Bud Light, made by Anheuser-Busch, sits on a store shelf in Miami, Fla., on July 27, 2023. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Two market analysts gave grim news to Bud Light, with one predicting there would be “no recovery” for the boycott-beleaguered brand in 2023.
“We assume no recovery in Bud Light [this year],” RBC Capital Markets analyst James Jones wrote in a note this week, according to Yahoo Finance.
Recent sales data show that retail-store dollar sales of the brand dropped 26.1 percent in the week ending July 15 and 26.8 percent in the week ending July 22, compared with the previous year. Meanwhile, the beer lost its No. 1 spot to Modelo Especial in May and June, according to figures.
“Recent data continues to show that tracked channels reached a point of stabilization at significantly lower levels for Anheuser-Busch InBev than pre-controversy,” Evercore ISI analyst Robert Ottenstein added in a separate note, according to Yahoo.
The slump in sales came after Bud Light made a promotional package for a transgender TikTok activist, Dylan Mulvaney, sparking backlash and sales declines. The company has not directly addressed the transgender controversy, although its U.S. chief executive said the brand never sought to be part of a divisive issue.
In May, the CEO of AB-InBev, Michel Doukeris, attempted to distance the beer brand with the Mulvaney incident and said that only “one can” with the influencer’s face was produced.
“It was one post. It was not an advertisement,” Mr. Doukeris told Financial Times in May.
The influencer was not part of an official marketing campaign, Mr. Doukeris said. He added that social media-driven “misinformation” and “confusion” were part of the problem, without elaborating.
In the call, Mr. Doukeris said his company would triple its investment in Bud Light over the summer. At the same time, it would provide bonuses and incentives to front-line workers like drivers.
But Bump Williams, president of Bump Williams Consulting, told the Wall Street Journal that spending more to fix the problem won’t do much.
“The Bud Light shopper who’s left the brand has zero interest in coming back,” Mr. Williams said, “so you can spend all the money you want, but until you fix the problem—apologize and admit you made a mistake—it’s wasted money.”
However, analysts with Deutsche Bank conducted a survey with 600 respondents, finding that the proportion of consumers who no longer purchase Bud Light fell from 21 percent to 19 percent. It also found that Bud Light drinkers who say they are very unlikely to buy the brand in the next three to six months fell from 18 percent to 3 percent this month, according to MarketWatch.
Earlier this month, AB InBev confirmed that U.S. revenue fell 10 percent in the second quarter due to slumping Bud Light sales. Revenue fell $395 million in North America during the same time period, it said in a statement.
“The team in the U.S. [is] working hard to build it back and to earn back consumers,” Mr. Doukeris said earlier in the month during an investor call.
Days later, Anheuser-Busch said it is selling eight craft beer brands to Tilray Brands, including Shock Top, Breckenridge Brewery, Blue Point Brewing Company, 10 Barrel Brewing Company, Redhook Brewery, Widmer Brothers Brewing, Square Mile Cider Company, and Hiball Energy.
The Epoch Times contacted Anheuser-Busch for comment on Wednesday.
Busch Family Suggests Sale
Anheuser-Busch heir Billy Busch revealed he would be willing to buy back Bud Light if Anheuser-Busch InBev attempted to sell it in the midst of a monthslong boycott.
“If they don’t want that brand any longer, sell it back to the Busch family,” Mr. Busch told Outkick. “Sell it to me. I’ll be the first in line to buy that brand back from you, and we’ll make that brand great again.”
The Busch family sold Annheuser-Busch, which owned Budweiser and Bud Light, to Netherlands-based InBev in 2008. That made Anheuser-Busch InBev the largest brewer in the world.
“That culture is completely gone now,” Mr. Busch said. “They knew who their drinkers were … even my dad at 89 years old, 90 years old, he was still going to the bars selling Budweiser back in those days.”
Elaborating, Mr. Busch said that foreign companies like AB InBev may be in for a rude awakening should they pursue similar marketing campaigns. Leaders at AB InBev, he added, appear to be out of touch with core American consumers.
“When you are a foreign company and you rely on these woke students that are coming out of these local colleges to do your advertising for you, you’re making a big mistake,” he noted. “You need to go out there and understand who your core customer is.”
Some prominent conservative figures and celebrities had initially weighed in on the issue, with musician Kid Rock using Bud Light cans as target practice. Former President Donald Trump also weighed in on the controversy and said it’s a sign of left-wing radicals trying to force an agenda on Americans.
“It’s time to beat the Radical Left at their own game,” the onetime president wrote on Truth Social in May. “Money does talk—Anheuser-Busch now understands that.”