Kid Rock led a revolution. Whereas most boycotts fail, the singer inspired people to stop drinking Bud Light, and it actually worked to a level where it cost hundreds of people their jobs as the beer lost about 26% of its sales for an extended period of time.
The singer got angry when the Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD) -) brand partnered with transgender social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney. The company sent the social media star some Bud Light can with her face on them to celebrate the first year of Mulvaney living as woman.
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She then shared her love of Bud Light and the company's support with her LGBTQ+ followers. It wasn't a commercial, she wasn't a major face of the brand. It was a small promotion designed to increase the audience for the beer brand.
Rock really didn't like that. In April 2023, he posted a video on social media where he took out an automated weapon and shot up cases of the beer. He followed up that action by sharing an eloquent statement, denouncing the beer brand.
"F*** Bud Light, and f*** Anheuser-Busch. Have a terrific day."
The singer's fans, many of whom he has gained by embracing the far-right stances of former President Donald Trump, took this message as a call to arms. They saw the video as a call to boycott Bud Light.
That seemed to be what the singer wanted, except it wasn't, according the his most-recent comments.
Image source: Shutterstock
Kid Rock denies boycott efforts
You can argue that Rock's video very directly led to hundreds of hard-working Americans losing their jobs while Anheuser-Busch InBev barely suffered. Yes, the company took a small hit to its earnings, and its stock price fell nearly 17% between Rock's April 3 and July 16. But it's a global company that sells numerous brands.
The Bud Light boycott put it in an uncomfortable position where it basically angered both its long-time customers and the LGBTQ+ community, but that seemed like a minor blow. During the entire affair, the company acted like nothing happened.
It kept posted benign "it's the weekend, have a beer," and pro-football posts on its social media only to be buried under waves of anti-trans posts. The company simply ignored them, returned to its classic low-brow humor and football-heavy ads and it mostly worker.
The stock price has nearly returned to its close just before Rock's rant, finishing at $65.07 on Jan. 12, leaving it just below its $66.57 close on April 3, 2023.
Sales have not fully returned, but the company signed a lucrative deal with UFC, a company led by the Trump-loving, right wing Dana White, and even Rock said he forgave the company.
He also said, however, in an appearance with Fox News' Sean Hannity, that he never actually called for a boycott in the first place.
Rock denies he wanted a Bud Light boycott
In his now-infamous social media video, Rock never told people to stop drinking Bud Light. He implied that he wouldn't be, but he never fully said that and he never actually stopped drinking the beer.
Rock was spotted at a concert not long after the video was posted drinking a Bud Light. And while country performers like Travis Tritt and John Rich, of Big & Rich fame, made a big show of dropping the beer from their tour riders and bars, Rock never stopped serving it at his Nashville bar.
Rock's stance, and denial of the boycott in the first place, have met with significant right wing backlash — both on social media and in the (sort of) actual media.
"On the conservative podcast 'Ruthless,' Megyn Kelly lamented what she saw as the crumbling of 'the only successful boycott that Republicans have ever engaged in' because “Kid Rock and Dana White want to give it up,'" Rolling Stone reported.
Kelly made it clear that she was still offended by Anheuser-Busch working with Mulvaney whom she misgendered.
