Dylan Mulvaney Is the Trans-Identifying Canary in the Corporate Coal Mine

When it comes to brand marketing to 21st century Americans, one of the most significant factors at play is trust. According to a 2021 survey of 1,000 consumers, more than 80% felt that trust was a key component in their purchasing decisions. As public trust in the government to do what is right falls to one of its all-time lowest points in U.S. history, it is more important than ever that American consumers believe they can trust the brands that get their money.

The problem is — woke corporate activism has compromised corporate America. How do we know? Take radical trans-identifying activist Dylan Mulvaney as a case study. Mulvaney has risen to disturbing levels of fame in recent months based on his viral social media video series “365 Days of Girlhood,” in which he documents his gender “transition” by donning makeup, dresses, and high heels, along with portraying a host of offensive stereotypes.

In a recent podcast interview, Bud Light vice president of marketing Alissa Heinerscheid stated, “I’m a businesswoman, I had a really clear job to do when I took over Bud Light, and it was ‘This brand is in decline, it’s been in a decline for a really long time, and if we do not attract young drinkers to come and drink this brand there will be no future for Bud Light.” She added, “We had this hangover, I mean, Bud Light had been kind of a brand of fratty, kind of out-of-touch humor, and it was really important that we had another approach.”

So, what approach did Heinerscheid and her team take to modernize Bud Light and increase its relevance among young people? Simple: they hired a man playing dress-up as a woman to champion their brand.

In a statement released after receiving backlash for its partnership with Dylan Mulvaney, Bud Light’s parent company expressed, “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.”

The fact that a marketing executive for one of the most popular beer brands in the country saw a transgender influencer as the key to appealing to a younger generation is shocking, to say the least. Significantly, there is zero evidence that Bud Light chose Mulvaney as a spokesperson due to any actual correlation with the brand’s target audience. Mulvaney does not appear to be an avid beer drinker, nor an aficionado of any activity that the general population associates with beer, such as sports.

Such irrelevance has never impaired Mulvaney’s ability to win corporate sponsorships in the past, however. In the same week that Bud Light revealed its partnership with Mulvaney, the social media influencer similarly announced a partnership with the sports brand Nike. Mulvaney has no apparent relevance to the realm of athletics, or even personal at-home fitness, let alone relevance to the sports bras that Nike gifted him to model. The list of random companies that have partnered with Mulvaney in the last year is stunning, including but not limited to Kate Spade, the Plaza Hotel, Kitchen Aid, Kind Snacks, Crest, Sodastream, Rent the Runway, Love Beauty & Planet, Neutrogena, Walmart, and Native.

No, American corporations have not embraced partnerships with Mulvaney out of any objective relevance to their brand. Rather, it becomes increasingly clear with each new sponsorship that Mulvaney is a symptom of what ails corporate America, rather than the disease itself.

By selecting Mulvaney as a representative of their brand, corporations betray the social contract into which they enter with everyday American citizens — prioritizing profit over maintaining the trust of consumers. Corporations are not elevating Dylan for his athletic ability, his achievements in a particular field of study, or even his ability to be an authentic woman (a goal which he is physically incapable of ever accomplishing) — they are elevating him because he identifies as transgender. A corporate sponsorship of Mulvaney is the canary in the coal mine demonstrating that a company is untrustworthy.

Why? Because promotion of gender ideology is inherently destructive.

Promoting the phenomena of identifying as transgender does nothing to improve the lives of individuals, nor to improve society as a whole. Individually, gender ideology demolishes mental wellness and happiness. Socially, gender ideology destroys marriages and families, endangers women and girls, and threatens parental rights.

The relationship between consumers and corporations rightfully relies on the ability to trust a corporation. When companies engage a trans-identifying activist as a spokesperson, for the sole purpose of promoting his or her identification as transgender, they betray the trust of the American public — and they deserve every boycott that comes their way.