Bud Light maker didn’t fire marketing team over LGBTQ ads

CLAIM: Brewing company Anheuser-Busch fired its entire marketing department in response to its partnership with a transgender influencer and the rollout of LGBTQ Pride-themed Bud Light cans that feature various pronouns. “In Addition to having Dylan Mulvaney as the new Brand Ambassador for BudLight the brand has also released special Non-Binary beers to ‘celebrate everyone’s identity’ featuring pronouns including ‘they/them’ and ‘xe xer,’” one user wrote on Sunday, neglecting to mention that the cans were part of an old, limited campaign in one country. A May 2022 press release by Bud Light Canada promoting Pride Month initiatives that year explains that it would be releasing “limited-edition pronoun-inspired Pride cans” as well as providing a total of $100,000 to various organizations supporting Canadian LGBTQ groups. A 2022 Pride Month page on the Canadian version of its website further says: “For over 20 years, Bud Light has been a proud pride partner and this year, we’re celebrating the unique gender identities of many Canadians through our can design.” ___ This is part of AP’s effort to address widely shared misinformation, including work with outside companies and organizations to add factual context to misleading content that is circulating online.