Bud Light is still struggling from the perpetual boycott which started in early April over the beer’s collaboration with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. As the controversy has entered its fourth month, sales are still crashing, and there is little sign things are getting better for the woke beer company.
According to recent reports, Bud Light sales are down almost 30 percent compared to June of last year. The beer company earned over $26 million less in sales for the week ending June 25th compared to the same time last year.
Simultaneously, competitor brands under Molson Coors have seen increasing sales as they claim the market share that Bud Light lost. Modelo Especial has particularly enjoyed newfound success as the beer overtook Bud Light as the top-selling beer in America.
A MoneyWatch report highlighted the dismal sales data for the once best-selling beer, where it claimed there were “no signs of rebounding from its slump” as sales continued to plummet in June. While the report called out that Bud Light is roughly doing two-thirds of the sales compared to last year, it also noted the sales increase from competitors. For example, Yuengling saw an increase of 22 percent in sales, Coors Light saw a rise in sales of 19 percent, and Miller Lite saw a bump of 16 percent.
The sales data only seems to get progressively worse for Bud Light as time goes on, and it doesn’t help that its competitors are thriving in the woke company’s failure. This suggests that consumers may have solidified their loyalty to another brand and may not ever return to Bud Light, giving credence to the assertion the beer will never recover.
Anheuser-Busch is scrambling to save Bud Light, especially during summer when beer demand peaks. According to a report for Ad Age, “Anheuser-Busch InBev will triple its marketing spending on Bud Light this summer as part of an effort to prop up the top-selling beer brand.” Bud Light has released a couple of new advertisements that are desperately pandering to lost customers from the boycott.
However, the beermaker has not received the response it sought, as social media users have ruthlessly humiliated the company in the comments section of the posts. The new ads are a complete reversal of the woke Dylan Mulvaney partnership. However, Bud Light may not be able to recover from the damage done to its brand image, judging by the still palpable disdain for the beer and the never-ending decline in sales.
AB InBev CEO Michel Doukeris tried to walk back Bud Light’s association with Dylan Mulvaney. “We will need to continue to clarify the fact that this was one can, one influencer, one post, and not a campaign, and repeat this message for some time,” Doukeris said.
This stance has also led to a boycott from some members of the LGBTQ community, who think Bud Light should’ve stood firm with Mulvaney. The transgender influencer also slammed Bud Light recently, stating, “For a company to hire a trans person and then not publicly stand by them is worse than not hiring a trans person at all.”
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