Baseball’s Opening Day is here, and at some stadiums, Anheuser-Busch InBev (ABI) beers will be labeled a little differently. On Thursday, six MLB stadiums announced that they are changing the word “domestic” to “American” at all concession areas serving up ABI beers for the 2025 season.
The news arrives approximately two months after ABI North America Zone CEO and vice chairman of the Beer Institute Brendan Whitworth sent out a letter to the macro brewer’s distribution network, expressing his discontent with the word “domestic” and calling for a labelling change.
“I don’t like the word ‘domestic.’ It’s a word that, for some reason, has been used for years to describe American-made beer,” Whitworth wrote on Feb. 5. “Baseball isn’t popularly known as the domestic pastime, our troops don’t salute the domestic flag, and our country wasn’t built on the domestic dream. […] It’s about time the whole industry begins to unilaterally use one of the strongest adjectives available to us – American. Leave ‘domestic’ for other less glamorous uses.”
Whitworth went on to request that all ABI wholesalers change “domestic” to “American” on bar menus, signs, venue boards, and reports going forward. He also encouraged data analytics companies like Circana and Nielsen to do the same.
According to Fox News, hundreds of bars, restaurants, and venues have made the change since Whitworth sent out his plea. And ahead of Major League Baseball’s 2025 season, the Los Angeles Dodgers, St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers, Washington Nationals, and Cincinnati Reds announced they will be subscribing to the crossover. Four additional and thus far unnamed teams will reportedly do the same at a later date.
Anheuser-Busch InBev is the longest-standing sponsor of the MLB and currently sponsors 17 individual teams, including the six that have signed on to the labeling directive. Speaking to Fox New, the St. Louis Cardinals’ president expressed pride in the partnership his team has with the beverage conglomerate, which has its U.S. headquarters in the same city.
“Fewer things go better together than baseball and beer, and for many fans, enjoying a beer with friends or family while watching a game is part of what makes baseball America’s Pastime,” Bill Dewitt III. “At the St. Louis Cardinals, we are proud of our partnership with Anheuser-Busch which brings together two iconic traditions and has been a quintessential part of the Cardinals gameday experience for 21+ baseball fans for years.”
“When I first heard about Whitworth’s boomer-brained idea to force encourage ABI’s business partners across this country’s beer-selling landscape, I thought it was very stupid and corny. ‘Who is this for?’ I wrote back in early February when Beer Business Daily first broke the news. ‘How does swapping ‘domestic’ for ‘American’ move cases?’ I’ve seen no evidence that it does, and I doubt I ever will. Naturally, this being mass-market right-coded chauvinism, this move earned some plaudits from around the mass-market, right-coded red network. But the fact that only a third of MLB teams are picking up this (pointless) vernacular bodes poorly for the viability of Whitworth’s idea outside the macrobrewer’s direct sphere of cultural influence. I mean, ABI sponsors 17 of these teams, for chrissakes!
You could imagine August Busch III or Gussie (who, as the beloved one-time owner of the St. Louis Cardinals, knew from America’s pastime) getting more ballpark owners on board with this sort of performative jingoism in their respective eras. But they were much different executives running a much different company, in eras when rally-round-the-flag schtick still rated with credulous mainstream audiences. (In fairness to ABI’s current North American chief executive, they were team owners’ peers; he’s a hired gun.) That’s all long gone, and it’s another swing-and-a-miss from Whitworth, who can’t or won’t recognize today’s state of play.
One more thing: Do you think anybody from ABI was brave enough to pitch any version of this new vocabulary to the Toronto Bluejays? Given, y’know… everything?” —Dave Infante, VinePair columnist and contributing editor
The article Only 6 MLB Teams Will Follow Anheuser-Busch’s ‘American Beer’ Labeling Directive on Opening Day appeared first on VinePair.
