In April 2023, transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney was featured in a series of advertisements and promotional content for Bud Light beer.
Anti-transgender backlash over the marketing partnership played out inside liquor stores and grocery chains across the country. Americans trashed displays featuring Mulvaney, destroyed merchandise and tanked U.S. sales by parent company Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) by more than 10% in matter of weeks.
In June – as discourse around Mulvaney reached a fever pitch – Ohio State University (OSU) College of Public Health research administrator Alysha Ennis began documenting alcohol advertisements and marketing campaigns across Columbus that specifically target LGBTQ+ Ohioans.
“It was just an interesting time to be doing that work,” Ennis said. “We even had some students asking ‘Is this advertising supposed to be a good thing or a bad thing?’”
Ennis – who works under behavioral scientist Dr. Joanne Patterson at OSU’s Practice & Science LGBTQ+ Health Equity Lab – said the answer is complicated:
LGBTQ+ people experience negative health outcomes related to alcohol at far higher rates than their non-LGBTQ+ peers. Targeted alcohol marketing like Bud Light’s partnership with Mulvaney could be making it worse.
“We want to support [LGBTQ+ representation], but at the same time, we’re considering alcohol marketing that targets the LGBTQ+ community a bad thing,” Ennis said. “Because it’s associating a justice [movement] with a product that could be hurtful to the same community it says it’s celebrating.”
LGBTQ+ health disparities
LGBTQ+ people report experiencing substance abuse disorder at more than twice the rate of members of the general population.
The Substances and Mental Health Abuse Services Administration (SAMHSA) – a federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) — in past studies reported that between 20 and 30% of LGBTQ+ Americans experience substance abuse disorder as adults, compared to about 9% of the general population.
That data, however, has been removed from SAMHSA’s website, a casualty of the Trump administration’s push to eliminate LGBTQ+-related language from government websites.
A seminal 2016 study published in the scientific journal Alcohol Research found that LGBTQ+ people are more likely to binge-drink than their straight, cisgender peers – with one of the factors being “minority stress” – additional stress related to anti-LGBTQ+ prejudice, stigma, discrimination, violence, abuse and internalized homophobia and transphobia.
Increased use of alcohol can also lead to higher rates of cancer, which LGBTQ+ people also experience according to a 2024 study.
“New research is showing that alcohol is cancer-inducing, so a lot of the big [alcohol-related health disparities] are cancer-related.” Ennis said. “There’s definitely a pretty growing body of evidence of cancer-related health issues from alcohol. And then, of course, the addiction and dependence part.”
Predatory marketing
Until last year, Ennis said her lab primarily focused on disparities in tobacco use and cancer rates between LGBTQ+ Ohioans and their non-LGBTQ+ peers.
“We see a lot of tobacco research in targeted marketing and I think most people agree that targeted marketing of tobacco is predatory,” Ennis said. “But because alcohol is so socially normative at this point compared to cigarettes, I don’t think people have that same opinion.”
“People don’t necessarily see a Pride ad for alcohol and think that’s predatory,” she added. “But we’re coming from this tobacco background where we know that ads targeted at LGBTQ people for vapes or cigarillos are predatory.”
Marketers often target populations that are already facing health inequities around tobacco and alcohol use.
“Alcohol and tobacco especially have targeted Black and Latinx folks, but we see all kinds of minority groups targeted,” Ennis said.
“For LGBTQ+ [targeted marketing], their strategy is to normalize alcohol as a kind of a requirement for something like a celebration,” she added. “Especially around Pride.”
To document those strategies, Ennis and her team visited 24 stores across Columbus twice: once in early June and once at the end of the month, documenting how the store owners changed marketing materials and display layouts over time.
“We took photos, put all that information into a survey form that we would fill out that explained what we found and why we considered it to be targeted marketing,” Ennis said. “For example, is there a rainbow? Is there a phrase like ‘Love is Love’?”
Targeting LGBTQ+ youth
Ennis said language used in alcohol marketing to attract LGBTQ+ consumers often overlaps with language that statistically appeals to young people, especially messaging around “fruity” flavors.
“By targeting LGBTQ folks, [alcohol advertisements] kind of are targeting youth,” Ennis said. “Because the percentage of LGBTQ+ people who are out is so much higher in younger generations.”
Ohio’s state government could help reduce negative health outcomes by passing laws that restrict targeted alcohol marketing, Ennis said. Those regulations could come at a social and cultural cost – jeopardizing growing visibility and cultural acceptance for high-profile LGBTQ+ entertainers and ordinary LGBTQ+ Americans alike.
“Flavored tobacco is banned in Columbus, and that’s to prevent young people from getting into tobacco in the first place,” Ennis said. “We could see similar things with alcohol if there was more regulation about how companies use targeted marketing.”
“We’re not talking about banning those products or taking them off the market entirely,” she added. “We’re talking about regulating how they’re advertised, where they are displayed in the store, things like that.”
Ennis is also hoping to publish a social-media surveillance study of alcohol advertising she conducted with her colleagues at the Health Equity Lab.
“Research and science grants aren’t looking for alcohol research the same way they’re looking for tobacco research, so this research was unfunded. We just did this on our own,” Ennis said. “Doing things like this can help us to convince funders in the future to put money towards [alcohol research].” 🔥
Ignite Action
- If you are a young LGBTQ+ person in crisis, please contact the Trevor Project: 866-4-U-Trevor.
- If you are an transgender adult in crisis, please contact the National Trans Lifeline: 877-565-8860
- To learn more about the Greater Columbus INSIGHT Survey, a research study investigating the lived experiences of LGBTQ+ adults, with a focus on health and wellness, economic stability and access to health care and education. To learn more, or to participate in the study, click here.
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