Did Anheuser Busch announce the company would discontinue and rebrand Bud Light, saying, "We Can't Save It"? No, that's not true: The website that published the article is a satire site, with a disclaimer noting that they are part of a network of "parody, satire and tomfoolery." Lead Stories was unable to find any kind of official announcement regarding the claim.
The claim appeared in an article (archived here) on Latherland.com on January 10, 2024, under the title "Anheuser Busch Will Discontinue and Re-Brand Bud Light: 'We Can't Save It.'" It opened:
For decades, Bud Light dominated the American beer market. Through clever marketing campaigns targeting a profitable demographic, the brand was number one both at the bar and in retail stores.
This is what the post looked like at the time of writing:
(Source: Latherland screenshot taken on Wed Mar 20 18:10:11 2024 UTC)
The article claimed:
Less than a month later, the brand is on its way to the scrapyard. Anheuser Busch admits that the Dylan Mulvaney partnership was a horrible idea that irreparably harmed the iconic beer and will discontinue it when the current production run ends.
CEO Jow Barron says it's a necessary switch and that he looks forward to working with marketing directors suggested by Kid Rock to relaunch the all-new 'Bud Zero.'
The CEO of Anheuser-Busch is Brendan Whitworth, according to the company website (archived here), as of March 20, 2024.
"Jow Barron" is a variation on Joe Barron, a friend of Christopher Blair, who is the creator of Latherland. Barron's name is frequently used in Blair's satirical stories as a posthumous tribute.
Had Anheuser-Busch announced that they were discontinuing Bud Light, it would have been national and international news. A Google news search (archived here) of the keywords, "Anheuser Busch Will Discontinue and Re-Brand Bud Light," yields zero matching results.
The beer manufacturer suffered a backlash (archived here) in 2023, after conservatives protested against transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney promoting the beverage and receiving a personalized Bud Light can. A massive boycott of Bud Light caused Anheuser-Busch's market value (archived here) to plunge.
Other Lead Stories fact checks about Anheuser-Busch can be found here.
Latherland website:
Latherland is a satirical website with an about page (archived here) that has the following disclaimer:
About Us
Latherland.com is a subsidiary of the 'America's Last Line of Defense' network of parody, satire, and tomfoolery, or as Snopes called it before they lost their war on satire: Junk News
About Satire
Before you complain and decide satire is synonymous with 'comedy':
sat·ire ˈsaˌtī(ə)r noun: The use of humor, irony, exaggeration, OR ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.
Everything on this website is fiction. It is not a lie and it is not fake news because it is not real. If you believe that it is real, you should have your head examined. Any similarities between this site's pure fantasy and actual people, places, and events are purely coincidental and all images should be considered altered and satirical. See above if you're still having an issue with that satire thing.
It is run by self-described liberal troll Christopher Blair.
