Beware of a corporate giant wearing a conservative mask, an advocacy group is warning as Anheuser-Busch tries to court conservative lawmakers.
The brewing giant, reeling from lost sales due to a backlash from its partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, has now hired lobbyists to storm Capitol Hill, according to a report from Fox Business.
The company hired Origin Advocacy, LLC, Origin founder Sean McClean and Origin partner Emily Lynch, both of whom are long-time aides of Republican senators.
McClean was a legislative director for Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee when she served in the House. Lynch was a legislative assistant to former Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire and Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina.
The American Accountability Foundation, a self-described “non-profit government oversight and research organization,” is warning conservatives against being fooled by the lobbying effort.
McClean and Lynch are “making the rounds on the Hill trying to red-wash Bud Light’s disastrous decision to partner with a man pretending to be a woman and tell you the company really does respect conservative values,” AAF President Tom Jones wrote in a letter, according to Fox Business.
“They’re even making the shamefully offensive equivalency argument that their transgender activist beer can is just like their beer can honoring WWII vets,” Jones wrote.
“They’re telling offices, ‘Anheuser-Busch sometimes creates commemorative cans. … Honor Flight can [for] example.’ If partnering with a trans activist wasn’t shameful enough equating Dylan Mulvaney to a World War II hero is really beyond the pale,” he wrote.
The group elaborated in a statement. Fox Business reported..
“If Bud Light wants to regain the trust of conservative customers, they should apologize for insulting their values by embracing the woke left’s radical gender agenda instead of wasting their money on lobbyists,” the statement said.
“Bud Light sided with the Left against the average American and no amount of D.C. lobbyists in fancy suits will make them forget that,” the statement said.
Neither Anheuser-Busch nor Origin Advocacy would comment to Fox Business.
Consumers have been boycotting Bud Light. In the New York City area, that has meant that at the chain Stew Leonard’s, Bud Light sales are down 50 percent, according to the New York Post.
Meanwhile, Coors Light sales have jumped by an equal measure — nearly 50 percent — in the past two weeks, according to the Post.
“Since the publicity over the transgender issue, we’ve seen Coors Light outselling Bud Light for the first time,” said Andrew Hollis, Stew Leonard’s director of grocery, according to the Post.
“I’m stunned by how widespread the impact has been felt,” Beer Marketer’s Insights editor Benj Steinman said, according to the Post. “If there is a 21 percent drop nationwide, that tells you that the hit is not just red and rural.”
Writing on the conservative sport-centric website Outkick, Zach Dean torched the beer brand for not allowing comments on a YouTube video showing its latest ad.
“Classic gutless move here by Bud Light and Anheuser-Busch. Regular folks like you and me — you know, the ones who actually drink domestic beer — saw right through this bad boy the second it graced our TVs,” he wrote.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
