BLERD THOUGHTS
Here's What Keeps Getting Overlooked When We Talk About Bud Light and Dylan Mulvaney's Partnership.5/4/2023
Sure, it's fun to laugh at fragile (and rich!) transphobes and conservatives, but when are we gonna talk about how much money Anheuser-Busch has donated to anti-LGBTQIA+ politicians this year?
Dylan Mulvaney at the 65th Annual GRAMMY Awards held at the Crypto.com Arena on February 5th, 2023 (Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images)
CONTENT WARNING
The following commentary piece contains mentions of transphobia and queerphobia. If these topics trigger you, please take the appropriate precautions before reading.
If you like reading intersectional pop culture analyses like this and want to help support the creation of this kind of writing (and the overall maintenance of this blog), then consider making a one-time donation on Ko-Fi! Just hit the purple button below to make your donation.
I'm not a beer drinker; so when I learned about TikTok sensation Dylan Mulvaney partnered with noted beer brand Bud Light, I didn't think much of it. The only thought I can recall having, after seeing the sponsored ad on Instagram, which featured Mulvaney sporting a look inspired by Audrey Hepburn's iconic black dress and highlighted-updo from 1961's Breakfast at Tiffany's, was, 'wow, she looks cool.'
While I do not follow her on social media, Mulvaney has been sprinkled throughout my Instagram feed via the LGBTQIA+ news and pop culture pages I follow. A trans actress, activist, and singer, Mulvaney made waves when she began publicly chronicling her year-long gender journey, aptly titled "365 Days of Girlhood" (which was bookended by a one-of variety show of the same name that debuted live in New York earlier this year). What started off as a series of digital personal diaries, Mulvaney's "365 Days of Girlhood" offered an honest, joyous, and empathetic look at individual gender discovery, acceptance, and euphoria -- a subversive contrast from the cishet vision of harrowing medical trauma, emotional despair, body horror, and fears of cisheteropatriarchal rejection. With over 11 million followers across TikTok and Instagram, Mulvaney has not only inspired a legion of LGBTQIA+ social media users but also touched the lives of many cis allies and media figures, including President Joe Biden, with whom she sat and interviewed at the White House. Understandably, many see Mulvaney's optimism and compassion as an antidote to an increasingly hostile landscape brimming with anti-trans rhetoric and attacks across America and the world. It's a vision of positivity many people -- notably queer and trans folks -- are holding on to as the world grows violent and nasty toward a vulnerable population that's already trying to navigate a world that was never designed with them in mind. Unfortunately, Mulvaney's recent Bud Light partnership, which kicked off with the aforementioned sponsored ad promoting the beer's March Madness contest, is a reminder of the pointed, double-edged sword of trans and queer visibility in media. Seeing more LGBTQIA+ individuals on large social media platforms or participate in brand campaigns has the power to inspire people young and old to embrace their identities and live authentically as the person they were meant to be rather than the person society pushes them to be. Making a queer, trans, or gender-diverse person the major face of a company or brand can be affirming; it's evidence that we exist and that we are just human beings doing normal human things like drinking beer, wearing makeup, and exercising with the help of moisture-wicking athleisure. However, the more visible LGBTQIA+ people become, the more treacherous the world and the people who occupy it become. The sight of Mulvaney drinking Bud Light or showing off a commemorative beer can sporting her face (something Bud Light has done for awhile; it's just that, this time, the person receiving the can was trans not cis) was just too much for some rich conservatives to bear. For example, has-been musician and current attention-seeking MAGA fanboy Kid Rock published a jarring and grotesque video of himself shooting several Bud Light cans to express his anger over the brand partnering with Mulvaney. (Not only does shooting purchased beer cans do nothing but highlight the fact that Rock's money is already in Bud Light's pocket, it is also highly disturbing considering America has been shaken by several high-profile instances of gun violence, including a mass shooting at an elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee and a Black teenager being shot twice after winding up in the wrong neighborhood.) There's also been countless videos of people making a theatrical display of dumping their Bud Light products down sinks and in trash cans (and straight people have the nerve to call us over the top), because nothing screams 'fuck you, woke nerds!' like destroying the stuff you already spent your money on. Numerous conservative politicians -- such as Georgia representative Majorie Taylor Greene -- and pundits -- including Charlie Kirk and Ben Shapiro -- took to Twitter to angrily express their transphobia and direct their followers to attack Mulvaney and Anheuser-Busch, Bud Light's manufacturer. (The latter took the time out of his "busy" schedule to record an entire video reacting to Mulvaney's ad on YouTube, and I won't be linking the video here because fuck Ben Shapiro and fuck all transphobes.) Sadly, the backlash -- and lack of substantial support from Anheuser-Busch, who released a flat statement claiming their intent wasn't to divide while also failing to support Mulvaney in any meaningful way -- was enough to make Mulvaney lay low for a few days before addressing the situation on social media. "A lot has been said about me," Mulvaney said in a TikTok posted April 28th, "some of which is so far from my truth that I was, like, hearing my name and I didn’t even know who they were talking about.” After deciding to let her critics "tucker themselves out," Mulvaney posted her TikTok response not for them but for the people who followed her and were concerned for her well-being, addressing them for the remainder of the video while passing on a much-needed reminder: "Dehumanization has never fixed anything in history, ever." Considering that she opened up her TikTok return with the declaration of this being her "9,610th day of being a human," it's clear that, going forward, Mulvaney is more interested in sharing parts of herself and her adventures that have nothing to do with her trans identity; after all, one of the biggest mistakes we all continue to make when it comes to discussing the LGBTQIA+ community (aside from excluding them from conversations that are about them, of course) is that we make gender and sexuality the defining aspect of a queer, trans, gender nonconforming, or gender-diverse person's identity rather than highlighting their humanity. "[To] those of you who support me and choose to see my humanity," Mulvaney said, drawing her TikTok response to a close, "even if you don’t fully understand or relate to me — thank you.”
Mulvaney's commemorative Bud Light can celebrating her 365 days of girlhood (left) and Mulvaney at the red carpet premiere of her variety show "Dylan Mulvaney's 365 Days of Girlhood" (right)
Can I be frank with you, dear reader, for just one moment?
When I set out to write this piece, my initial impression of this whole "controversy" is that this was not only another example of conservatives jerking their knees so hard at the sight of a corporation realizing that trans people exist and buy their products too, but that this was also yet another example of conservatives falling back on their culture war bullshit to distract the public at large from how poorly they are acting on the behalf of its constituents. Between America's terrifyingly unique gun problem, people who can conceive children being forced to give birth to children who won't be protected on school campuses, and long-term COVID-19 continuing to disable millions of people in the country (among other horrifying and heartbreaking current issues), a beer brand partnering with one of the biggest social media influencers right now is such a moronic thing for conservatives to lose their minds over. After doing some slight research for this post, though, my initial impression remains unchanged. Conservatives going into the prone position over corporations cosplaying as progressive allies, crying about how all their favorite products -- from beer to candy -- are now "woke" is, unfortunately, a normal part of everyday American life. We're a hop, skip, and a jump away from a Daily Show segment about a viral video capturing some Republican losing it over seeing a rainbow live and complaining about how mother nature is suddenly a queer ally (or complaining about why we don't say "father nature," whichever one comes first). We've seen conservative pundits commiserate over comedian Chelsea Handler's choice to be single, not have kids, and live her best life (For her part, Handler used the weird complaints about her personal life to make a satirical skit about her lifestyle choices while guest hosting The Daily Show.) and ridicule DC Comics for making Superman's son bisexual and falsely claiming they killed their book sales in the process on national television. At this point, conservatives and far-right folks are looking for anything they can turn into a moral panic/"battle for the soul of our great nation" so that we're all distracted from demanding meaningful, radical change that clearly will not come from politicians. The "culture wars" talking point is a successful tactic if you don't realize that the two-party system as it currently stands in the United States is deeply incompetent, incapable of protecting American citizens' freedoms, rights, and autonomy all while profiting off of their despair, rage, and apathy. (Yes, you read that right: liberals and conservatives are complicit in this nonsense.) Not only is the reality of conservatives complaining about trans people drinking beer routine at this point, but it is also exhausting. Once again, the public is forced to endure a deluge of articles from conservative news sites like The Daily Mail, New York Post, and The Wall Street Journal banging the drum of "go woke, go broke" over a corporation discovering the existence of trans people and trying to get them to spend their hard-earned cash on whatever product they're shilling. The fact that I can swap out Bud Light with M&Ms, Keurig Coffee, or Nike is testament to the snowflake behavior that conservatives still attribute to left-leaning people. Because conservative responses to this partnership, no matter how asinine they get, are flooding the conversation, liberal queer and trans people and organizations -- and the cishet allies who claim they're determined to show up to any and all digital fist fights to show how they're more of an ally than everyone else in the comments -- are officially on the defensive. The Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBTQIA+ lobbying organization in America, responded to Anheuser-Busch's kumbayah-style statement about Mulvaney and Bud Light in a letter that criticized the manufacturer for "[demonstrating] a profound lack of fortitude in upholding its values of diversity, equity, and inclusion." HRC's Senior Vice President Jay Brown further noted that the lukewarm statement "not only [lent] credence to hate-filled rhetoric, [but it also] exposes Anheuser-Busch to long-term business impacts with employees and customers increasingly looking for steadfast commitment to LGBTQ+ corporate citizenships." To add insult to injury, HRC's letter noted that they will be dropping the company's 100% score on its corporate equality index, which rates companies based on criteria including supporting inclusive cultures and corporate social responsibility, another blow to Bud Light after reports of drops in sales and marketing execs responsible for Mulvaney's ad campaign being placed on leave. If there's one thing about that letter that surprised me it was the fact that all it took for Bud Light's perfect equality index score to go down was its obvious inability to stand by the trans influencer they recruited to sell their beer. Truth be told, the number should have gone down sooner.
Corporate Allyship Cosplay is Still Rainbow Washing.
(left) A closer look at Mulvaney's commemorative Bud Light can; (right) a still from Mulvaney's sponsored social media ad for Bud Light.
Although Mulvaney's sponsored ad dropped in March and she received her commemorative can the previous month, this news has been dominating the cycle for the past few weeks (and it likely will continue a few days more now that Mulvaney has responded), but I'm writing about this during the first week of May.
It's significant that I mention the month because right after May comes June, a.k.a. Pride month -- meaning we are about to see an influx of rainbow-colored social media avatars and icons, colorful infographics bolstering common ally declarations like "Love is Love" or "Love Wins", and, of course, a number of corporations looking to profit off of the backs of LGBTQIA+ folks by cosplaying as "inclusive" or "allies." Every June, it seems like companies and corporations have just discovered LGBTQIA+ people exist and love to buy stuff, so they work extra hard to attract that consumer market with products that claim to be made with us in mind in the hopes that we throw our money at them. In short: June is prime rainbow-washing-time, a PR stunt that's meant to showcase corporate progressiveness but only accomplishes highlighting just how quickly a company will ditch us once we're no longer profitable to them. In fact, this cycle of capitalist exploitation and harm is so well-known that a Disney-produced Hulu series has one of its characters deliver a sharp one-liner about the practice. But, rainbow washing appears to be already getting started; for example, the much-loved LGBTQIA+ apparel store Gay Pride Apparel announced their exclusive partnership with Walmart, making their clothes and accessories available at more than 1,300 Walmart stores starting April 10th through next month. Similar to the likes of Bank of America, American Airlines, or AT&T, however, Walmart has been called out over the past couple of years for publicly selling Pride accessories and clothings while financially supporting anti-LGBTQIA+ politicians behind our backs. (It's also worth mentioning that Walmart was sued in 2015 for allegedly denying benefits to a same-gender-loving couple.) Truth be told, you're better off buying products from Gay Pride Apparel's website directly since the store is committed to donating proceeds of your purchase directly to LGBTQIA+ organizations. Buying Pride merch from a big-box store that got caught donating to queerphobic and transphobic lawmakers multiple times (and is likely still doing so this year) is contradictory to the spirit and ideals of Pride month itself. As Salon's Kylie Cheung wrote in 2021, "Pride is historically rooted in anti-carceral, anti-capitalist sentiment and activism, as well as people-power, community, autonomy and revolution – with or without the approval of billionaires. Corporations rehabilitating their image for profit off the backs of LGBTQ people who remain economically and socially marginalized to this day isn't "Pride" — it's rainbow capitalism." Anheuser-Busch is no stranger to engaging in rainbow capitalism, and key to that process is public perception. As the backlash against Mulvaney kicked into high-gear, some pointed out that Bud Light has been historically queer friendly. Writer Henry Giardina reminded people in a piece for Into More that Bud Light's history has been intertwined with the history of queer protests, including the 1977 protest of Coors beer, which eventually saw openly gay politician and activist Harvey Milk get involved after queer people learned of Coors' discriminatory hiring practices, including forcing employees to take polygraph tests and answer invasive questions about their sexuality. (In another self-own, conservative author Bethany S. Mandel, a.k.a. the white lady who couldn't define the word "woke" despite writing an entire chapter about it in a book she contributed to, learned that the marketing and advertising agency that Bud Light consulted for their queer-inclusive ads have met their target audience, and she clearly isn't part of it.) Furthermore, Budweiser, another popular beer brand manufactured by Anheuser-Busch, has been credited with sponsoring or co-sponsoring "a number of LGBTQ+ events" and for releasing "a special rainbow-colored bottle for World Pride" to raise money for the influential LGBTQIA+ advocacy group GLAAD back in 2021. In that same year, Michelob Ultra -- another Anheuser-Busch brand -- partnered with CeCé Telfer, the first publicly out transgender woman to win an NCAA title. Probably due to such public efforts to build community with and show support for trans and gender-diverse people, Anheuser-Busch earned a perfect score on the HRC's 2022 Corporate Equality Index, being designated as a "Best Place to Work for LGBTQ+ Equality" by the organization. Anheuser-Busch partnering with Mulvaney is simply continuing the company's legacy of queer and trans inclusivity and support, as well as the company's continued efforts to be perceived as an LGBTQIA+ ally. As the Substack newsletter Popular Information has reported, however, Anheuser-Busch's corporate PAC activities speak louder than their partnerships and public statements. The beer conglomerate spends around $7 billion on sales and marketing; their partnership with Mulvaney likely constitutes a paltry amount of this budget, and those (unknown) numbers likely pale in comparison to the near $370,000 the company has donated to anti-LGBTQIA+ politicians between January 2021 and May 2022. As Popular Information reports, $197,500 of the aforementioned funds were donated to politicians who scored a zero on the HRC's Congressional scorecard, while $54,000 went to state lawmakers in South Carolina and Florida who were involved in passing anti-LGBTQIA+ legislation. Furthermore, Popular Information found that $65,000 were donated straight to the Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC) while $50,000 went to the Republican Governors Association (RGA), two organizations that support queerphobic politicians and legislation. It's no wonder that, during Pride Month 2021, the historic Stonewall Inn in New York City poured Bud Light and Stella Artois (yet another Anheuser-Busch brand) products down the drain in an act of protest after the conglomerate got caught funding queerphobic and transphobic politicians and legislation. Yet, the most damning finding from Popular Information's investigation into corporate rainbow-washing last year was that Anheuser-Busch donated $50,000 to Florida governor Ron DeSantis,the Republican politician currently waging legal war on another rainbow-washing conglomerate (The Walt Disney Company) while signing disturbing censorship bills like the Parental Rights in Education Act (a.k.a. "Don't Say Gay") into law, in 2021 after donating $25,000 to him in 2020. (It must be noted that, as of writing, not only has "Don't Say Gay" been expanded and passed by the Florida Senate, but a bill has also been passed in the state banning trans people from using restrooms that align with their gender identity.) As if that wasn't bad enough, Anheuser-Busch also donated a total of $3,000 to two of the bill's co-introducers -- Republican Florida representatives Stan McClain and Tyler Sirois -- on March 6th, 2023. As the top comment on Popular Information's piece on the "controversy" surrounding Mulvaney and Anheuser-Busch succinctly put it: "A multinational conglomerate performatively playing both ends against the middle, while shelling out some [bucks] and getting paid big? Check." I mean, is anyone surprised? This is what corporations do. Time and time again, queer and trans activists, organizers, business owners, and media personalities have sounded the alarm about corporations adopting rainbow iconography and common terminology used in queer and trans spaces (which can typically attributed to Black and brown queer and trans folks before they spread widely and became overused by white cishet and queer people), but we still act shocked when news comes out that corporations are just being corporations. The "outrage" coming from transphobic and queerphobic conservatives is astonishingly ridiculous because, at the end of the day, these corporations are still on their side -- further proving that they (conservative personalities, pundits, influencers, etc.) are so out of touch with both the painstaking realities of queer, trans, migrant, working-class, undocumented, and impoverished people and the realities of the constituents they've been elected to represent. I doubt many of the politicians losing their shit over this have even touched a Bud Light can since their political careers took off. I'm willing to bet that Kid Rock bought the Bud Light cans he recorded himself shooting just to capitalize on the chatter; he doesn't care about Bud Light or the average American citizen. Just about making money off of his discomfort and hatred for trans people. But I don't want to pay them anymore mind; they've dominated the news cycle enough, which is pretty much all they wanted. (Did anyone really think they gave a shit about beer?) I want to turn my attention to the woman who accepted the partnership deal...
Dylan Mulvaney Is Not Exempt from Criticism.
Dylan Mulvaney attending the 2023 Queerties. (Chelsea Guglielmino/Getty Images)
I think it's appalling that Mulvaney has been on the receiving end of grotesque hatred, anger, and emotional violence. (If you think an asshole musician making beer cans a stand-in for the trans person he so clearly wants to shoot and kill is not an act of emotional violence, then don't let the door hit you on your way out of here.)
Not only are we watching a bunch of uber-rich, political theater capitalists foam at the mouth online over (an allegedly terrible) beer they probably don't drink, but we're also watching the continued normalization of escalating verbal and emotional attacks on queer and trans people who are already struggling to survive in a world that clearly wants us dead and gone, all because we make them so uncomfortable that they'd rather attack us than accept the fact that the cisheteropatriarchy and its many tendrils of oppression -- from white supremacy and classism to heterosexism and toxic masculinity -- is killing them slowly and softly. It's unsettling and heartbreaking. In that regard, Mulvaney has my sympathy. Having said that, Mulvaney is not completely innocent here. What Popular Information has reported on is not top secret information being kept under lock and key; anyone can find them online if they do some digging on sites like Open Secrets, a popular nonprofit organization that is keeping track of the numbers and effects corporate money has on U.S. politics, or Keep Your Pride, an initiative dedicated to holding major conglomerates like Anheuser-Busch accountable for their continued donations to anti-LGBTQIA+ lawmakers and legislation. Either those on Mulvaney's team did not do adequate research before advising her to accept the Bud Light partnership or they did do their research and decided those donations weren't a deal breaker. For a celebrated and well-known trans influencer and activist to partner with a conglomerate that has financially supported people behind a bill that is oppressing trans and queer youth sends the worst kind of message: queer and trans lives can and will go on the backburner if the paycheck and clout opportunity is hefty enough to merit a shift in priorities. Not only is it a partnership that goes against the values Mulvaney has promoted on her social media pages, but it's also a partnership that reminds us of the slippery tactics and double standards those who claim to be or promote themselves as liberal or liberal-leaning continue to partake in. It's one of a myriad of ways illustrating how liberal politics have rapidly mutated into neoliberal politics over the past few years. Financial and cultural capital continue to be prioritized, often at the expense of the individual liberties of the rest of the population -- particularly vulnerable and historically excluded populations like the LGBTQIA+ community. In continuing to pay attention to rich transphobes and queerphobes working themselves into hysterics over corporations cosplaying as progressive, we are instead encouraged to rage, drag, sneer, and respond to people who really have nothing to offer except the same tired-ass and unintelligent attacks, remarks, and insults they keep disguising as thoughtful. At no point are we encouraged to think critically and ask whether this corporation is genuine or just playing us like fiddles. Mulvaney's participation with Bud Light exemplifies how surface-level and marketplace-focused celebrity activism tends to be; it's not concerned with bringing about genuine social change, just greater financial opportunities and social media shares for the person who makes activism their brand. Furthermore, it highlights how, ultimately, Mulvaney is protected by the current racial and sociocultural hierarchies put in place in this country. As a prominent trans woman, Mulvaney is subjected to transphobia and transmisogyny on increased levels. However, she's a white woman who express herself in a safe, non-confrontational way that emphasizes an innocent, idealized form of hyper-femininity that has roots in traditional gender norms and expression for women; in these ways, Mulvaney is shielded and protected. It didn't escape me how many white cis queer people and cishet allies rushed to defend her from transphobes when this story first caught fire online, nor did it escape me how those same people made antagonizing queer women and transfeminine people of color if they offered the slightest of criticism over Mulvaney's increased visibility their goal for the day. These layers are not just overlooked but are deliberately erased because #everyoneiswelcomehere. Criticizing a trans social media influencer for essentially doing their job will automatically mark you as the villain of the week on queer-unfriendly social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and more. However, if we choose not to critique those in the LGBTQIA+ community who are active participants in the corporate rainbow washing that goes against the values first established during the very first Pride month and deliberately generates cash that will later get donated to queerphobic and transphobic politicians drafting legislation that seeks to oppress, brutalize, and traumatize our community, then we're just as bad as the corporations that keep doing this in our faces. Dylan Mulvaney doesn't deserve to be antagonized, bullied, and subjected to emotional and mental violence by a bunch of jackasses who wouldn't be caught dead in an Albertson's buying affordable-ish beer with the rest of us minimum-wage poors. But the choice to associate herself with conglomerates who are funding the traumatic and harmful oppression of LGBTQIA+ Americans (as opposed to, I don't know, small, LGBTQIA+-owned businesses that are upfront and transparent about their financial intentions and social responsibilities) isn't something we should ignore because visibility supersedes everything. If we want to start getting serious about representation of historically excluded peoples and communities, then we need to have uncomfortable, complex, and thoughtful conversations about how that representation might be failing us, as well as whether that representation is coming from a place of authenticity and/or transparency. Unfortunately, we are lacking the necessary language and knowledge needed to incisively and deeply discuss the ethical, moral, and sociocultural implications of a famous person's problematic choices, actions, whether they be professional or personal. As much as we'd like to not know so much about famous people's private lives, that gulf of ignorance has shrunken so much that we really aren't afforded any reason to be passive, especially when we learn that our favorite celebrity is riding for some genuinely awful businesses and people. Your faves can be, will be, and most likely are problematic; that's a given. No matter the reason, your fave does not deserve a pass. For this reason and more, Dylan Mulvaney -- or any trans or queer influencer or celebrity personality that partners with any conglomerate, for that matter -- should not be exempt from criticism.
This Blerd is Online.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Meet Your Friendly Neighborhood BlerdHello, one and all.
Welcome to the mothership and prepare to go on a fantastic voyage through the Blerd space-time continnum! I'm Makayla; it's nice to meet you! Pronouns are they/she. ArchivesCategories
All
|