Transgender TikTok star Dylan Mulvaney has had a boost to her profile following the controversy surrounding her partnership with Bud Light.
Mulvaney, 26, became the center of a debate about transgender brand ambassadors when Bud Light sent her a personalized can of beer with her face on it to commemorate one year since she started her gender transition.
With her growing popularity have come a number of brand deals, including with Kate Spade and Nike, but her partnership with Bud Light has incited some violent responses from conservatives who have vowed to boycott the beer brand.
Prior to the controversy in early April, Mulvaney had 10.8 million followers on TikTok thanks to her Day 365 Of Girlhood video series which charted her first year of transitioning.
The backlash has had a positive effect on Mulvaney’s social media footprint, as she gained more than 87,000 new followers on Instagram this month.
She started April with around 1.76 million followers and gained an average of 2,901 new follows every day since. Mulvaney now has more than 1.82 million followers on Instagram, according to social media statistics website Social Blade.
The influencer is not the only social media account to get a boost following the backlash, as Bud Light also saw an increase in its social media interactions.
On Friday, it broke its social media silence following the controversy when it wrote on Twitter “TGIF?” along with an image of a Bud Light can.
The tweet had been viewed 11.1 million times as of 6 a.m. ET Monday, with more than 25,200 replies and nearly 4,700 likes. In comparison, tweets from March, before the controversy erupted, normally only got tens of thousands of views. A tweet offering the chance to “win a round of beer money” on March 24 was the last to receive over a million views.
Bud Light’s Twitter account has seen a near-4,000 follower increase in the last 30 days, according to Social Blade.
That is a rate increase of 51.3 percent and even though its following had steadily risen since early September, the growth jumped sharply in the past two weeks.
However, the brand has not fared so well on other social media channels. Bud Light lost more than 3,500 Facebook likes in the last 30 days and 3,510 Instagram followers.
A spokesperson for Anheuser-Busch, the company that owns Bud Light, told Newsweek on April 3 that it “works with hundreds of influencers across our brands as one of many ways to authentically connect with audiences across various demographics.”
The spokesperson added that the can sent to Mulvaney “was a gift to celebrate a personal milestone and is not for sale to the general public.”
Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth released his first statement since the backlash began on Friday.
“We never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people. We are in the business of bringing people together over a beer,” he began.
“My time serving this country taught me the importance of accountability and the values upon which America was founded: freedom, hard work and respect for one another. As CEO of Anheuser-Busch, I am focused on building and protecting our remarkable history and heritage.
“I care deeply about this country, this company, our brand and our partners. I spend much of my time traveling across America, listening to and learning from our customers, distributors and others.”
The backlash to Mulvaney’s commemorative can comes at time of broader debate about the acceptance of transgender individuals in public life.
Transgender issues are also under intense legal scrutiny, with more than 385 bills targeting the trans community introduced in the U.S. in 2023 alone.
Lawmakers in some states are looking to repeal some transgender rights, including access to certain types of gender affirming healthcare and banning transgender people from using public restrooms that align with their gender identity, instead forcing them to use the restroom of their gender assigned at birth.
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