Marketing missteps are easier to make than ever in the digital age, and beverage giant Anheuser-Busch InBev may have made another. In fact, the company already apologized for a questionable slogan that many felt alluded to rape.
In an effort to promote Bud Light's "Up for Whatever" campaign, the brand included a new tagline on the beer label, touting it as "The perfect beer for removing 'no' from your vocabulary for the night."
The photo above hit Reddit and unleashed a flurry of criticism suggesting the wording promotes rape. (The National Institute for Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism estimates at least half of sexual assaults involve alcohol consumption.) Others used the slogan as a leverage to fire back at the brand.
"Strange, because 'No' is my response if someone were to offer me a Bud Light," wrote one Reddit user. "Bud Light-a-Rohypnol-Rita," wrote another.
In a media statement sent to The Dallas Morning News Tuesday, Alexander Lambrecht, vice president of Bud Light, said the message is intended to be light-hearted.
"In this spirit, we created more than 140 different scroll messages intended to encourage spontaneous fun. It's clear that this message missed the mark, and we regret it. We would never condone disrespectful or irresponsible behavior," the statement says.
Calls to Ben E. Keith, which distributes Bud Light here in North Texas, went unanswered Tuesday afternoon.
This is not the first time this year AB InBev has caused a stir in the beer community. During the Super Bowl, Budweiser ran an ad bashing craft beer and its devout followers as well as one of AB-InBev's subsidiaries (much to the chagrin of the community). Then on St. Patrick's Day, the parent company apologized for a campaign that encouraged people to pinch anyone not wearing green.
