‘Remove no from your vocabulary': Bud Light backtracks after uproar over creepy slogan
by Arturo Garcia
28 Apr 2015
Beer manufacturer Bud Light apologized on Tuesday after criticism spread online regarding a tagline in its newest ad campaign, Consumerist reported.
The backlash began after a Reddit user posted a picture of a Bud Light bottle bearing the slogan,
"The perfect beer for removing `no' from your vocabulary for the night."
The line was quickly ripped online, with Bud Light being accused of promoting its' "Up For Whatever" campaign by flouting the issue of consent and personal boundaries.
"Bud Light can push out a deluge of `but you're misunderstanding our intentions' press releases, but there is no room to beg off with ignorance," Gender Focus' Lyndsay Kirkham wrote. "One need only begin to Google `how to get a girl drunk .' to spy the swaths of internet cluttered with DIY **** drinks and instructions on how to use alcohol to reduce a woman's capacity to consent. They knew. They know. This campaign is a deliberate pandering to the **** culture that too often includes the abuse of alcohol and drugs."
The company released a statement on Tuesday saying that the offending message was one of 140 lines added to Bud Light bottles to "encourage spontaneous fun."
"It's clear that this message missed the mark, and we regret it," Bud Light Vice President Alexander Lambrecht said in the statement. "We would never condone disrespectful or irresponsible behavior."
The beermaker was also under fire earlier this year for a St. Patrick's Day-themed online post encouraging fans to "pinch people who aren't #UpForWhatever." Consumerist reported at the time that Bud Light scrubbed that post within two hours while saying it was intended "only to playfully celebrate the holiday."