The parent company of Bud Light is admitting some its Up For Whatever campaign branding “missed the mark” after accusations it supported rape culture.
The Up For Whatever campaign prompts drinkers to accept whatever life throws at them and has produced commercials where people are taken on wild adventures after drinking a Bud Light.
The company also branded its bottles with 140 different scroll messages. One in particular caught the eye of Twitter users after it urged people to give up the word “no” for the evening.
Budweiser – a proud sponsor of American Rape Culture™ (Removing the "no" from women's vocabulary since 1876).
— Blasfemmey (@BLASFEMMEY)
The photo and the campaign slogan quickly circulated on Twitter with people criticizing the beer company for promoting rape culture. The photo even caught the eye of Democratic Congresswoman Nita Lowey who tweeted the photo and suggested Bud Light should promote responsible drinking.
RT if you agree campaign should promote responsible – not reckless – drinking.
— Nita Lowey (@NitaLowey)
Bud Light’s parent company, Anheuser-Busch, said in a statement that the campaign clearly “missed the mark.”
“It’s clear that this particular message missed the mark, and we regret it. We would never condone disrespectful or irresponsible behavior,” Alexander Lambrecht, the vice president of Bud Light said.
“As a result, we have immediately ceased production of this message on all bottles.”
And Labatts confirmed in a statement to Global News that the offending slogan was not printed on any bottles sold in Canada.
“There is no such campaign in Canada and the bottles in question are not available in Canada. Neither Labatt nor Anheuser-Busch would condone disrespectful or irresponsible behavior. We take this issue very seriously.”
Despite Anheuser-Busch’s retreat, the company faced harsh criticism on social media.
If removes consent from your vocabulary, let me suggest that the first NO of the evening be to Bud Light.
— Jess Banks (@ProfBanks)
OH, , YOU JUST GOT SUPER RAPEY.
— sportsyelling. (@sportsyelling)
Hey – did you know alcohol is one of the major tools rapists use to incapacitate their targets when you came up with your tagline?
— Bailey (@the_author_)