A transgender influencer who was hired by AB InBev for a promotional campaign has accused the beer conglomerate AB InBev of not supporting her after the campaign triggered an anti-trans backlash in the United States.
Following the call for a boycott against the company, shares in Belgian-Brazilian brewer tumbled 18% in May, the biggest drop since March 2020 when the pandemic began.
The blacklisting, which has been going on for around eight weeks, began when the brewer teamed up on social media with Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender influencer, for a promotional campaign promoting Bud Light beers.
Since then, an anti-transgender media storm has been raging, with conservative America calling for a boycott of these beverages. As a result, the sales of Bud Light have collapsed, and the boycott has even spread to other AB InBev brands, whose sales are falling.
'Worse than not hiring a trans person'
In a comment to the Washington Post, Mulvaney said that as the public backlash grew, the brand brewer did not reach out to her. She has criticised the brand for not taking a stronger stance against the backlash directed act her, especially as AB InBev had sought to cooperate with her.
“For a company to hire a trans person and then not publicly stand by them is worse in my opinion worse that not hiring a trans person at all,” Mulvaney said. “It gives customers the permission to be as transphobic and hateful as they want.”
Investors now fear that the controversy will also affect the brewer’s third-quarter figures, the most important for AB InBev in the United States. The US market accounts for a quarter of AB InBev’s revenues and 30% of its profits.
