Tipsheet

Was Bud Light Trolled by an 'All-Ages' Dragfest?

Mia Cathell
Mia Cathell  |  June 09, 2023 4:15 PM

With Bud Light continuing to flounder fathoms under water over its deification of trans grifter Dylan Mulvaney, the drowning big-beer brand is catching flak, yet again, for appearing as a corporate sponsor on a poster promoting an "all-ages" drag fest.

But, after all-too-familiar backlash, Bud Light's parent company now insists that the label was "mistakenly" featured, and its unmistakable logo, placed front-and-center next to a mishmash of sashaying drag queens, has since been scrubbed from the ad. The bizarre, head-scratching incident has left us wondering if Bud Light was trolled by a troupe of tongue-in-cheek transvestites, if this really was a genuine graphic-design "oopsie," or if the brewery is still (not-so-secretly) shilling for its LGBTQ overlords.

"We put out an incorrect promotional poster which included Bud Light as a sponsor," Flagstaff Pride, the event organizer, wrote in a Facebook post on Wednesday night and attached the "correct" flyer, where the "Presented by Bud Light" line was removed.

A spokesperson for (Tr)Anheuser-Busch, the umbrella organization that owns Bud Light, told Townhall that the apparent partnership was falsely advertised. "Bud Light was mistakenly listed as a sponsor," the representative, pointing to the amended version no longer touting Bud Light as a backer, said. "Bud Light is not a sponsor of this event," the rep repeated.

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Like Bud Light's beer, consumers aren't buying the explanation.

Contrary to their claims, before both parties adamantly classified the last-minute change as a correction, Flagstaff Pride proudly announced in mid-May that the 27th annual Pride in the Pines—a daylong, citywide celebration of LGBTQ+ pride held on June 17 in Flagstaff, Arizona, that encompasses the late-night drag queen afterparty, which allows children of any age entry into the after-hours show—would be presented by Bud Light, as actively listed as a corporate sponsor on Flagstaff Pride's partners' page.

The supposedly Bud Light-sponsored "family festival" itself, set to showcase drag queen "Salina Es Titties," whose performance will be the headlining act, is billed as a "safe space" for families. However, its rules and regulations stress to clad scantily revelers that a "no-nudity ordinance" applies to "all gender forms." Talent throughout the day includes bondage-lover Gray Matter ("ze/zir"), thong-wearing Dillon Duvet ("they/he/she"), and Miss Gay Arizona, who boasts "a career in female impersonation."


Also telling is the Bud Light shoutout being visible in Flagstaff Pride's official Facebook cover photo, uploaded Wednesday evening a minute after the signage's revision was posted on social media. Moreover, despite this week's backtracking, Bud Light's branding remains ubiquitous across Flagstaff Pride's all-out publicity campaign. In one particular online pamphlet, Bud Light is spotlighted above all of the other LGBTQ allies located, in reduced image size, at the bottom.

On the non-profit's landing site, Flagstaff Pride solicits sponsorships from pro-DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) corporations willing to virtue-signal in exchange for loyalty from the LGBTQ consumer base. "Place your brand in front of the community and show your business believes in inclusivity [...] Reinforce your brand in a significant media market to an extremely 'brand loyal' community who recognize the importance of rewarding companies that support the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQIA2S+) community," Flagstaff Pride tells prospective panderers in a how-to guide breaking down its sponsorship tiers.

$20,000—the highest-ranked sponsorship level, called "Presenting"—can buy corporate naming rights for the main stage, prominent placement of the business's brand on-site, and social-media blasting, among other benefits. $10,000 is the "Diamond" rank, $7,500 is "Platinum," $5,500 is "Gold," $3,500 is "Silver," and so forth, down to "Friends of Pride" at $500 per donation.

For $500 a golf car, thousands of attendees can see a company's logo multiple times throughout the day on Flagstaff Pride's buggies: "This is a great opportunity to maximize your business and show support to the LGBTQIA2S+ community."

91% of LGBTQ consumers will "choose to do business with companies that are committed to the diversity, equal treatment, workplace benefits for all and those of the LGBTQIA2S+ community" while 75% will "feel more positive towards companies that include transgender / gender-expansive community imagery in their outreach communications," Flagstaff Pride cites in its guide.

Was this simply a mishap, as the players involved would like us to believe, or PR damage-control cranked to the max?

Bud Light, of course, would have a stake in coercing a cover-up, given that the brewer was just dethroned as the top-selling beer in America, with Anheuser-Busch bleeding market capital by the billions, thanks to a conservative-led boycott dwindling sales.

It wouldn't be the first time Anheuser-Busch deflected blame. In the fallout of the fiasco over Anheuser-Busch's team-up with the transgender craze's golden goose, the Belgian-based beermaker maintained to U.S. distributors that the beer can emblazoned with Mulvaney's face was the work of a then-unnamed "third-party" ad agency purportedly responsible for the partnership.

But, the outfit out of San Francisco, marketing firm Captiv8, which pairs social-media influencers with household names, reportedly introduced Anheuser-Busch to Mulvaney, leading to Bud Light's (almost pitiful) went-woke, gone-broke fate.

Flagstaff Pride has not answered Townhall's requests for comment at the time of publication.