German gun manufacturer Heckler & Koch addressed a controversy on social media after the person running their Twitter account defended a pro-feminism Miller Lite ad.

The company distanced themselves from their employee’s comments, which were also deleted. They tweeted, “The Road Forward” alongside an image of a road sign that said, “HK does not engage in identity politics. A policy was violated. Changes were made.” 

The Road Forward. pic.twitter.com/qdMEo3NiWm

— Heckler & Koch (@HecklerAndKoch) May 17, 2023

The gun manufacturing company was likely referring to a series of tweets that went viral in the wake of a Miller Lite ad resurfacing online. The Miller Lite spot, which was originally released in March, celebrated female beer brewers and mocked previous advertising efforts featuring women in bikinis. The ad started circulating in amid the backlash toward Bud Light’s partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. 

“Wow- woke? Allow me to translate: objectifying women was never a good marketing strategy. In the firearms industry, that was a prominent strategy up until recently. Many industries have done that (including beer corps),” the Heckler & Koch verified Twitter account wrote in the now-deleted tweet. 

“As an actual woman typing this, I’ll use more words for you to comprehend: using bunnies to sell products is trash marketing. Supporting women by not doing that is good.”

The social media manager criticized some aspects of the ad.

“Now to address the rest, non-bikini parts, of the ad: seems like they should have given sources for the info they’re throwing out. And, for them to isolate a huge part of their target consumer base makes no sense. Annnd, their virtue signaling ad doesn’t even make me want to drink their beer,” she wrote. “But, at least they used actual women for it (presumably).”

She went on to criticize the “old marketing strategy of putting a gun in a ‘bikini model’s’ hand for the sake of marketing and not even making sure she knows how to hold the gun properly.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP

Several Twitter users were pleased to see the company quickly take control of the situation with their follow-up tweet. 

TurningPoint USA contributor Lauren Chen said, “Next up is an official apology, but it’s a good start.”

Conservative talk radio host Jesse Kelly wrote, “This is how you respond when the liberal white woman you hired finally reveals herself. Well done and I will now go back to wanting an HK, but never actually spending that kind of money.”

Robert Ottenstein, an analyst for investment banking advisory firm Evercore, predicted that the backlash against Bud Light and other brands owned by Anheuser-Busch may have peaked.

Bud Light garnered widespread controversy among conservatives after the brand nodded toward Dylan Mulvaney, a self-described transgender social media influencer, by sending him a beer can bearing his likeness. Market data obtained by the New York Post indicate that sales for Bud Light declined 23.6% in the week ended May 6 in comparison to the same period last year, a slightly more severe outcome than the 23.3% decline witnessed for the week ended April 29.

Other brands controlled by Anheuser-Busch have also taken blows: Budweiser sales have declined 11.4% and 9.7% for the weeks ended April 29 and May 6, Michelob Ultra sales have declined 4.3% and 2.9%, and Natural Light sales have declined 5.2% and 2.5%.

Ottenstein said in a research note shared with Yahoo Finance that a “second week of flattish trends strengthens the possibility that tracked channels have reached a point of stabilization” at significantly lower sales levels. Headwinds for Anheuser-Busch could alternatively be on the mend since some brands “improved sequentially, which is a positive sign that trends impacting the rest of the portfolio may be starting to reverse,” or could indicate that “overall industry strength positively impacted the data” since Molson Coors brands also saw improvements.

The research note from Evercore comes after investment bank HSBC downgraded Anheuser-Busch stock due to the controversy.

“The way this Bud Light crisis came about a month ago, management’s response to it and the loss of unprecedented volume and brand relevance raises many questions,” said Carlos Laboy, HSBC’s managing director for the global beverage sector. “If Budweiser and Bud Light are iconic American ideas that have long brought consumers together, why did these marketers fail to invite new consumers without alienating the core base of the firm’s largest brand?”

Alissa Heinerscheid, the vice president of marketing at Bud Light who oversaw the Mulvaney partnership, took a leave of absence after footage of her criticizing the “fratty” image of the brand circulated online. Daniel Blake, who leads marketing for Anheuser-Busch’s mainstream brands, was also placed on leave over the incident.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP

Executives for Anheuser-Busch have downplayed the extent of the partnership and hired veteran Republican lobbyists in efforts to win back conservatives who once consumed the brew. One unnamed executive informed the New York Post that the company will produce a camouflage Bud Light can as part of an initiative that offers educational scholarships to family members of fallen American military service members and first responders, while Budweiser shared images of a limited edition beer can featuring patterns inspired by Harley-Davidson.

Anheuser-Busch nevertheless appears to have offended those on both ends of the political spectrum: beyond the conservative backlash, leftists and owners of gay bars across the country threatened to launch additional boycotts after the firm backed away from Mulvaney.