The Numbers Are In: Bud Light Sales Down Since Going Woke - But Look What's Happening to Competitors - Report
It used to be the goal of brand advertising campaigns to increase sales, not decrease them.
The Ivy League-educated marketing executives at Anheuser-Busch InBev must not have paid attention in business classes. The disastrous decision by Bud Light to enlist transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney to represent its blue-collar beer led to very visible and widely supported calls for a boycott.
Bud Light sales numbers reported Monday, dating back to the beginning of the month, suggest not only are sales down but former consumers of Bud Light are actively trying other beers.
Brewbound, a beer industry news site, released the first solid reporting on the slump in sales of Bud Light, and its figures only include information through April 8, after the conservative boycott campaign began. While the data are a bit dated, they do demonstrate a downward trend for the beleaguered beer brand.
According to the outlet, market research firm NIQ reported that “Bud Light posted declines in off-premise dollar sales (nearly -7%), volume (-10.7%) and dollar share (-3.7%). By comparison, for the week ending April 1, Bud Light recorded declines in dollar sales (-1.6%), volume (-6.4%), and dollar share (-0.7%).”
Dave Williams of Bump Williams Consulting, an alcohol beverage industry expert, described Bud Light’s slide as “rough but not catastrophic,” though data collection for more weeks is needed to truly gauge the impact.
Williams noted that even early in the boycott Bud Light lost noticeably more of a market share than its competitors.
At the same time Bud Light slumped, “Coors Light increased dollar sales (+10.7%), volume (+5.5%) and dollar share (+1.5%), while Miller Lite increased dollar sales (+16.9%), volume (+11.7%) and dollar share (+2.3%) for the week ending April 8,” Brewbound reported.
That is what should worry Anheuser-Busch, which is no longer American but is owned by the Belgian conglomerate AB InBev. Many once-loyal Bud Light customers appear to be looking for a new favorite.
What is interesting is these numbers are from the earlier stages of the boycott, which appears to have continued and even intensified since then.
“This boycott seems to have more legs than most,” Brewbound editor Justin Kendall recently told the New York Post.
Brewbound’s findings confirmed anecdotal evidence about the rejection of Bud Light by liquor stores, bars, restaurants and patrons at special events.
Viral videos and posts by music stars Brantley Gilbert, Kid Rock and Travis Tritt helped spread the word about opposing Bud Light’s woke agenda.
Many are avoiding not just Bud Light but all of AB InBev’s brands, which include Beck’s, Budweiser, Busch, Corona, Michelob, Modelo, Natural Light and Stella Artois, as well as many “craft” breweries.
Anheuser-Busch showed contempt for the values of its customers by associating with the poster boy for the radical transgender community. Sharing insincere non-apology letters and trotting out a Clydesdale at a series of patriotic locations will not wash away the sour taste of globalist social engineering.
The conservative grassroots response to Bud Light’s disrespect, and the real impact it is having, should provide a lesson to conservatives: While it’s a good first step to stop giving money to businesses that despise you, it’s not enough.
Bud Light has become a symbol of the forces working to destroy America from within, but in the end it’s just a beer.
The same unity, intensity and wit conservatives brought to the fight against this extreme example of corporate wokeism need to be applied to issues more urgent than the quest for a low-calorie brew.
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