The decision to partner with transgender TikToker Dylan Mulvaney has merited disastrous results for Bud Light as critics boycott the beer for something more in line with their sensibilities.
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 featuring beer-centered information, described the numbers as “staggering.”
“These numbers are staggering,” they said in their April 23 newsletter. “Right now this is an extremely difficult scenario for Anheuser Busch, the Bud Light brand and for AB distributors.”
The newsletter goes on to explain that the upset consumers are taking their beer business elsewhere. Last week, Bud Light lost 6.7% of market share. On the other hand, Coors Light and Miller Lite are up 18%, making them “big beneficiaries” of the controversy.
Anheuser-Busch distributors are looking forward to a meeting in Washington, D.C. as the company seeks to navigate the sudden and massive wave of criticism that has been sent their way. Many of the distributors have been forced to cancel events, including those with the iconic Clydesdale horses, and “are looking for a much more pointed and well developed plan on how Anheuser-Busch might stem the onslaught of negative attention and sales trends.”
Social media reacted to the “staggering” numbers as well:
I really couldn’t care less about Bud Light or Mulvaney, but I just have to laugh at the utter incompetence in brand management that happened here. Whoever put Heinerscheid in charge of Bud Light marketing should probably be fired or demoted as well.
— ClimbTheMtn (@MtnTha) April 25, 2023
Feels like 17% is the manipulated number to soften the blow and easy the minds of the distributors. From my own anecdotal experience and talking to people, it’s far higher than that.
— Steve Holler (@SteveHoller) April 25, 2023
Tank the company. It’s the only way they’ll learn.
— neo (@neoNationalist) April 25, 2023
— Maelstrom (@io_maelstrom) April 25, 2023
Not surprising. Politics is the lefts religion. I wouldn’t be surprised that even after all the blowback online, most conservatives don’t know or don’t care. Say what you want, the left wins and will keep winning because they are relentless.
— M.E. Redding (@mRedding08) April 25, 2023
Boycotts will continue until formal apologizing improves pic.twitter.com/vFYrQtxNle
— MikegazaurusRex ☠️ (@MikegazaurusR) April 25, 2023
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Sierra Marlee is a millennial whose hunger for the truth in a world of fake news has led her to write. Marlee also contributes to BizPac Review.
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