Has Bud Light survived the boycott? Year after influencer backlash, positive signs emerge
Bud Light sales remain flat more than year after the brand faced a conservative boycott from consumers angered over its teaming up with influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
AB InBev, which owns Budweiser and Bud Light, said overall global sales topped $14.5 billion, but sales in the U.S. declined 9.1% during the Jan.-March 2024 period. Sales to retailers were down 13.7%, "primarily due to volume decline of Bud Light," the company said.
However, the world's largest beer maker says its revenue rose 2.6% during the first three months of 2024, in its quarterly financial report released Wednesday.
Sales of higher-priced products helped revenue increase as total worldwide volume of beer sold fell 1.3%.
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Bud Light sales decline continues
AB InBev has seen U.S. sales decline since the boycott, which arose after Mulvaney posted a video on Instagram about the company's $15,000 March Madness giveaway contest and showed a promotional Bud Light can with her face on it.
Criticism followed with conservatives calling for a boycott of Bud Light and Kid Rock releasing a video in which he shot and destroyed cases of Bud Light with an assault weapon.
Subsequently, Modelo Especial overtook Bud Light in May 2023 as the best-selling beer in the U.S. Constellation Brands, which also owns Pacifico, has the rights to distribute Modelo and Corona in the U.S., while AB InBev does so in markets outside of the U.S.
AB marketing push extends to UFC, Olympics
In recent months, Bud Light became the official beer of the UFC , while another Anheuser-Busch beer, Michelob Ultra, became the first beer brand to be an Olympic sponsor in 40 years.
Bud Light sales may continue to fall off because those who boycotted "haven't forgotten and they've found new light beer brands to purchase or discovered spirits-based (ready-to-drink cocktails) or perhaps even cannabis to purchase," Bump Williams, whose firm Bump Williams Consulting of Shelton, Connecticut, services the alcoholic beverage industry, told USA TODAY earlier this year.
But AB InBev may have weathered the Bud Light controversy storm. The previous financial quarter is the last in which it compares to pre-boycott sales figures. "ABI has got its (likely) hardest quarter of 2024 out of the way with little to no bruises," Barclays analyst Laurence Whyatt told Reuters.
The company, which also makes Busch Light and imports such as Stella Artois, impressed analysts with North America volumes down less than expected, and record volumes in some markets including Brazil and South Africa.
"We're excited with the momentum behind our brands," CEO Michel Dimitrios Doukeris said in an interview with analysts about the quarter's performance. Sales of Michelob Ultra and Busch Light, as well as vodka seltzer brand Nütrl and Cutwater canned cocktails showed "very strong growth," he said.
AB InBev shares hit their highest level on the New York Stock Exchange since mid-March and were up nearly 7% over the previous five days.
Contributing: Jessica Guynn, Gabe Hauari and Bailey Schulz, USA TODAY Network and Reuters.
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