A Boy Named Dylan

By: Chris Johnson

Over the past decade or so, as Super Bowl viewers have observed the results of multimillion-dollar advertising campaigns being unveiled during television’s biggest night, one surprising company has been a reliable source for a heartwarming moment in what is often a deluge of decadence: Budweiser.

Whatever you think of their product, Budweiser’s marketing strategy has been to celebrate the common, hardworking men and women who keep society ticking, and this has been done most effectively with their use of the famous Budweiser Clydesdales: draft horses representing draft beer, work horses appealing to the working man – a pretty simple formula.

A formula which Budweiser is apparently leaving behind.

Rather than appealing to the American ideal of a hardworking “real man,” the company has most recently turned to Dylan Mulvaney as spokesperson. While Mulvaney is really a man, he would not be pleased to hear you say it, as he tries very hard to convince the world he’s “transitioned” to living as a woman. His evidence is published frequently to social media, where caked-on makeup disguises the masculine shape of his face, and synthetic hormones and silicon add to an over-affected femininity. To help Mulvaney mark his anniversary of living as a woman, the beer company sent the social media celebrity a 6 pack with his face on it, which he is using to hock the brand on his TikTok and Instagram accounts.

While fans of Budweiser’s competitors rag on the company as “fake beer for a fake woman,” those to whom Budweiser has brought joy chiefly through their commercials have reason for disappointment. Like it or not, the company has gone from using their marketing to celebrate some of the most admirable aspects of Americana to celebrating its perverted replacement.

And, tragically, Budweiser is not alone in its betrayal. When Johnny Cash recorded his famous song, “Boy Named Sue,” the premise of the ballad was that any boy with a girl’s name would have to be tough enough to fight off embarrassment and shame. While Cash’s song predated the cable network, Country Music Television, by decades, CMT clearly never took the time to learn the lesson Cash’s old song taught.

In CMT’s vision, a boy having a girl’s name would have a rightful place on stage at an awards show, dressed in drag and backup dancing for one of the evening’s presenters. Kelsea Ballerini, a country artist who was hosting the show, split her attention between remembering the six children and teachers killed recently by a “transgender” shooter at a Tennessee Christian school, and singing with the drag queens who represent the shooter’s ideology in protest of a Tennessee law that would help protect children from being exposed to drag and other sexualized performances.

Country music fans recognize that every generation of country fans pays homage to the greatness of Classic Country, enjoys their own era of the Country music the most, and thinks whatever the kids are listening to these days isn’t even worthy of the name. Comparing Kelsea Ballerini’s offering to Johnny Cash’s solidifies that argument. When you’ve got men dressed as women dancing with you, you’ve left the boundaries of anything that could be called “country.”

Both Budweiser beer and country music are distinctively American products – products which have reveled in their Americanness. There’s a reason every Budweiser commercial emphasizes that they’re made in St. Louis, MO. Their appeal has been to the center of the country, the physical center and the ideological center. Budweiser’s and CMT’s latest stunts must be recognized as a bait and switch – their brands have represented the values of the American middle, but now they’re seeking to shape those values. Will America’s working class allow them to?

Already there’s backlash. Detroit’s infamous celebrity Kid Rock’s reaction surely reflects the reaction of many. He posted a video to his Twitter page of himself shooting cases of Bud light with an M-16 and flipping the brand off, alongside verbal profanities. Others have announced their plans to boycott the company, stating “go woke, go broke.”

CMT’s award show, however, had the highest ratings ever- although the drag performance was a surprise to viewers.

This kind of turmoil in the heart of iconic American culture goes to show how the battle over this perverse ideology is no longer a fringe issue. It’s in the mainstream, cultural centers, seeking to shape the future of how middle America looks at issues like sex and gender.

The question that remains to be answered is whether the Christian roots and present Christian influence in our nation are strong enough to hold back the insanity.

Will the church give up her distinctiveness in a pathetic bid for popularity or will she stand for timeless truths against a culture careening into chaos?

1 Corinthians 16:13-14 gives us this exhortation: “Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.” That is a charge for Christians in our time. We were put here in these days for a reason. Are we up to the task?

 

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