Recently, a glass bottling plant that contracts with Anheuser-Busch shut down due to decreased demand for the beer company’s products. Employees claim they were “no longer needed” amid the Bud Light boycott that is having disastrous financial consequences for Anheuser-Busch. The boycott against the woke beer has raged for months after Bud Light partnered with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney in early April.
The Ardagh Group is a glass producer and a client of Anheuser-Busch. However, the company is closing two of its plants in North Carolina and Louisiana this month, resulting in approximately 645 employees losing their jobs. WRAL news reported that bottle production declined in May following the drop in Bud Light sales.
Following another massive decline in Bud Light sales in June, the Ardagh group announced it would be closing a plant in Wilson, North Carolina which employs 400 people, and another plant in Ruston, Louisiana which employs 245 people.
The glass company released a statement regarding the closures addressing them as a “Multi-Year Performance Optimization Program.” “Since April, we’ve had a couple of machines down,” said James Munhall, Journeyman Machine Repair Mechanic. “It was, of course, being pointed towards the Bud Light situation.”
However, an internal memo from the Wilson location from May indicated the tanking Anheuser-Busch sales were impacting business operations for the glass plant. The memo from mid-May stated, “Due to slow sales with Anheuser Inbev,” two of the factory’s production lines would be shutting down. According to employee testimony, most of the Ardagh Group’s business was producing bottles for Bud Light and Budweiser products.
Furthermore, employees also claim at a recent meeting, the Wilson plant manager told them the location was closing due to the effects of the Bud Light boycott. Machine repair mechanic David Williams said, “Because of Budweiser no longer selling the bottles, they no longer needed our product.”
Bud Light sales have seen substantial declines weekly, where sales figures are progressively worsening. This suggests the boycott has grown stronger as the months continue instead of subsiding. The boycott has entered its fourth month with no sign of slowing down.
The American Tribune recently reported on the Bud Light boycott, where it saw the worst week in sales since the controversy started in early April. In the week ending June 17th, Bud Light sales saw a massive decline of 28.5 percent. This was an increase for the week ending June 10th, which saw sales drop almost 27 percent.
So far, Anheuser-Busch has lost billions in market value since the Dylan Mulvaney disaster began. The company previously indicated it would be significantly ramping up advertising spend throughout the summer season, which is known to be the time of peak demand for beer. However, judging by the June sales figures, some of the worst the company has seen, Bud Light may not attain the recovery in sales it is hoping for. If Bud Light fails to correct the course of the boycott, particularly during a season of peak consumer demand, there will be significant implications for the beermaker’s year-end performance.
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