Bud Light Stops Making Bottle Labels With Slogan That Sparked Online Outrage

Anheuser-Busch InBev NV last night stopped producing a Bud Light label after consumers took to social media expressing concerns that it encouraged rape. The company decided not to recall the beer bottles with the label.

The phrase, which appeared on some bottles as part of the company’s “Up for Whatever” campaign, said Bud Light is “The perfect beer for removing ‘no’ from your vocabulary for the night.”

The slogan sparked controversy at a time when there’s a separate national push, especially on college campuses, to discourage sexual assault. It also follows a national “No Means No” campaign launched last year with funding from the American Association of State Colleges and Universities.

A Reddit discussion that began Monday around the Bud Light label morphed into a national debate on social media. People on Twitter criticized the label as tone deaf on the subject of rape and sexual assault.

In a statement, Bud Light Vice President Alexander Lambrecht said the label’s “message missed the mark, and we regret it. We would never condone disrespectful or irresponsible behavior.”

The company evaluated a recall of bottles with the offensive phrase but decided against it because the label does not pose a health or public safety concern, an Anheuser-Busch spokesman said. The company estimates less than 1% of Bud Light bottles in circulation feature the label.

A recall would have been challenging and costly. Each 12-pack of Bud Light features bottles with different “Up for Whatever” labels, so the offending label could be on just one of the dozen bottles — or none. The brand has more than 140 different sayings in circulation.

Not recalling the bottles poses a different kind of risk: bottles with the label in circulation could be picked up by consumers at stores, restaurants or bars. Those customers could then post on Facebook or Twitter about the phrase, continuing a conversation that’s already been damaging to the Bud Light brand.

The company is unsure how long it will take to clear the label from its current inventory. A spokesman said the company expects it will cycle through quickly because the brewer will be releasing new labels before the summer.

Bud Light, which accounts for nearly one-in-four beers consumed in the U.S., began putting “Up for Whatever” labels on its beers in December. The labels are developed in collaboration with the brand’s marketing agency, BBDO. They are then reviewed by its legal team, ad council and corporate social responsibility team before being submitted to the U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, which reviews and approves all alcoholic beverage labels.

About half of the people who reviewed the troublesome label are women, a spokesman said, including members of the legal team led by Anheuser-Busch General Counsel Katie Barrett.

A company spokesman said Bud Light plans to review all 140 labels it currently has in circulation. It also plans to evaluate the way it reviews future labels so that it can prevent making a similar mistake in the future.

-WSJ