Budweiser bosses have finally revealed the price tag of the Bud Light boycott: a $1.4 billion drop in sales in America.
The world’s largest brewer said sales fell 15.3 percent after Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender influencer, posted an ad for Bud Light on Instagram last April.
Early indications were that sales fell by double digits in the months following Mulvaney’s message, but this figure marks the first time a price has been put on the PR disaster.
While dressed as the character Holly Golightly, from the 1961 film Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Mulvaney said she was celebrating “day 365 of womanhood,” after transitioning.
It caused a huge backlash – and Americans boycotted the once best-selling pilsner beer in the US. It led to a new ad campaign in recent months featuring NFL legends Peyton Manning and Emmitt Smith and rapper Post Malone.
Bud Light saw sales plummet last year after a boycott following a collaboration with influencer Dylan Mulvaney
The company tried to repair the damage with an intermission ad featuring rapper Post Malone, Peyton Manning and a “Bud Light Genie,” but still fell behind rival Corona
Bud Light’s parent company lost sales and the brand lost its top spot as the top-selling beer in the US after the Mulvaney backlash – so it brought NLF legends Peyton Manning and Emmitt Smith to appear in new ads
Belgian parent company AB InBev – also the maker of Stella Artois and Corona – admitted it had a difficult 2023 when it announced its annual results on Thursday.
Organic sales in North America, seen as the best measure of operating performance, fell by $1.4 billion last year.
CEO Michel Doukeris said Bud Light has slowly regained its market share in the US since May last year, but much more slowly than hoped. The company has refocused its advertising on sporting events and concerts to attract customers.
From May through February, Bud Light was only able to regain 1.2 percentage points of its lost market share.
‘I think we are making progress. It’s not happening at the fast pace we expected or worked for. But still there is progress,” Doukeris said during a conference call with investors.
AB InBev shares have fallen about four percent since the earnings announcement.
Analyst Aarin Chiekrie from online investment platform Hargreaves Lansdown said: ‘In the US, performance remains very disappointing, with sales down double digits as the group lost market share.’
Bud Light has teamed up with NFL legends Peyton Manning and Emmitt Smith in an effort to boost sales following the PR disaster involving trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney, which saw customers boycott the brand.
Bud Light has teamed up with NFL legends Peyton Manning and Emmitt Smith in an effort to boost sales since the Mulvaney PR disaster.
The Pro Football Hall of Famers star in a new commercial released in December ahead of last month’s Super Bowl.
In the new Bud Light ad, Manning orders a round of beer for the bar before handing it out to customers, with Smith’s help.
In typical quarterback style, Manning drops back and starts passing cans of Bud Light before Smith joins the crowd to shout the touchdown.
The stunt was the latest marketing tool deployed by the beer company since sales began to decline in the wake of the Mulvaney partnership.
Six-packs of Bud Light, Budweiser and Michelob Ultra are on display at a liquor store in Fairfield, California on February 28, 2024
Mulvaney earned $2 million from promotional work in 2023, inked deals with Nike and Mac and recently appeared at the Golden Globes.
Parent company Anheuser-Busch InBev lost nearly $30 billion in stock value in the aftermath of the setback, but has recovered largely thanks to the success of its other brands
After the Bud Light post, Mulvaney earned $2 million from promotional work in 2023, inked deals with Nike and Mac and recently appeared at the Golden Globes.
In August, just months after the Mulvaney ad appeared in April, it was reported that Anheuser-Busch InBev had suffered a staggering $390 million decline in US sales. The same month, Modelo Especial officially triumphed over Bud Light as America’s best-selling beer. and Bud Light volume fell 26.7 percent.
In November, the company’s Chief Marketing Officer Benoit Garbe announced he would step down after two years due to declining sales.
Bud Light also came under fire from Mulvaney, who slammed the brand for not contacting her during the response.
Bud Light was also criticized by Mulvaney herself, who accused the brand of failing to stand by her amid the anger.
‘I waited for the brand to contact me, but it didn’t. I was afraid to leave my house,” Mulvaney told her Instagram followers.
“If a company hires a trans person and then doesn’t publicly support them, that’s worse than not hiring a trans person at all.
“Because it gives customers permission to be as transphobic and hateful as they want. There should be nothing controversial or divisive about working with us.
‘I have been publicly ridiculed, followed and I have felt a loneliness that I wouldn’t wish on anyone.’
Mulvaney has since been named to Forbes’ 30 under 30 list, with the magazine praising her for weathering the fallout.
Globally, however, AB InBev reported better-than-expected net profit in the fourth quarter, despite lower beer volumes. The company said fourth-quarter operating profit rose 7% to $19.98 billion, or 82 cents per share. Fourth-quarter revenue rose 6% to $14.5 billion. That was lower than the $15.5 billion analysts had expected.
