Once upon a time, after mowing the back 40 of God’s quarter-acre, there was nothing like a cold Bud Light to quench the thirst of a suburban landscaper. Not so much anymore.
On a hot July day, that beer tasted like steak, as some are fond of saying. Sipping a cool one and looking at the finished product of cut grass was summertime bliss.
But with the rabid back-and-forth since Bud Light got caught up last month in the nation’s increasingly sour culture wars, where can we turn for that refreshing bittersweet taste of a frothy cold beer during the dog days of summer?
Boycotting Bud Light means one sides with the brand’s detractors, who claim the beer went “woke” using transgender social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney to promote sales. Or it means one agrees with members of the LBGTQ community who believe Belgium-based Anheuser-Busch InBev, parent company of Bud Light, has gone flat and is backing down from a progressive marketing campaign.
Picking sides is a quandary for those who just want a beer which, let’s face it, is not our friend. A can of beer is usually loaded with more than 30 grams of carbs.
Alcohol spikes blood sugar levels, offers drinkers increased risks of cancer and liver disease, and obesity. Yet, we still belly up for a brew.
Since the controversy over Bud Light — still the bestselling beer in America — has come to a head, the brand’s U.S. sales plummeted 21% compared to a year ago, according to numerous reports. Competitors Miller Lite and Coors Light are picking up sales, said one firm which follows the beverage industry.
The sales slide for Bud Light, which was introduced to the beer-drinking public in 1982, began on April Fools’ Day when transgender influencer Mulvaney, who most Americans didn’t know existed, posted a video of herself popping a Bud Light on her Instagram page, which has millions of followers. She showed off a can with her face on it, which Bud Light marketers had manufactured for her.
Bud Light’s U.S. sales are down 3% this year, which translates to only 1% of InBev’s global volume, according to its CEO. The global company said the other day it will triple its marketing spending in the U.S. this summer in an attempt to boost sales. Apparently, the brewery has felt the backwash over Bud Light sales, going so far as to shake up its marketing department.
True-blue brew aficionados may know light-beer lagers originated in Chicago. The Peter Hand Brewing Co., founded in 1891 by the firm’s namesake, was the forerunner of billion-dollar light-beer branding.
Hand, a German immigrant and Civil War veteran, founded Meister Brau beer, which pioneered a light-beer recipe which morphed into Meister Brau Lite. The brewery closed in 1978, and was the last of a long line of Chicago beer-makers until the wave of the city’s craft breweries began in earnest in the 1980s. Back in the 1950s and ’60s, even Lake County had a beer-maker, the Zeman brewery near Gilmer and Indian Creek roads, west of Mundelein.
Miller Brewing bought Meister Brau and turned the brand into the bestselling Lite beer, known for the iconic “Less filling, tastes great” TV commercials, featuring various retired sports celebrities which premiered in 1973.
Preceding Miller’s light beer ads, were ones in the late 1970s for Schlitz Light featuring tough guy actor James Coburn. That was when Schlitz was the beer that made Milwaukee famous, and most Chicagoans hadn’t paid attention to brands of then St. Louis-based Budweiser.
Those were the days when beer was hawked for a drinking audience, which favored brands sponsoring sporting events. It was a time when Falstaff was Harry Carey’s favorite brew while calling White Sox games; Hamm’s, from “the land of sky blue waters,” sponsored Cubs broadcasts; and before the rise of Old Style as Lake County’s once-favorite malt beverage, also known as a Pucin cocktail for the beer’s Waukegan distribution company.
Now, all sorts of alcoholic beverages are available for those who want to imbibe. Which is what led Bud Light to try to change up its marketing schemes in an effort to attract a wider base.
So far, that hasn’t turned out the way its marketers thought it was going to go. InBev announced the other day it will provide financial support to delivery drivers, sales representatives, wholesalers and others who are struggling with Bud Light’s sales declines in the run-up to summer’s peak beer season.
That is also prime lawn mowing season. One has to select a brand to wash down grass pollen.
Spotted Cow, sold only in Wisconsin, is one option. Or one could swallow hard and ignore the Bud Light boycott as just more sniping in what seems to be our perpetual culture battle.
Charles Selle is a former News-Sun reporter, political editor and editor.
Twitter: @sellenews
