The Lessons to Learn from Bud Light’s Misstep

If risk managers were better integrated into ESG-related marketing and communications strategic planning, Bud Light might have been America’s top selling beer for a 23rd year straight.

Instead, it surrendered that perch to Modelo in a self-induced reputation crisis.

This past summer, Bud Light’s marketing team recruited a transgender TikTok influencer to promote its beer and leverage ‘woke’ ESG messaging to a niche market that’s predisposed against such tactics.

So it comes as no surprise that some of Bud Light’s stakeholders reacted emotionally -- that is, negatively -- and when Anheuser-Busch InBev executives walked back the campaign, they compounded the scope of aggrieved stakeholders.