A top marketing executive for Bud Light’s parent company has issued a warning to other companies who are thinking about going “woke.”
Anheuser-Busch’s global chief marketing officer, Marcel Marcondes, says he believes Bud Light can still recover from the disastrous ad campaign with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
However, he says the debacle should be a “wake-up call” for other companies.
Marcondes made the comments on Monday at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
“When things get divisive and controversial so easily, I think it’s an important wake-up call to all of us marketers to be very humble,” said Marcondes.
“It’s tough to see all the controversial and divisive debates happening in the U.S. the last couple of weeks involving lots of brands and companies, including, especially, Bud Light,” he added.
Marcondes’ comments were confirmed to CNN by a spokesperson for the festival.
He went on to say that he was optimistic about the brand recovering from the public relations disaster.
“It’s coming back,” Marcondes said.
Bud Light recently lost its title as America’s best-selling beer over the controversy.
In May, the Mexican lager Modelo Especial took the top spot.
CNN has argued that Modelo Especial becoming the best-seller has more to do with the Cinco de Mayo holiday in May than with the controversy sinking Bud Light’s sales.
However, the brand’s sales have plummeted in the U.S.
The losses have taken a toll on the stock price for Anheuser-Busch.
The value has fallen by about 15% since Mulvaney posted on Instagram about the partnership with Bud Light, wiping billions of dollars off the company.
Several executives involved in the Mulvaney debacle resigned and a Rasmussen poll found that a majority of Americans supported the boycott against Bud Light.
The vast majority of respondents said that the transgender TikTok influencer marketing would make them more likely to avoid Bud Light.
READ MORE: Bud Light Doomed as Brand Suffers Worst Weekly Sales Drop Since April Marketing Stunt
