Why Bud Light Blew It

 

How on planet Earth did the VP of Marketing for Bud Light ever think that using Dylan Mulvaney as a brand spokesperson was going to go well? Even on first seeing the Mulvaney spot, my jaw dropped. How could this look like a good idea, given their market? For a March Madness campaign?

I don’t think it was just stupidity. Granted, in an interview explaining her marketing plans, Alissa Heinerscheid seemed capable only of a word salad, just barfing out buzzwords. One got the strong impression she had no idea what she was talking about. Not the brightest bulb in the scoreboard. One might suspect she was incapable of independent thought, and so simply chose Mulvaney and the trans theme because she saw others doing it. Trans was hot and trendy. Edgy, but safe. Right?

But no; nobody is that dumb. She is deluded. Such word salads are typical of narcissists, who only speak to manipulate or impress. And narcissists live on self-delusion.

Here’s how she would have thought it through, assuming she is a narcissist. Bud Light is an extremely successful brand. It is an absolute icon in America, an institution. Rather like those statues of Civil War heroes, or Sir John A. Macdonald, or Queen Victoria. 

Alissa Heinerscheid happily found herself in control of an institution. Now what was she going to do about it?

Problem: she did not create this great success. Simply sustaining success was not enough to make her own role special. To demonstrate her superiority to all who came before her, or may come after, it must be in crisis. Whoever created this original success must be a worm, an utter failure. She must either remake it entirely in her own image, or, failing this, destroy it. A narcissist, like a tomcat, must pee on everything to mark his territory.

And that is what she did, more or less exactly as she intended. If this seems self-destructive—after all, she has lost her job and wrecked her reputation in her chosen field--narcissists can be deluded enough that they expect reality to conform to their wishes. If it does not, it is obviously not their fault. Reality is to blame. Who could have predicted Bud Light drinkers would be such reprehensible transphobes? Shame on them!

Dylan Mulvaney, a fellow narcissist, makes all the same assumptions.

Beware, hallowed institutions. Hire a narcissist, put them in a position of authority, and you are going to pay dearly. 

And there is a current epidemic of narcissism, thanks to generations of “unconditional love” and “self-esteem.”