Dear Bud Light

Dear Bud Light,

Well, as we all know, it’s been a sad four months for you. 

You were on top of the American beer drinking world for the past 22 years. Millions of Americans picked you off the store shelves over and over. You were their beer of choice when they wanted to relax, have fun with friends, and celebrate. Your drinkers loved you and were enjoying you with no sign of slowing down. 

You had it good, Bud Light! But I guess that wasn’t good enough for you. 

You still felt like you needed to prove something —  maybe that you too could be open-minded, accepting, progressive. Maybe you wanted to make a grab for a new generation of young, hip beer drinkers.

So, just like your friend Dylan Mulvaney, you tried to be something you’re not. You tried too hard, and it fell flat.

Why couldn’t you be content with yourself, with the success you already had? It was working for you.

And this, in my opinion, is one of the most heartbreaking things in the world — for someone to feel they’re not good enough as they are. To be so blind to their infinite worth, their unique value, the amazing qualities they bring to the world as no one else can, to have such little love and respect for themselves that they choose to throw it all away and become someone else.

Bud Light, if you had felt truly secure in what you had to offer, you wouldn’t have needed to go to extremes to prove it to anyone. You wouldn’t have sacrificed your tried-and-true image by putting on the mask of an agenda. You could have just been yourself, trusting that you would keep attracting the right people to you. 

Dylan, I don’t know you, but I can imagine you feel that the changes you’ve made have revealed your true self. I disagree. I think you’ve covered up the real you — that the world is missing out on the you that was meant to be. I wish you’d been able to see your own value, to understand that there was no accident in the way you were created. To perceive that you were loveable and perfect just the way you were.

Dear Bud Light and Dylan, things will never be the same again. What a loss for you both.