Budweiser bosses have finally revealed the price of the Bud Light boycott: a $1.4 billion drop in US sales.
The world’s largest brewer said sales fell 15.3 percent after Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender influencer, posted a Bud Light ad on Instagram last April.
Early indications were that sales fell by a double-digit percentage in the months following Mulvaney’s publication, but this figure is the first time a price has been put on the public relations disaster.
While dressed as Holly Golightly from the 1961 film Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Mulvaney said she was celebrating “365th day of womanhood” after transitioning.
It caused a huge backlash and Americans boycotted the once best-selling beer in the United States. This prompted a new ad campaign in recent months featuring NFL legends Peyton Manning and Emmitt Smith and rapper Post Malone.
Bud Light saw its sales drop last year after a boycott following a collaboration with influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
The company attempted to repair the damage with an interim 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 best-selling beer in the U.S. after the backlash against Mulvaney, so it got 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 tough 2023 when it announced its full-year earnings on Thursday.
Organic revenue in North America, considered the best measure of operating performance, fell $1.4 billion last year.
CEO Michel Doukeris said Bud Light has been slowly regaining its U.S. market share since last May, but much more slowly than he expected. The company has refocused its advertising toward sporting events and concerts to attract customers.
From May to February, Bud Light regained just 1.2 percentage points of lost market share.
‘I think we are making progress. It’s not at the fast pace we expected or have been working for. However, progress has been made,” Doukeris said during a conference call with investors.
AB InBev shares are down about four percent since the earnings were announced.
Analyst Aarin Chiekrie, at online investment platform Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “In the US, performance remains very disappointing, with revenue falling at double-digit rates as the group lost market share.”
Bud Light has teamed up with NFL legends Peyton Manning and Emmitt Smith in a bid to boost sales following its PR disaster with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney, which saw customers boycott the brand.
Bud Light has teamed up with NFL legends Peyton Manning and Emmitt Smith in a bid to boost sales since the Mulvaney PR disaster.
The Pro Football Hall of Famers star in a new commercial that launched in December ahead of the Super Bowl last month.
In the new Bud Light ad, Manning orders a round of beers for the bar before delivering them to customers, with the help of Smith.
In typical quarterback style, Manning steps back and begins passing around Bud Light cans before Smith joins the crowd to score the touchdown.
The stunt was the latest marketing device implemented by the beer company since sales began to plummet in the wake of the Mulvaney partnership.
Six-packs of Bud Light, Budweiser and Michelob Ultra are displayed at a liquor store, on February 28, 2024, in Fairfield, California.
Mulvaney earned $2 million in 2023 in promotional work, landed 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 backlash, but has largely recovered thanks to the success of its other brands.
After the release of Bud Light, Mulvaney earned $2 million in 2023 in promotional work, landed deals with Nike and Mac, and recently appeared at the Golden Globes.
In August, just months after Mulvaney’s April advertisement ran, it was reported that Anheuser-Busch InBev had suffered a staggering $390 million drop in its U.S. sales. In the same month, Modelo Especial officially triumphed over Bud Light as the best-selling beer in the United States. and Bud Light volume fell 26.7 percent.
In November, the company’s chief marketing officer, Benoit Garbe, announced he would resign after two years amid falling sales.
Bud Light also came under fire from Mulvaney, who criticized the brand for not reaching out to her during the backlash.
Bud Light was also criticized by Mulvaney herself, who accused the brand of not supporting her amid the fury.
“I was waiting for the brand to contact me, but they never did. I was afraid to leave my house,” Mulvaney told her Instagram followers.
‘For a company to hire a trans person and then not publicly support them is 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 ridiculed in public, I have been followed and I have felt a loneliness that I would not wish on anyone.”
Mulvaney has since been named to Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list and the magazine praised her for weathering the fallout.
However, globally, AB InBev reported better-than-expected net income in the fourth quarter despite lower beer volumes. It said its fourth-quarter operating earnings rose 7% to $19.98 billion, or 82 cents per share. Fourth-quarter revenue rose 6% to $14.5 billion. That figure was less than the $15.5 billion analysts expected.