Bud Light. #UpForWhatever campaign gets it horribly wrong

The #UpForWhatever hashtag has been used repeatedly over the last few years by Bud Light but now they have got themselves in some hot water after adding the following tagline “The perfect beer for removing ‘no’ from your vocabulary for the night. #UpForWhatever.”

It all kicked off on Reddit where someone posted a picture of the slogan across the beer bottle with the title, 'What the f*** Bud Light?!?! Not cool man.'

One comment reads 'Are you ok to drive? N...nnnn...NNNNN! Aww fuck it yeah I'm good.'

Oh dear. It is unfathomable that someone, somewhere in the multi-billion dollar company didn't say, 'Erm, isn't that a bit close to the mark? The phrase 'no means no' has been long associated with date rape, we sell alcohol which is often also associated with date rape, I'm not sure if this is a good idea.'

Well don't worry, Bud Light, everyone else picked up on it.

What story do you tell with your brand? For Bud Light, it’s “Screw consent. Date rape is awesome!” #UpForWhatever pic.twitter.com/tobNwyfXMS

— Aaron Muszalski (@sfslim) April 28, 2015

#UpForWhatever, like being raped. Good times, Drink up!! @budlight disgusts me

— Proud Feminist (@WeAreFemstrong) April 28, 2015

Not sure how secure the marketing manager's job is now. There must be a pretty high turnover in that department. Last month they ran another poorly thought out campaign, encouraging St Patrick's day revellers to pinch anyone not wearing green, because, you know, they should be #UpForWhatever.

These campaigns are the creative equivalent of slamming a can of beer on your head, 'duh.' The downsides are so screamingly obvious it's possible they released them knowing exactly the reaction they'd get because, you know, they're #UpForWhatever.

However they did see fit to release an apology, albeit pretty light-hearted and still using an opportunity to plug the hashtag and congratulate themselves on the longevity of the campaign.

'The Bud Light Up for Whatever campaign, now in its second year, has inspired millions of consumers to engage with our brand in a positive and light-hearted way', Alexander Lambrecht, Vice President of Bud Light at Anheuser-Busch says.

'In this spirit, we created more than 140 different scroll messages intended to encourage spontaneous fun. It's clear that this message missed the mark, and we regret it. We would never condone disrespectful or irresponsible behaviour.'

It's a little hard to swallow that claim when Bud Light are asking people to remove no from their vocabulary, thereby discounting choice in their response.

ENDS

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