Bud Light sales carnage: Sales of the troubled brand fell 21.4% in April after the Dylan Mulvaney fiasco
Bud Light sales have plummeted even further after the brand’s CEO finally broke his silence over their disastrous campaign with Dylan Mulvaney.
Beer Business Daily noted that “it’s not pretty” for US flagship brand and their parent company Anheuser-Busch after revealing beer numbers in April.
Anheuser-Busch volumes fell more than 12 percent last month, while Bud Light fell a whopping 21.4 percent.
Competitors of the Belgian-owned beer giant both saw their volume increase – with Molson Coors up 7.6 percent and Constellation up 3.8 percent.
Yuengling accepted Bud Light’s tumbling sales, rising 14.7 percent, while Miller Light peaked at 12.8 percent.
Coors Light rose 10.9 percent and Coors Banquet 20.5 percent, while Budweiser was also hit by the domino effect of the controversy by falling 11.5 percent.
Michel Doukeris first addressed the massive backlash over working with trans influencer Mulvaney, 26, in an earnings call with investors on Thursday
Despite their attempts to deny the connection, the video Mulvaney posted in early April 2023 of her drinking Bud Light used the hashtag #budlightpartner
It comes after Anheuser-Busch Global CEO Michel Doukeris blamed “misinformation and disinformation” spread online to lead people to believe that cans with Mulvaney’s face were being offered for sale in the US.
He first addressed the massive backlash over working with trans influencer Mulvaney, 26, last week in an earnings call with investors.
He added that the company is providing “direct financial support” to frontline workers affected by the boycott.
Speaking to the Financial Times over the weekend, Doukeris said: ‘People often talk about this topic on social media like noise.
‘You have one fact and everyone has an opinion behind it. And then the opinions quickly start to be replicated on every comment.
“By the time 10 or 20 people post a comment, the reality isn’t what the fact is anymore, it’s more (about) what the comments were.”
The global CEO added: “It was never our intention to make it for general production and sale to the public…it was one post. It wasn’t an advertisement.’
But as the rumor spread that it was a campaign, he said, there were videos of billboards showing the Dylan Mulvaney look digitally and saying “10 million people [were] watch and comment.’
He spoke for the first time last week in an earnings call with investors about the massive backlash over working with trans influencer Mulvaney, 26,
Mulvany posted the content on the occasion of the NCAA March Madness tournament, before joking that she didn’t know what sport she was promoting
“That had nothing to do with Bud Light, it was just pure social media creation,” he said.
Investors were also told by Doukeris that Bud Light will triple its marketing spend this summer in an effort to lure customers back to the compromised brand.
The disastrous marketing bid has sent sales of the US flagship beer plummeting, despite Anheuser-Busch reporting first-quarter profit of $1.65 billion.
Doukeris said: “We need to clarify the facts that this was one camp, one influencer, one post and not a campaign.
“We will continue to learn, meet the moment in time, all be stronger and we will work tirelessly to do what we do best: bring people together over a beer and create a future of more cheer.”
Doukeris’ comments came as a letter was sent to retailers, bars and restaurants by Gray Eagle, which distributes Anheuser-Busch products in St. Louis.
It read: “Anheuser-Busch did not intend to create controversy or make a political statement.
Anheuser-Busch has sent two of its senior marketing team members behind the campaign on leave. In the photo: Alissa Heinerscheid
A gay bar in Chicago, 2Bears Tavern Group, announced Thursday that they will no longer be serving Bud Light. Pictured: 2Bears Tavern on Argyle Street
“In reality, the Bud Light post was made by a social media influencer who started all the conversation, provided by an outside agency without Anheuser-Busch management’s knowledge or approval.
“Since then, the lack of oversight and control over marketing decisions has been addressed and a new VP of Bud Light marketing has been announced.”
Bud Light’s VP of marketing, Alissa Heinerscheid, took a leave of absence, while VP for Mainstream Brand, Daniel Blake, stepped down a few days later.
Their sudden departure seems premature in light of recent comments, which also claim there was no “management awareness” of the now-infamous campaign.
The details of how the fiasco broke out remain secret. The latest letter claims that Mulvaney’s can was the brainchild of an outside agency.
It’s the first time the brewing giant has addressed the backlash in detail, after being hit by a major drop in Bud Light sales as a result of the paid partnership.
The defiant backlash against the “unofficial” campaign comes as Anheuser-Bush reported first-quarter earnings of $1.65 billion, which beat Wall Street expectations.
Daniel Blake, Anheuser-Busch’s vice president of mainstream brands, has resigned following controversy over Bud Light’s partnership with Dylan Mulvaney
The brewer posted sales of $14.21 billion in that period, which also beat forecasts, with shares up 6 percent year-to-date and 12 percent in 12 months.
It’s unclear whether the boycott has had any impact on these numbers, and whether a greater impact on the company’s finances will be visible for the second quarter of the fiscal year if the controversy and boycotts continue.
Despite the company’s attempts to deny the connection, the video Mulvaney, 26, posted in early April 2023 of her drinking Bud Light used the hashtag #budlightpartner.
Todd Allen, most recently Budweiser’s global vice president, has been announced as the new vice president of marketing for Bud Light – after Heinerscheid and Blake took leave.
Mulvany posted the content on the occasion of the NCAA March Madness tournament, before joking that she didn’t know what sport she was promoting.
It’s unclear how much Mulvaney was paid to promote the drink, with gay bars and LGBT beer drinkers now joining conservatives in abandoning Bud Light.
During a podcast appearance last month, days before the Mulvaney partnership was announced, Heinerscheid said Bud Light was on the wane when she took over last summer, but planned to right the ship in the coming months.
Locals in Marietta, Georgia, where Travis Tritt hails from, have switched from their usual drink Bud Light to Coors Light, according to bartenders — who say the impact was “immediate”
Unlike right-wingers who believe Mulvaney should never have been chosen as the face of the campaign, LGBT supporters say Bud Light acted sloppily in throwing her to the wolves when the controversy reached a fever pitch.
Chicago gay bars have pledged not to sell Bud Light in the wake of Doukeris’ statements decrying Anheuser-Busch’s involvement with Mulvaney.
The four-location Windy City bar, 2Bears Tavern Group, denounced Anheuser-Busch after the company “abandoned” their support of Mulvaney.
It then referred to Doukeris’ response as “cruel” and “hateful” while insisting that the beer company was simply fed with “anti-trans” criticism.
In a statement, they said: “Anheuser-Busch’s decision to discontinue its support of Mulvaney in response to ignorant and hateful objections from some of its clients demonstrates how little Anheuser-Busch cares about the LGBTQIA+ community, and in particularly transgender people, who have been. constantly under attack in this country.
CEO Brendan Whitworth’s excuse that Anheuser-Busch “never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people” amounted to claiming that transgender rights and safety are issues worth discussing. discuss.’
The group will also discontinue other Anheuser-Busch brands, including Busch Light and Goose Island 312.