Bud Light Logo Advocates Sexual Assault

While “No Means No” may be the official slogan of sexual assault campaigns, “The perfect beer for removing ‘no’ from your vocabulary for the night” may become the official slogan of Anheuser-Busch InBev - whether the company likes it or not.

After five levels of approval, AB InBev went ahead and produced, then quickly retracted a Bud Light label, which many believe advocates date rape, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Bud Light Vice President Alexander Lambrecht said the label’s “message missed the mark, and we regret it. We would never condone disrespectful or irresponsible behavior.”

While college campuses are working hard to raise awareness about sexual assault, which are in many cases linked to alcohol consumption, over the last two months Bud Light cans with the controversial slogan have been circulating the country. Despite the fact that the label flies in the face of sexual assault campaigns, AB InBev decided not to recall the bottles because the label does not pose a health or public safety concern, a spokesman told the newspaper.

The controversial label is the result of Budweiser’s “Up for Whatever” campaign which includes 140 different labels, according to the article. “The perfect beer for removing ‘no’ from your vocabulary for the night” label was printed on less than 1 percent of Bud Light bottles in circulation.

The label passed inspection by the U.S. Alcohol Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. After which the label was reviewed by Bud Light’s:

• Marketing Team
• Legal Team
• Corporate Responsibility Division
• Advertising Code Committee

“I have no idea what broke down in their internal review, but certainly there was a serious breakdown,” said Scott Berkowitz of the anti-sexual-assault non-profit Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network.