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Pours of Bud Light plummet in bars and restaurants across America

April 27, 2023 | | Print Article

If Anheuser-Busch thought the whole uproar over the use of transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney would just blow over, they clearly misread the beer-drinking room full of folks who have had enough of woke messaging and, more specifically, dudes in dresses pretending to be ditzy women.

In an era marked by the desire to cancel anything that offends, boycotts rarely work, but Bud Light managed to trigger a multi-billion-dollar backlash that shows no signs of slowing, despite efforts from the once-popular beer brand to win back the drinkers their celebration of Mulvaney’s offensive “365 Days of Girlhood” drove off a rainbow-colored cliff.

According to the latest data from research by tech company BeerBoard, requests for a frosty mug of Bud Light at 3,000 bars and restaurants across America dropped by 6 percent between early to mid-April.

“In comparison, between March 18 to April 1 – the two weeks before the transgender influencer partnered with the beer company – Bud Light had actually outperformed in its category by 15 percent,” the Daily Mail reports.

As BizPac Review reported earlier this week, “Sales data from NielsenIQ and Bump Williams Consulting indicates that dollar sales have fallen by 17% while volume dropped by 21% for the week ending in April 15. For context, the week ending in April 8, a week after the Bud Light/Mulvaney partnership went live, saw a drop of 6% in sales dollars and an 11% drop in volume.”

Insights Express, a newsletter that focuses on the beer industry, called the dismal numbers “staggering.”

“These numbers are staggering,” they wrote in their April 23 newsletter. “Right now this is an extremely difficult scenario for Anheuser Busch, the Bud Light brand and for AB distributors.”

While Bud Light lost 6.7% of its market share, its competitors are toasting the company’s tone-deaf blunder.

Just six days after Mulvaney cracked open a Bud Light on Instagram, “Anheuser-Busch lost more than $6billion in market capitalization,” according to the Daily Mail.

Meanwhile, Miller Lite and Coors Light are up 18%.

There seems to be no mea culpa strong enough to appease the Bud Light crowd, who have simply decided to quench their thirst with a less agenda-driven brew.

Even the majestic Clydesdales failed to assuage the angry masses.

A pro-America ad featuring the iconic creatures fell flat in the wake of the Mulvaney misstep, with unmoved consumers loudly rejecting the horse-drawn olive branch on social media.

Even Donald Trump Jr. was blasted when he suggested that conservatives should call off the boycott because Anheuser-Busch donates money to the GOP.

“So here’s the deal, Anheuser-Busch, totally sh*t the bed with this Dylan Mulvaney thing,” Trump Jr. told viewers of his “Triggered” podcast. “I’m not, though, for destroying an American and iconic company for something like this.”

“Last cycle their employees and their PAC gave about 60% to Republicans and 40% to Democrats,” the former first son stated. “That’s literally almost unheard of in corporate America, where it’s really easy to go woke, where they do so constantly, where there’s a consequence to actually being a conservative. So 60 / 40 to the conservative side is kind of a big deal.”

“Sorry. Wrong answer,” replied one user on Twitter. “Bad culture doesn’t get a pass because [of a] political donation.”

Anheuser-Busch went so far as to allow two of its execs — Bud Light Vice President of Marketing Alissa Heinerscheid and her boss, Daniel Blake — to go on leave from the company, but still, the controversy rages on.

And the costs are too big to ignore.

“According to BeerBoard’s data,” the Daily Mail reports, “Bud Light has dropped from third to fourth in overall rate of sales during April 2 to April 15.”

Apparently, Anheuser-Busch can’t even give the stuff away.

“Budweiser rep came into local bar where I live and bought up a bunch of beer and told the bartender to give it to customers for free,” shared one user on Twitter. “Most People still wouldn’t drink it.”

Melissa Fine
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