Bud Light Trolled With New Billboard After Dylan Mulvaney Backlash

A conservative YouTuber is trolling Bud Light over its partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney by paying for billboards that read "Butt Light."

The beer brand and its parent company, Anheuser-Busch, have faced a backlash from conservatives over its partnership with Mulvaney. The influencer posted an Instagram video on April 1, cracking open a Bud Light as part of a promotional contest. Mulvaney said the brand had sent her a personalized can with her face on it to commemorate a year since she transitioned.

Conservative figures have called for a boycott, accusing the company of going "woke" and alienating its customer base. They include Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw and Kid Rock, who posted a video of himself shooting cases of Bud Light with an assault rifle.

It comes as anti-transgender sentiment has been growing in the United States, with bills targeting the rights of transgender people being embraced by Republican governors and statehouses across the country.

Anheuser-Busch also faced criticism from the left for its handling of the backlash. The country's largest LGBTQ+ advocacy group recently suspended the company's benchmark equality and inclusion rating.

Over the weekend, the YouTuber behind the "Conservative Vibes" account shared a video showing a digital billboard he purchased to troll Bud Light.

Referring to an altered image of a billboard that claimed to be Bud Light's response to critics, the YouTuber said in a video: "You might have seen this fake Bud Light billboard that says 'lol crybabies,' made by liberals by the way... Well, it's time to clap back with a real billboard from a conservative."

The video shows him going through various options for billboards that were rejected before settling on a version that included only text, including the words "Butt Light" and "This butt's for you!"

In the video, the digital billboard is seen appearing for a few seconds in an unknown location. The YouTuber says that he can run a digital billboard for a few hundred dollars in sites across the United States, and pledged to run one for every 10,000 likes his video gets. He also said he would pay for one in New York City's Times Square if his post received 100,000 likes. The footage has amassed 24,000 likes since it was posted on Sunday.

Newsweek has contacted Anheuser-Busch via email. The YouTuber could not immediately be contacted for comment.

The controversy around Bud Light has dragged on for weeks, with beer brand's sales reportedly taking a hit.

Anheuser-Busch has reportedly informed wholesalers that it would buy back unsold cases of beer that have passed their expiration date.

Anheuser-Busch has sought to downplay the partnership with Mulvaney. In a statement sent to Newsweek and other outlets last month, the company said: "Anheuser-Busch works with hundreds of influencers across our brands as one of many ways to authentically connect with audiences across various demographics.

"From time to time, we produce unique commemorative cans for fans and for brand influencers, like Dylan Mulvaney. This commemorative can was a gift to celebrate a personal milestone and is not for sale to the general public," the statement added.

Mulvaney broke her silence on the backlash in an Instagram video on April 28. "What I'm struggling to understand is the need to dehumanize and to be cruel," she said.

Mulvaney thanked her supporters, but did not mention Bud Light by name.