at Anheuser-Busch knew this.

But a teenager or young twentysomething would. Someone who lives in the social media world 24/7. You don’t have contempt for your audience, you understand where people are coming from. And this basic rule was broken by Anheuser-Busch to begin with. But everybody makes mistakes. But it’s a whole ‘nother level of misstep when one amplifies said mistake, which is what Anheuser-Busch did here.

And I’m going to let you in on a little secret here. Don’t ever apologize unless you think you’ve truly done something wrong. Don’t apologize for the crowd, then you look wimpy, with no backbone, you sacrifice your identity, you no longer stand for something. Furthermore, those trying to get you to apologize are always a small subset of society, agitators who are pissed at you this week and someone else the next. Ignore them. They’ll certainly soon ignore you.

Unless you give them what they want.

Which is exactly what Anheuser-Busch did here. It blinked. Putting the execs “on leave.” I mean if someone does something that crosses the line you fire them. But if they don’t… And why leave? There’s nothing to investigate here. Are they supposed to sit at home and contemplate the fact that they did their work, performed their mission, and then the company did a one-eighty? This is what they were hired to do. And if brand management was that important why was nobody supervising them? I mean where exactly is the offense?

Oh, that’s right, Kid Rock was offended. He’s a celebrity so there was some news. But talk to a celebrity, it’s nearly impossible to keep yourself in the news every day, the only one who seems to be able to do this is Donald Trump, who sacrificed his credibility in the process. Trump is a twenty first century celebrity, who’ll do and say anything to make it, to keep himself in the conversation. And, unfortunately, this is how many “musicians” act today, sacrificing their credibility. And credibility/your image is everything. If you’re in the public eye you must manage and protect it. But nobody at Anheuser-Busch knew this. How come?