diff --git a/server/aap/publish/formatters/aap_bulletinbuilder_formatter.py b/server/aap/publish/formatters/aap_bulletinbuilder_formatter.py
index da61ffe03..22193ecf0 100644
--- a/server/aap/publish/formatters/aap_bulletinbuilder_formatter.py
+++ b/server/aap/publish/formatters/aap_bulletinbuilder_formatter.py
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ def can_format(self, format_type, article):
         return format_type == 'AAP BULLETIN BUILDER'
 
     def get_text_content(self, content):
-        content.replace('<br>', '<br/>').replace('</br>', '')
+        content = content.replace('<br>', '<br/>').replace('</br>', '')
         soup = BeautifulSoup(content, 'html.parser')
 
         for top_level_tag in soup.find_all(recursive=False):
diff --git a/server/aap/publish/formatters/aap_bulletinbuilder_formatter_tests.py b/server/aap/publish/formatters/aap_bulletinbuilder_formatter_tests.py
index 30c5fb6bb..443e3d6ec 100644
--- a/server/aap/publish/formatters/aap_bulletinbuilder_formatter_tests.py
+++ b/server/aap/publish/formatters/aap_bulletinbuilder_formatter_tests.py
@@ -247,9 +247,9 @@ def test_strip_html_mixed_tags(self):
     def test_takes_package(self):
         html = ('<p>Para1: A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system</p>'
                 '<p>Para2: Tropical refers to the geographical origin of these systems</p>'
-                '<br />'
+                '<br>'
                 '<p>Para3:Tropical refers to the geographical origin of these systems</p>'
-                '<br />'
+                '<br>'
                 '<p>Para4:Tropical refers to the geographical origin of these systems</p>')
         formatted_content = self._formatter.get_text_content(html)