Bud Light sales continue to fall amid the ongoing backlash over its disastrous partnership with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
The beer giant lost its place as America’s number one beer brand to Modelo Especial over the controversy, a position it held for more than 22 years.
In the week ending June 3, Bud Light sales fell a whopping 24.4 percent, worse than the previous week’s 23.9 percent drop.
However, parent company Anheuser-Busch saw some gains from its other beer brands, with Michelob Ultra posting its first sales increase in weeks.
Modelo Especial has become America’s number one beer brand as rival Bud Light sales continue to fall
Year-to-date, Bud Light reported a 9.5 percent drop in sales, while Modelo’s bounce reported a peak of 8.5 percent.
And compared to Bud Light’s catastrophic 24.4 percent drop last week, Modelo rose above the competition with sales up 12.2 percent.
The previous week, Modelo sales were up 9.5 percent, while Bud Light was down 23.9 percent despite an expected increase over Memorial Day weekend.
Bump Williams, head of data firm Bump Williams Consulting, which tracked recent data with NielsenIQ, said Modelo’s recent winning streak could be more than a flash in the pan.
“(Modelo) seems to be increasing its sales growth each week as we move deeper into the summer,” he said.
A number of Anheuser-Busch’s sister beer brands also appear to be steadily recovering from the scandal, with Budweiser sales rising from an 8.5 percent drop to a 7.8 percent drop.
Natural Light also reported an improvement in sales over the past week, though it still saw a loss as numbers improved from 1.5 percent to 1 percent.
In the weeks before, Bud Light sales were just as devastating, reiterating the belief among pundits that Modelo will end the year as America’s best-selling beer.
During the four weeks ending May 28, Modelo Especial’s in-store sales soared above $333 million, up 15.6 percent from the same period last year.
Bud Light, by comparison, reached $297 million — down 22.8 percent from the same period last year.
Bill Newlands, the CEO of Constellation Brands, the owners of Modelo Especial, said the sales increase had been “faster than they expected.”
“We thought that would take a little longer. We’ve been lucky that that happened a little faster than we expected. But what a great position to be on the beer side,” he said News Week.
In its latest monthly industry report, Bumps Williams Consulting claimed that despite the disastrous number, there are signs that “the bottom has been reached” for Bud Light.
The company said the company could see a “turnaround in performance” — while Anheuser Busch said earlier this month it would triple its marketing spending this summer to recoup some of its distressed sales.
Bud Light lost its position as the number one beer in America after 22 years at the top
Working with Bud Light as part of their March Madness campaign in April, Mulvaney was gifted a can of light beer with her face on it – sparking outrage
Bud Light’s historic decline came after it teamed up with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney for a marketing campaign.
The hangover from the catastrophic advertising push has been going on since the collaboration was released in early April.
In the controversial promotion, 26-year-old Mulvaney posted a video of herself breaking open a Bud Light on her Instagram page on April 1.
She showed off the personalized can with her face on it – one of the many business freebies she gets and promotes to her millions of followers.
Bud Light was accused of alienating their traditional customer base by partnering with Mulvaney, which led many conservatives – including Kid Rock – to boycott the brand.
Earlier this month, Mulvaney finally broke her silence on the controversy, telling “Them” magazine that she prefers not to name her critics “because it gives them the satisfaction of believing I’m thinking of them.”
“It shows my followers that I stand up for myself, but also emphasizes that their story is loud enough to matter,” she added.
Bud Light faced serious controversy after releasing LGBTQ+ products earlier this year
Modelo surpassed Bud Light’s $297 million — which was a 22.8 percent drop in sales compared to the same time last year — after Bud’s disastrous partnership with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney
Mulvaney broke her silence on the Bud Light backlash this month, saying she “has no regrets about the things I posted”
Mulvaney spoke openly about the Resistance for the first time, saying, “Regardless of your gender, people will project things onto you about who you’re supposed to be. And I think we might as well tell people our real purpose.
“I think a big part of my goal could be to raise the voices of others. Right now the headlines are calling me “TikTok Trans Activist Dylan Mulvaney.” I want to be “actress Dylan Mulvaney.” I want to be “comedian Dylan Mulvaney.”
“I never expected people to follow me or experience so much negative media attention. I walk into a room and I never know if someone is going to really love me or really hate me.”
Mulvaney said she doesn’t regret recording her transition for all the world to see or her Bud Light post, but is considering taking it up a notch.
“I don’t regret the things I’ve posted, but I want to make sure my transition is now for me,” she told them.
“It’s kind of like redefining a relationship — if it gets too personal or too practical, it can be hard to scale back.” i
“I hope the people who do love me are ready for me to do things that don’t just unload my traumas on camera.”
Mulvaney also claimed in the interview and on an Instagram post that she’s in her “age of authorship” — appearing to be teasing a potential book, adding, “I’ve been typing a lot in my backyard.”