New data shows that as sales of Bud Light continue to crash thanks to the boycott of it launched after the Dylan Mulvaney video came out on April 1st, it, formerly America’s top-selling beer, was dethroned by Modelo as the number one beer in America.
The sales data showing that recent development, obtained by Newsweek, shows that Modelo Especial outpaced Bud Light by somewhere in the range of $40 million for the four week period that ended on May 28th. Reporting on that, Newsweek noted that Modelo Especial sales in stores jumped by 15.6 percent compared to the same period last year to $333 million for the four-week period. Meanwhile, Bud Light’s sales crashed by 22.8 percent over the same period compared to last year, falling to $297 million. Newsweek claims that data came from Constellation Brands, which distributes Modelo in the United States.
Newsweek also notes that NielsenIQ sales data, as provided by Bumps Williams Consulting, shows that Modelo’s sales were about $341.9 million for the week ending May 27th, whereas Bud Light’s sales were about $298.6 million.
Whichever data set is more accurate, it would appear that Modelo Especial has edged out Bud Light as America’s top beer by somewhere in the ~$40 million range.
Speaking about the big victory to Newsweek, Bill Newlands, the CEO of Constellation Brands, said that it came sooner than he and the company expected. “We thought that would take a little longer. We’ve been very fortunate that, that’s gone a little quicker than we had anticipated. But what a great position to be in on the beer side,” he said.
Despite that victory for the aforementioned period, Bud Light is still the winner for this year. It has a little over 9 percent of the beer market in the United States in sales so far compared to Modelo Especial’s 8 percent or so, a large gap of more than $100 million. However, if Modelo continues to edge out Bud Light by $40 million or so every four week period, it could conceivably beat Bud Light by that metric as well.
In addition to the boycott leading people to buy Modelo Especial instead of Bud Light, one factor that could be impacting the sales figures and Modelo’s victory is that it is able to sell its products at full price, whereas Bud Light is having to sell at rock-bottom prices to move inventory. Selling at ~$25 a pack of 24 compared to just $4 or so makes it far easier to edge out another brand in terms of sales dollars, even if the other company is winning in terms of volume.
Further, both Modelo and Bud Light are owned by Anheuser Busch InBev, so even if Modelo is beating Bud Light, the parent company is making money off of the situation.
Regardless, the public lashing of Bud Light in the marketplace is a public victory for conservative consumers, as it might show CEOs that that demographic is a potent force that can cause headaches if angered by a marketing campaign that involves wokeness or other outrages of the sort that have been prevalent up until now.
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