Garth Brooks Boycott Underway After Bud Light Controversy
Fans are boycotting Garth Brooks for including Bud Light at his new bar.
It looks like Garth Brooks is in trouble with some of his die-hard fans after announcing that his new bar, Friends In Low Places Bar & Honky Tonk, will be serving every beer, including Bud Light, reports Insider. The backlash the top-selling country star is facing is coming from his conservative constituents in light of the recent controversy involving Bud Light’s partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. At the time of this article, the hashtag #boycottgarthbrooks has garnered almost 31,000 views, and will probably continue to trend in the coming weeks.
Bud Light has been facing controversy for their decision to partner with Dylan Mulvaney since April when she posted a promo for the beer on her Instagram Page. This promotion immediately caused backlash, resulting in a 21 percent drop in sales compared to the previous year. And though some other Nashville based bars have removed Bud Light from their menu (including Kid Rock’s Big Ass Honky Tonk Rock n’ Roll Steakhouse), Garth Brooks is standing his ground and keeping it on the menu.
Though we’re seeing a lot of anger on the internet over Garth Brook’s decision to keep Bud Light on his bar’s menu, he’s right to address the fact that banning a single flagship beer from his menu isn’t necessarily his decision to make. More often than not, bar owners can’t just pick and choose what brews are on top at a given time in an a la carte fashion. In other words, distribution deals are often all or nothing, or at the very least involve carrying a number of products from a particular vendor, including companies like Anheuser-Busch, who own Bud Light.
That is to say, even though a number of bars have stopped serving Bud Light, they’re still selling Budweiser, Michelob Ultra, and Stella Artois, who are also owned by Anheuser-Busch. Even after Kid Rock’s Instagram post in which he gunned down several cases of beer before brandishing his middle finger, Bud Light is back on the menu when you go to his steakhouse’s website. So it’s safe to say that Garth Brooks’ statement about not having the decision-making power to fully dictate what goes on his menu has some kernel of truth backing it up.
What’s more, we’ve got to give it to Garth Brooks for not just backpedaling, but rather doubling down on the kind of atmosphere he wants to create at his bar. In an interview with Billboard, Garth Brooks said that he wanted to create a welcoming environment where there are manners, and a safe atmosphere for all guests attending the location. He even pushed back on those who plan to boycott his bar, stating “If you’re an a-hole, there are plenty of other places on lower Broadway.”
Garth Brooks may be experiencing quite a bit of backlash over his willingness to sell every brand of beer, but he has the right idea to not kowtow to the current climate of outrage that we’re all too familiar with these days. At the end of the day, people are going to be (gratuitously) outraged over whatever they want to be outraged about. But looking at the bigger picture, it’s safe to say that boycotting a bar that’s outside of your locale, or an artist whose albums you’ve already purchased in the past (or never listened to in the first place) seems like a waste of energy.
