Having Fun With Bud
One of the things I resolved to do this year was get back to some of the silly, disposable—and fun—posts that blogs used to be famous for. So with that in mind, I give you Brendan Whitworth, CEO of Anheuser-Busch (in the ganglion that is Anheuser-Busch InBev, that would be the cluster selling the likes of Bud Light to Americans). Brendan is a sales guy with a million-dollar smile, arctic white athletic shoes, and no tie. He took his sartorial youthfulness to CBS yesterday morning to settle all this Bud Light business.
It … did not go well.
We’ll get into some of the exchanges below, but let’s start with an important observation: Whitworth had to know these questions were coming. The sole point of taking the interview is to address the questions and move past this time of troubles. So how did he handle these predictable questions? Let’s roll tape.
Responding to the Dylan Mulvaney promotion:
“It was, just to be clear, it was, uh, a gift. And it was, uh, it was one can. And for us, as we look to the future, and we look to moving forward, we have to understand, um, the impact that it’s had, like I said, you know, that impact has taken place.” (Typically it’s unfair to quote the ums and repetitions, but they’re instructive here because he was so uncomfortable—and this was first and foremost a performance to quiet the critics. You don’t want to look sweaty and cornered.)
“That impact has taken place.” Okee doke. Next we have this exchange:
Host: “Knowing now what you know, if you could go back, would you send this can to this person again?”
Whitworth: “There’s a big social conversation taking place right now and big brands are right in the middle of it… What we need to understand, deeply understand and appreciate, is the consumer. And what they want, what they care about and what they expect from big brands…” [More in this vein.]
Host: “This is part of why you’re getting it from all sides, because I asked you ‘would you do it again?’ and people on the trans rights side of things want you to say, ‘Yes! Of course, we want that fortitude!’ and people on the right would criticize you for saying yes. So where are you on the issue—was this a mistake?”
Whitworth: “We have—Bud Light has supported LGBTQ since 1998. So that’s 25 years. As we’ve said from the beginning, we’ll continue to support the communities and organizations that we’ve supported for decades. But as we move forward, we want to focus on what we do best, which is brewing great beer.”
It goes on like this. Whitworth came unable to answer questions about past mistakes and had no plan for how Bud Light moves forward. Instead, he spent his six minutes of air time trying to avoid saying anything at all. He returned to the employees periodically (“we support our employees!”), seeing in them the only conversational safe refuge he could find. His discomfort and evasiveness permeate the entire segment—and again, one that was 100% predictable.
Quieting the media’s questions over a political firestorm is not what Whitworth was hired to do, and it’s obvious. The whole thing is painful to watch. It was worse than a bust, because in going to the man at the top, who had absolutely nothing new to add except the same evasions and helplessness that have characterized A-B’s response, his performance reinforces that very fecklessness. Why someone thought sending him out there to underscore that point eludes me.
I can’t help but see all this through the lens of politics—the waters into which A-B has waded. Politicians are often in a situation where they are in the same uncomfortable position A-B finds itself. They want to support a bill or cause but know that it’s unpopular. The media have a bloodhound’s nose for these conflicts, and like the great CBS hosts in this piece, go right after them. Politicians, however, are far more adept at redirecting media questions.
In politics, there’s a thing known as the “Kinsley gaffe,” named for the journalist Michael Kinsley, who observed it. A politician makes a Kinsley gaffe when they inadvertently tell the truth—usually in situations like A-B’s. Instead of sticking to talking points and redirecting, they accidentally acknowledge the situation honestly, and reveal their real position. It’s a “gaffe” because the point is to conceal their actual position at all costs. And on that note I leave you with the final exchange.
It began when another host asked if A-B does actually support queer rights given that the political arm of the company has donated to anti-LGBTQ politicians. Whitworth’s answer?
“We support politicians that support our business.”
And the customers and the wholesalers and the retailers…