Bud Light’s promotion of “365 Days of Girlhood” featuring Dylan Mulvaney has led to a 17 percent drop in sales as customers continue to boycott the brand. This could signal a shift in consumer behavior towards national beer brands and those who flirt with “woke” advertising.
Bud Light suffered a significant drop in sales and volume, losing 17 percent and 21 percent, respectively, according to sales data from Bump Williams Consulting and NielsenIQ.
In comparison, Miller Lite and Coors Light saw an increase in sales by 18 percent. The latest market share showed Bud Light losing 6.7 percent last week. This information was originally reported by the NY Post, citing the sales data ending April 15.
To put this in perspective, Anheuser-Busch’s market cap dropped almost $4 billion since taking on trans-identifying Mulvaney. In addition, two marketing executives at the company have taken an extended leave of absence.
Vice-president of marketing Alissa Heinerscheid and senior marketing executive Daniel Blake are responsible for the recent attempt to revive the iconic beer company. The company had seen a drop in sales in the past several years.
Heinerscheid originally stated that she wanted to make Bud Light more “female friendly” and attract “young drinkers.”
Now, her role at the company will be filled by Global Vice President of Budweiser Todd Allen. It is unclear if this change is permanent.
Allen has more than 22 years of experience in marketing, mostly with businesses based in Canada.
After using TikToker Dylan Mulvaney in a promo, public disdain was swift. After weeks of pushback, Bud Light CEO Brendan Whitworth issued a non-apology to customers titled “Our Responsibility to America.”
Whitworth said that the company never intended to participate in a discussion that “divides people.”
“We are in the business of bringing people together over a beer,” he wrote.
Dylan Mulvaney is arguably one of the most controversial individuals in recent years. Each company that has used him as a spokesperson has seen some level of backlash. The decision to partner with the TikToker is also strange, given that Bud Light is known for its ruggedness and blue-collar worker advertisements in the past.
This caused cultural whiplash for customers accustomed to seeing commercials and advertising they could actually relate to, most of which feature hard-working men enjoying the beer after a long day at work.
In an attempt to win back public favor, Anheuser-Bush released a minute-long ad on April 14th. This was the same day Whitworth’s statement was posted on their site.
The advertisement featured a Clydesdale horse galloping from city to city across the United States. During its journey, it passes a few firemen, a man and woman raising an American flag up a flagpole, and two men standing on a farmhouse porch. The horse runs on a beach before the commercial closes out with the same horse rearing up on the top of a mountain.
Time will tell if the beer brand will be able to recover from this controversy.
A recent poll by Rasmussen Reports shows that 54 percent of American adults support the boycott of Anheuser-Busch’s Bud Light, according to The National Desk.
This number is even higher for Republicans, at 66 percent. 57 percent of those under 40-years-old support the boycott as well.
