Bud Light Reports $1.4B Drop in Sales After Boycott Over Dylan Mulvaney Campaign
Nearly a year after their disastrous partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, Budweiser has finally revealed its losses that stemmed from the boycott that followed.
The beer giant revealed that they saw a $1.4 billion drop in sales in America, marking a 15.3% decrease.
Early indications estimated that sales fell by double-digit percentages in the months following Mulvaney’s post, showing off a Bud Light can with the influencer’s likeness on it, while celebrating “365 days of womanhood.” The latest figure is the first time that an official price has been put on the PR disaster.
Anheuser-Busch InBev, Budweiser’s parent company, announced its 2023 earnings on Thursday, which showed that 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 that progress has been slower than hoped, as the company has refocused its advertising on sporting events and concerts to pull customers back.
Between May and February, the company recovered just 1.2 percentage points of lost market share.
“I think that we are making progress. It’s not at the fast pace that we were expecting or that we´ve been working for. But nevertheless, progress is in place,” Doukeris said during a conference call with investors.
Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Aarin Chiekrie said, “In the US, performance remains very underwhelming with revenue down at double-digit rates as the group lost market share.”
Following the disaster, Bud Light has sought to boost sales by partnering with NFL legends Peyton Manning and Emmitt Smith, who starred in a commercial released in December.
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