Bud Light has reportedly experienced a significant drop in sales following a controversial marketing campaign featuring transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. The latest industry statistics from NielsenIQ and Bump Williams Consulting reveal that for the week ending April 15, Bud Light sales fell 17% in dollars, with volume sales plummeting even further by 21%.
The sales decline for Bud Light is a stark contrast to the week before the campaign, where sales had already dropped by 6%, with volume sales down 11%. In contrast, Coors Light and Miller Lite saw an increase in sales, with Coors Light up 10.6% and Miller Lite up 11.5% for the week ending April 8th.
The controversial campaign has stirred debate and criticism, with many expressing concern over the use of a transgender influencer and the potential impact on sales. Bud Light has not yet commented on the sales decline, and it remains to be seen how the company will respond to the situation.
“These numbers are staggering,” Insights Express claimed.
“Right now this is an extremely difficult scenario for Anheuser Busch, the Bud Light brand, and for AB distributors. Coors Light and Miller Lite were once again big beneficiaries,” the report added.
Industry experts believe that the blow to Bud Light’s bottom line is bad.
“This will be interesting to monitor over upcoming weeks to see if this slide continues, but for now it looks to be rough, but not catastrophic,” consultant Dave Williams said.
“I have no doubt that certain regions of the U.S., and even more so certain states/markets saw sharper declines than others, and the deeper we dig, the more volatility we see.”
“On the surface, the trends for Bud Light definitely do show some variance when it comes to sales with some showing sharper declines in the L1W vs. others,” Williams added.
The industry expert proceeded to break down the market segments and regional trends.
“On top of just dollar trends though, it’s been Bud Light’s share of the premium segment for the L1W that tells a pretty consistent story where Bud Light lost share to a more notable degree to its competitors, he continued.”
“The East South Central Division in particular took a big hit, as did the West North Central,” Williams wrote. “The Pacific Division saw the smallest hit, though even that was a change vs. YTD and the P1W.”
A second Anheuser-Busch executive has been put on a leave of absence in addition to Alissa Heinerscheid, the marketing mastermind behind the Mulvaney partnership.
A second Anheuser-Busch official has taken a leave of absence after the Bud Light/Dylan Mulvaney disaster.
The beer company continues to feel immense pressure and heat from consumers.
Go woke, go broke!https://t.co/CxwbVBAh45
— OutKick (@Outkick) April 25, 2023
Daniel Blake, the man responsible for marketing Anheuser-Busch’s mainstream brands, has also taken a leave of absence, The Wall Street Journal reported.
“Given the circumstances, Alissa has decided to take a leave of absence which we support. Daniel has also decided to take a leave of absence,” Anheuser-Busch told the WSJ.
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Source: Becker News Rephrased By: InfoArmed