3 Inclusive Marketing Lessons From Bud Light’s Fumbled Dylan Mulvaney Controversy

The problem most brands have with inclusive marketing, is thinking that it’s just about the marketing. Earning the attention and loyalty of consumers from underrepresented and underserved communities goes beyond just hiring influencers from those communities, changing up your photography to be more representative, or translating content.

Those tactics are helpful, but they aren’t nearly enough in making consumers from marginalized communities feel like they belong with you.

Inclusive marketing can grow your bottom line. But inclusive marketing done right can’t just be about getting people from underrepresented and underserved communities to buy your stuff. That’s extraction marketing, and it can actually do more harm to communities. No good.

Inclusive marketing requires responsibility. It requires brands to not only have their house in order from an internal standpoint, but also to not cause harm to the people and communities they’ve chosen to serve.

That’s where Bud Light got into trouble with the controversy surrounding their campaign with Dylan Mulvaney.

A few days before Dylan’s Bud Light social media post went live, Alissa Heinerscheid, Bud Lights Vice President of Marketing talked about what the brand needed to do to improve the its financial performance: “this brand is in decline, it’s been in a decline for a really long time, and if we do not attract young drinkers to come and drink this brand there will be no future for Bud Light.”

Heirnerscheid went on to note that evolving the brand’s approach to be more inclusive, by appealing to a broader diversity of consumers including women was key. She also commented that this growth plan would require moving away from “fratty and out-of-touch humor.”

Although Bud Light started to embrace and lean into inclusive marketing being the future and key to relevancy, their actions demonstrate that their approach to inclusive marketing was flimsy. As a result, not only did they not achieve the results they were looking for, but an uproar ensued for a number of reasons.

Here are a few lessons every brand should take from Bud Light’s mistakes from an inclusive marketing standpoint.

Inclusive marketing requires taking a stand

It’s all about choosing who you’re going to serve. But once you make your choice, you have to stand by that choice, even if there are others who aren’t on board with it.

Bud Light made a choice to engage the LGBTQ+ community when they partnered with Dylan Mulvaney and celebrated her 365 “Days of Girlhood” following her transition.

But once they started to receive backlash including boycott threats, a number of negative and quite frankly hateful social media comments and YouTube videos in response, and even Kid Rock shooting cases of the Bud Light in an open field, they went silent.

Instead of doubling down to show their commitment and support of Dylan and the LGBTQ+ community, they didn’t say anything at all on social media for more than a week.

Eventually, they published a new commercial that leaned hard into the beer brand’s roots and focused heavily on the “American spirit.”

Inclusive brands take a stand for what they believe in, even when people don’t like it. It means taking a stand to support the people you serve, which includes those you partner with. It means taking a stand so all the people you serve feel like they belong with you.

The process of taking a stand gets easier when you are clear about your values. That’s why some element of diversity, equity, inclusion, or belonging needs to be incorporated into your values.

When inclusion is rooted in your values and culture, then it is a no-brainer when deciding how to respond to anyone who does or says anything that is in conflict with those values.

Hershey Canada recently found themselves in a similar situation to Bud Light, when they did a International Women’s Day campaign that featured a transgender woman among the five women highlighted.

When they received calls for boycotts, they responded with an Instagram post that noted, “We value togetherness and recognize the strength created by diversity. “

The message went on to say, “Over the past three years, our Women’s History Month programming has been an inclusive celebration of women and their impact. We appreciate the countless people and meaningful partnerships behind these efforts.”

It was a simple message that reinforced their values, but also reiterated their commitment to the campaign and the types of diversity they included with it.

Inclusive marketing requires cultural intelligence

In their statement following the backlash from the Mulvaney promotion, Brendan Whitworth, CEO of Anheuser Busch, said that, “We never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people. We are in the business of bringing people together over a beer.”

It feels implausible that a brand who partners with someone from the transgender community would be unaware of the opposition people from this community experience. It shows both naivete and a lack of cultural intelligence.

Brands must be aware of both the current and historical cultural landscapes, and anticipate responses to campaigns, so can make plans in advance about how to handle any opposition.

The transgender community in particular is subjected to a lot of hate, violence, and overall negativity. Thus for any campaign that elevates them, particularly from a brand with such a large audience, it is important to ensure that along with a promotional campaign, there is a clear protection campaign for the people you’re partnering with, as well as their communities.

Cultural intelligence helps you plan, execute, and respond better.

Inclusive marketing requires support of the communities you’re trying to reach

Before customers from underrepresented and underserved communities decide to give you their attention and their money, they want to know that you actually care about their community.

Caring for a community doesn’t mean your brand has to become a social justice warrior if that’s not your style. It does mean however that you take some action to uplift a community that’s been subjected to a number of systemic barriers that negatively impact them achieving successful outcomes on a number of fronts.

For instance AT&T has repeatedly demonstrated their support for the LGBTQ+ community. Including being one of the first companies to protect LGBTQ+ employees from workplace discrimination, one of the first to adopt definitive health benefits for transgender employees, and in 2018, made a $1 million dollar donation to the Trevor Project (the largest they’d received to date) along with a multi-year commitment of support to the advocacy organization.

Business is about belonging. If your goal is to make the customers you serve, especially those that are from marginalized communities feel like they belong with you, your engagement and support for them can’t be flimsy. It’s got to have deep roots.