A recently announced partnership between Bud Light and transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney sparked an alleged boycott across social media.
The popular TikTok creator revealed the brand deal on Saturday in two videos published on Twitter.
The campaign, which showcased the content creator in a bathtub drinking from beer cans adorned with their face, was intended to celebrate the one-year anniversary of Mulvaney’s popular series “365 Days of Girlhood.”
The announcement quickly led to a mix of praise and criticism online as users argued over the partnership.
“This isn’t a parody,” right-wing commentator Ian Miles Cheong wrote. “Dylan Mulvaney is now the face of Bud Light.”
Supporters of the TikTok star quickly shot back, accusing Mulvaney’s critics of being nothing more than “snowflakes.”
“Anheuser-Busch has gone ‘woke’ by featuring Dylan Mulvaney, a Trans woman and activist, on their cans and the Republicans are absolutely losing their shit,” Twitter user Sarmad Faiz wrote.
Nevertheless, Mulvaney’s opponents vowed to never drink Bud Light again.
“Time to boycott Budweiser!” another user said. “Go woke go broke! Please share this with friends!”
But not all progressives argued that the campaign was a positive. The Twitter user known as Fifty Shades of Whey pointed to political contributions made by alcohol companies as a reason not to celebrate Mulvaney’s deal.
“Bud Light’s new brand ambassador is trans rights activist Dylan Mulvaney. On the surface, this might look ‘progressive’ until you look at who Anheuser-Busch donated to in 2022,” he wrote. “They’re funding anti-trans fascists while pretending to be inclusive of LGBTQ+ people.”
Some criticized people who already drink Bud Light, saying the product itself should have convinced them not to drink it.
“It’s Bud Light. I don’t think you can do anything to the can to make the people who drink it stop drinking it; they’ve already tried their worst with the liquid inside and they just kept guzzling it,” wrote a Gab user.
Mulvaney faced a similar backlash after being sponsored by the tampon company Tampax to showcase their products. They’ve also long been a focus of anti-trans activists on the right, who have catalogued and criticized Mulvaney’s videos and recent mainstream success, as they sat down for interviews with Drew Barrymore with President Joe Biden.
A recent Daily Mail piece this weekend also covered Mulvaney.
Prior to coming out as transgender, Mulvaney was best known for their role as Elder White in the musical The Book of Mormon.
Right-wingers have often pledged to boycott products whenever prominent brands support left-wing causes, claiming that companies that “Go woke, go broke,” but none have ever appeared to have long-time, lasting effects.
