Fact check: Video shows beer demolition in Mexico unrelated to Bud Light controversy

Hannah Hudnall, USA TODAY
·3 min read
6

The claim: Video shows Bud Light cans being destroyed

An April 10 Facebook video shows countless packages of beer being steamrolled.

"RIP budlight," reads the video's caption.

The post garnered more than 4,000 shares in less than three weeks. Similar versions of the post have been shared on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

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Our rating: False

The video is unrelated to the recent Bud Light controversy. It shows beer cans being destroyed in a town in Mexico in February, according to local sources.

Video shows beer being destroyed in Mexico in February

Anheuser-Busch, the company that makes Bud Light, is facing conservative backlash after partnering with transgender social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney for an April 1 March Madness giveaway. Many users on social media, including Kid Rock, have shared videos of themselves destroying cans of Bud Light in protest.

The Facebook video isn't related to these protests, however.

It was originally shared on TikTok on Feb. 28, weeks before the Bud Light controversy, by Yerson Martinez, a journalist for the Mexicali news outlet La Voz de la Frontera.

An English translation of the video's caption reads, "This is how they destroy these 85 thousand cans and bottles of (beer) in #mexicali."

Martinez told AFP he recorded the video and said the demolition was related to "a seizure of beer that was made in Mexicali during the COVID pandemic."

He said authorities destroyed the beer in the video – which included more brands than just Bud Light – because it "had already gone bad" and that the online posts were using the video out of context.

The government of Mexicali, Mexico, shared pictures of the destruction on Twitter on Feb. 28.

"On this day, our municipal president @NormaMXL led the act of destroying more than 85,000 insured beer containers in 2020, in order to avoid infections or other health risks in the population," reads an English translation of the tweet's caption.

Norma Bustamante, municipal president of Mexicali, shared a Feb. 27 tweet saying the government approved the authorization for the beer destruction three years prior.

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Armando Neiblas, a Mexicali reporter, shared a similar video of the steamroller destroying the cans on Twitter on Feb. 28 with a caption that translates to, "More than 85 thousand cans and beer containers were destroyed by the City Council of #Mexicali."

After online users started linking the video to the Bud Light controversy, Neiblas shared an April 10 tweet debunking the claims, saying the video was being used "as part of a disinformation campaign."

During the COVID-19 pandemic, beer was deemed "non-essential" by the Mexican government, and beer production plummeted, according to an article published by Border Report. Police in border towns such as Mexicali conducted inspections of incoming cars and confiscated beer, keeping it in a city-owned facility in Mexicali.

The video shows the destruction of this confiscated beer, as city officials labeled it a health hazard due to rats, spiders and other insects that had infested it, according to the article.

USA TODAY reached out to Martinez and the user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

The claim has also been debunked by Lead Stories, Reuters, PolitiFact, AFP and the Associated Press.

Our fact-check sources:

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: Beer demolition video unrelated to Bud Light controversy