Transgender activist behind one of the most embarrassing marketing faux pas in history Dylan Mulvaney appeared on ABC’s “The View” and reflected on the massive backlash that dethroned Bud Light as America’s most popular beer brand. Mulvaney was promoting a book titled “Paper Doll: Notes from a Late Bloomer.”
“Well, I will start by saying I love beer, and I always have,” the trans activist stated.
“So, I mean, when I took that deal, I didn’t think anything of it, because I was, like, ‘Oh, this is perfect.’ It felt like an organic thing to do, and it was just another part of me.”
However, even as a privileged trans activist and a poster child for gender transition, Mulvaney said that the controversy was a major surprise.
“I realized I had become the poster child for this thing when [being] trans is just a small part of me.”
Subsequently, the woke social media influencer lamented not having enough resources to navigate the controversy, highlighting what other non-privileged members of the LGBTQ+ community went through. However, the trans activist said writing about the experience brought joy and lightened the whole situation.
“But what I think was really special about writing about the experience was that people see me as this, like, eternal optimist, but I think sometimes the people that are seen that way are often the ones that are hurting the most,” Mulvaney said. “What brings me the most joy is my gender euphoria and to have that used against me was such a mind game.”
The trans activist attributed their handling of the situation to people around them, especially “trans women,” who supported them, and got them through the experience.
“But I think it was really the people around me, and the trans women in my life that supported me during that time and took my hand and said, ‘This is our reality, welcome.’ That’s what got me through.”
Seemingly, Mulvaney has moved on past the controversy and found other ways to monetize the radical gender ideology. However, Bud Light is still reeling from the backlash that saw its sales plummet by over 29% a few months after the video surfaced.
In February 2025, former Anheuser-Busch President of Operations Anson Frericks told Fox Business that the company had not recovered at all and continued “to shed customers.” According to the former exec, the company had lost 30% or millions of its customers and “billions of dollars of shareholder value.”
However, it has desperately tried to reclaim its dominant position by engaging in an aggressive marketing campaign involving celebrities who are the “opposite of Dylan Mulvaney,” such as Shane Gillis and Post Malone. Nonetheless, the company has yet to win the trust of many Americans due to its less-than-forthcoming handling of the controversy.
“Until the company really comes back and says clearly what Bud Light is going to be? I don’t know if any of their loyal customers are going to come back,” Frericks said.
While Bud Light suggested that the customized can with Mulvaney’s face was a one-off gift and not a formal partnership, the transgender activist inadvertently admitted that the marketing campaign was a deal.
Although the View panel fawned over Mulvaney, they also tried to raise the issue of biological men competing in women’s sports, which the transgender activist avoided. California Gov. Gavin Newsom had recently stated that it was “deeply unfair” for men who identify as women to compete against biological women.
“The last time I played a sport, I was six years old, and I was on a soccer team, but I assigned myself as the nurse, so I sat with the Band-Aids,” Mulvaney responded.
Nonetheless, Whoopi Goldberg advocated for the practice saying female athletes were capable of competing against men who identify as women because they were not weak and they knew what they were doing.
“Part of the problem the trans community is facing, and it’s the same problem that women face, is if you don’t know anything about our bodies, you don’t know how it works,” she said. “When you come in and you say, these are men competing against women, you’re assuming that the women are weak and just can’t do anything.”
