A Different Take on the Bud Light Fiasco

The shocking paucity of imagination.

A fool

A quick thought for the day.

The wisdom of Bud Light’s decision to hire Dylan Mulvaney as a spokesperson? That has been discussed ad nauseum elsewhere. Let’s instead turn for a moment to the interview Vice President of Marketing Alissa Heinerscheid gave just prior to the release of Mulvaney’s now infamous video. Heinerscheid said that she had a clear mandate “to evolve and elevate this incredibly iconic brand,” which “means shifting the tone, it means having a campaign that’s truly inclusive, and feels lighter and brighter and different, and appeals to women and to men.” Okay. I’m with her there. Nothing wrong whatsoever with creating a newer and fresher ad campaign, especially one that will induce younger adults to start choosing Bud Light. That’s her job.

But. However. I made a silly assumption. I assumed that the marketing gurus would thoughtfully devise a new campaign that would appeal to younger adults, while also aligning with Bud Light’s brand, image, long history, etc. Emphasis on thoughtfully. An enhancement and slight alteration. Perhaps a well-reasoned progression that gradually shifts the image, incorporating the new while including the traditional. You know, an intelligently designed ad campaign. One both tactical and strategic.

But what did the marketing folks do, Heinerscheid foremost among them? They made the laziest, stupidest, most obvious, and least thoughtful decision possible. Hire Dylan Mulvaney. (I have no particular opinion one way or the other about Mulvaney herself.) That’s it. Hire Mulvaney. Nothing more. The decision is nearly incomprehensible to a rational person. And beyond sheer laziness it reeks of arrogance, elitism, and preening superiority. None of which are warranted, given the glaring incompetence.

That is what stuns me about the fiasco. Heinerscheid, it is proclaimed, graduated from both Harvard University and the Wharton School, and yet this is the very best she can do? This is what elite universities are now teaching? Don’t think, don’t strategize, don’t use imagination and intelligence and subtlety. Just do the first easiest and knee-jerk thing that comes to mind.

A group of random eighth-graders could have devised a better campaign.

Given the arrogance and preening superiority—we must impose our enlightened views on the unwashed masses—Heinerscheid and her ilk are likely, at this moment, blaming the backlash on the public, on its ignorance, bigotry, and phobias of multiple kinds, rather than on her own laziness and stupidity. And given how the business world works, she might very well be hired by another company for an even larger salary because, you know, woman, Harvard, Wharton. The masses clearly aren’t ready for her elevated wisdom.