Bud Light is giving away FREE beer as it’s mocked for offering $20 off boxes worth $19.98
Bud Light now appears to be giving away its beer for free, after the disastrous collaboration with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
The beer company is being mocked online for offering a $20 discount on unsold cases worth just $19.98.
America’s flagship beer brand and its parent company, Anheuser-Busch, have had the damage under control since Mulvaney shared a series of partnered posts with her 11 million social media followers on April 1.
The brewer’s latest attempt to win back consumers comes as sales fell for a fifth straight week, down nearly 24 percent in the week ending May 6.
An image of a discount offer pasted on unsold cases of Bud Light beer has now gone viral, with customers claiming it’s a desperate attempt by the company to revive declining sales.
Bud Light has been mocked for offering a $20 discount off its $19.98 cases of beer after the company’s disastrous partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney
America’s flagship beer brand has had the damage under control since Mulvaney shared a series of partnered messages with her 11 million social media followers on April 1
Commentator Ashley St. Clair shared a photo of the listing on Twitter, mocking it.
“Bud Light’s marketing team should still be all-female if they think a coupon will get a man’s attention,” she wrote.
Her post has been viewed nearly three million times and received tens of thousands of likes and comments.
Other users were quick to take up the offer.
Tim Pool said, ’20 bucks for a case of beer that will set you back 20 bucks?
“Bud light IS GIVING their beer away, probably in a desperate attempt to make sales look like they’re returning.”
While another wrote: ‘Why do they think it had something to do with the price? The degree of tone deafness is…well, inexplicable.”
St. Clair was accused of sexism for her post, with one user asking if it’s “feminine to be frugal?”
But she replied, “Never in my life have I seen a man use a coupon,” adding, “They’ll literally make their own brewery before using a beer coupon.”
The terms of the discount aren’t clear on whether you have to spend a certain amount on groceries to qualify for the $20. Dailymail.com has reached out to Bud Light’s parent company, Anheuser-Busch, for comment.
Mulvaney sparked widespread outrage in April with a post of her sitting in a bathtub while sniffing out a custom Bud Light can with her face.
She posted under the hashtag #budlightpartner to coincide with the NCAA March Madness tournament, before joking that she didn’t know what sport she was promoting.
Due to the disastrous marketing bid, sales of the US flagship beer have fallen by as much as 20 percent every week.
Comedian Ashley St. Clair shared the promotional offer on Twitter, poking fun at it and others claiming it was a desperate attempt by Bud Light to reclaim sales
For the week ending May 6, Bud Light retail sales in the US were down 23.6 percent compared to the previous year. And the week before, ending April 29, sales were down 23.3 percent.
This follows sales declines for the week ending April 22, which were 21.4 percent. And seven days earlier, the dip was 17 percent, according to NielsenIQ data provided to Dailymail.com by Bump Williams Consultancy.
Bump Williams of Bump Williams Consultancy told DailyMail.com, “I don’t think the sales/volume declines will get any worse, but I do think their negative volume trends will continue.”
He said a 20 percent drop in sales appears to be the new “normal” for Bud Light.
But he added that experts are waiting to see what will happen to sales during Memorial Day and the summer sales season to assess whether the damage will continue.
Williams, who specializes in the alcohol industry, told the St Louis Business Journal: “This seems to be where the brand’s weekly declines are starting to settle in, with a -20% drop in the past week.
“I wonder if this will be the ‘bottom’ for the expected decline in Bud Light going forward, unless something drastic changes.”
Bud Light is seemingly facing outrage and potential boycott from all sides of the political spectrum, though largely centered around conservatives.
The partnership with Mulvaney drew strong backlash from some quarters, with musician Kid Rock posting a video of him shooting on Bud Light cases, and country singers John Rich and Travis Tritt cutting ties with the brand.
But media personalities such as Joe Rogan and Howard Stern defended Bud Light’s decision.
Anheuser-Busch reported first-quarter earnings of $1.65 billion, which exceeded Wall Street expectations.
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.
Mulvaney announced her partnership with Bud Light on April 1, and the response was immediate
Bud Light sales fell for a fifth consecutive week following the controversial partnership, falling nearly 24 percent in the week ending May 6.
The company is seemingly facing outrage and potential boycott from all sides of the political spectrum, though largely centered around conservatives
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.
The brewing giants now claim that the beer can and social media posts were not intended “for production or sale to the general public.”
CEO Michel Doukeris rejected the ad in an earnings call Thursday, insisting the ad was “not a campaign” and that an outside agency had approved it without Bud Light’s approval.
Todd Allen, most recently Budweiser’s global vice president, has been announced as the new vice president of marketing for Bud Light – after marketing vice president Alissa Heinerscheid and Blake took a leave of absence.