According to a recent report, Anheuser-Busch InBev, the parent company that owns Bud Light, lost well over a billion dollars in sales when its abortive partnership with Dylan Mulvaney led to a conservative boycott of its products. The boycott began in April of 2023, when transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney posted a brand sponsorship video with Bud Light cans in what was an attempt to drum up interest in Bud Light ahead of the March Madness playoffs.
What the data shows is that the backlash against the brand took off, with revenue dropping by significantly over a billion dollars in North America after the disaster of an ad came out. In fact, the company’s revenue in North America dropped by about $1.4 billion in 2023, with a substantial portion of that significant decline suspected to have come from the boycott.
Such is what CNN reported after Anheuser-Busch InBev posted its 2023 revenues in its annual report on Thursday, February 29. In the report, AB InBev reported record revenues for 2023, but said that it had seen its growth potential constrained by weak results in the US.
“While our full growth potential was constrained by the performance of our US business, we remained true to our purpose and laser focused on the execution of our strategy,” the 10-K provides. The 10-K studiously avoids mentioning either Dylan Mulvaney or the conservative boycott of Bud Light, however, so the report does not attribute the large lost sales to conservative outrage.
However, though those are not mentioned specifically, the risks section of the report notes, “Negative publicity surrounding the company, its brands, its activities, its advertising campaigns, its personnel or its business partners, and consumer perception of the company’s response to political and social issues or catastrophic events could damage its reputation or the image of its brands, may decrease demand for its products and may adversely affect the company’s business, financial condition and/or the market price of its shares.”
Further, CNN noted that it was the brand’s organic revenue, described as the “best measure of operating performance,” that plunged by a dramatic $1.4 billion. That organic revenue decline was mainly a result of a decline in Bud Light sales in the United States, indicating that the boycott and a general avoidance of Bud Light was at least a significant reason for the decline.
The boycott is, however, mostly wrapping up. Former President Trump, for example, called on conservatives to move on from the boycott, saying, “The Bud Light ad was a mistake of epic proportions, and for that a very big price was paid, but Anheuser-Busch is not a Woke company, but I can give you plenty that are, am building a list, and might just release it for the World to see. Why not, the Radical Left does it viciously to well run, Conservative companies – and people! Very nasty, but it’s the way they play the game!”
He continued, “On the other hand, Anheuser-Busch spends $700 Million a year with our GREAT Farmers, employ 65 thousand Americans, of which 1,500 are Veterans, and is a Founding Corporate Partner of Folds of Honor, which provides Scholarships for families of fallen Servicemen & Women. They’ve raised over $30,000,000 and given 44,000 Scholarships. Anheuser-Busch is a Great American Brand that perhaps deserves a Second Chance? What do you think? Perhaps, instead, we should be going after those companies that are looking to DESTROY AMERICA!”
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