Brand Marketing

Bud Light Says It 'Missed the Mark' With Line About 'Removing No From Your Vocabulary'

Brand regrets phrasing that sparked criticism

headshotkristina
By Kristina Monllos

Leaders from Glossier, Shopify, Mastercard and more will take the stage at Brandweek to share what strategies set them apart and how they incorporate the most valued emerging trends. Register to join us this September 23–26 in Phoenix, Arizona.

Bud Light's "Up for Whatever" campaign is supposed to be about rallying people together for a good time. But on Tuesday it was mostly uniting people in anger at the brand.

A bottle of the Anheuser-Busch beer bearing the line, "The perfect beer for removing 'No' from your vocabulary for the night," upset quite a few consumers, who say the messaging is tone deaf considering the role alcohol frequently plays in rape cases.

A Reddit thread on Monday night brought attention to the line, part of a new wave of unique "Up for Whatever" bottles featuring snappy lines on the labels. The initial run of bottles, released in early December, featured 47 different messages "intended to inspire spontaneous fun," the brewer said at the time. 

This afternoon, Lisa Weser, senior director of U.S. marketing communications for Anheuser-Busch, admitted on Twitter that the phrasing on the bottle was regrettable:

The brand later issued a longer statement attributed to Alexander Lambrecht, vice president of Bud Light: "The Bud Light Up for Whatever campaign, now in its second year, has inspired millions of consumers to engage with our brand in a positive and light-hearted way. 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."

Here's a sampling of the Twitter responses that sparked the brand's apology:

headshotkristina

Kristina Monllos

Kristina Monllos is a senior editor for Adweek.

Recommended articles