Bud Light Sales Keep Dropping as Summer Approaches

Sales of Bud Light have dropped again for the fifth week in a row after the brand’s controversial association with transgender social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney, creating doubts about the company’s future as Memorial Day and summer approach.

According to data from Bump Williams Consulting and NielsenIQ, nationwide Bud Light retail sales dropped by 23.6% versus one year ago for the week ending May 6, slightly more than the 23.3% decline for the week ending April 29, reports The New York Post.

But Bump Williams, the chief executive of the consulting company, said the decline seems to be settling in, having fallen in the -20% range in recent weeks, leading him to wonder “if this is going to be the floor” for the declines.

Sales of other brands from Anheuser-Busch, the maker of Bud Light, also continued to be low, but the drop rates slowed down slightly. Budweiser was down 9.7% versus 11.4% the week before; Michelob Ultra was down 2.9% versus 4.3%; and Natural Light dropped by 2.5% versus 5.2% the week before.

Rival beers, though, have started taking their share of the market while Anheuser-Busch continues dealing with the fallout affecting sales of Bud Light, the nation’s top beer that generated revenues of $4.8 billion in 2022.

Pabst Blue Ribbon climbed by 21.6% in the week ending May 6, compared to 18.9% the previous week, and Miller High Life went up by 10.4% in sales compared to 8.3% the week before, the consultants’ data showed.

Williams said he thinks Bud Light drinkers are “waiting for a genuine and sincere apology from [Anheuser-Busch] and a crystal clear communication on exactly what happened and how important the Bud Light drinkers are to the [company].”

The controversy began on April 1, when the company sent Mulvaney a personalized can of Bud Light to commemorate the 365 days since she began her gender transition and she promoted it on her social media accounts.

Since then, Anheuser-Busch has been facing boycotts and complaints from prominent conservatives, including former President Donald Trump, but the company insists that it had not entered into a marketing agreement with Mulvaney.

Michael Doukeris, the company’s top executive, last month pointed to investors that “we need to clarify the facts that this was one can, one influencer, one post, and not a campaign.”

Williams commented that the company “is running out of time to fix the problem as the summer selling season unofficially started last weekend and Memorial Day is in two weeks.”

Anheuser-Busch officials met with distributors last week at its St. Louis headquarters to discuss strategy. A distributor who did not wish to be identified told The Post that the company plans, among its initiatives, to unveil a temporary redesign of its Budweiser and Bud Light aluminum bottles.

The executive said the company will release bottles with a camouflage print and pictures of the Folds of Honor program that provides scholarships for the children and spouses of fallen or disabled members of the military and first responders.

Last weekend, the company was also offering t-shirts bearing the logo “Ultra Mom” at some New York grocery stores for people buying Michelob Ultra.

Experts say Anheuser-Busch will also likely include marketing strategies such as lowering the price of the beer while launching heavy investments into sports marketing and including the U.S. military, country music, farmers, law enforcement, and first responders in advertising.

Anheuser-Busch also put marketing executives Alissa Heinerscheid, the vice president of marketing, and her boss, Daniel Blake on leave last month.