Bud Light’s sales have tanked in the month since it announced its partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
In-store sales of the beer brand fell more than 26% in the week ended April 22, alcoholic beverage industry consultant Bump Williams told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
That’s after sales declined by 21% the week before and 11% before that, signaling the trend is only getting worse for parent company Anheuser-Busch ahead of the lucrative summer season.
“Bud Light is in serious trouble this year,” Mr. Williams told the newspaper. “I think it runs the risk of losing that No. 1 position at the end of calendar year 2023 to Modelo Especial.”
Bud Light was America’s best-selling beer last year, raking in $4.8 billion in sales compared with $3.75 billion from next closest competitor Modelo Especial.
Anheuser-Busch’s attempts to stanch the financial bleeding have done little to sway its consumer base that skews more rural and conservative.
A new Budweiser ad released last month wrapped itself in the American flag and featured its famous Clydesdale horses. Bud Light also released an ad last week showing people cracking open beer in the rain as Zac Brown Band’s “Country Fried” played.
The trend started when Ms. Mulvaney, a biological man who identifies as a woman, posted social media videos on April 1 announcing herself as a brand ambassador for Bud Light. Another video promoting the new partnership showed Ms. Mulvaney dancing in a bathtub while drinking Bud Light.
The reaction was swift.
Within days, singer Kid Rock made a video shooting up cases of Bud Light. Country singer Travis Tritt banned Anheuser-Busch products from his tour, while fellow performer John Rich said patrons at his Nashville, Tennessee, bar were no longer buying Bud Light. An anonymous in-store sales rep for Anheuser-Busch posted a video saying he’s had trouble moving the products since the Mulvaney partnership.
Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth responded to the outcry in a statement last month by saying, “We never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people. We are in the business of bringing people together over a beer.”
Ms. Mulvaney responded to the backlash during her return to social media last week, saying that “dehumanization has never fixed anything in human history.”
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.
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