Posted on 05/08/2023 8:44:52 PM PDT by DoodleBob
ARCO, ID - APRIL 21: A sign disparaging Bud Light beer is seen along a country road on April 21, 2023 in Arco, Idaho. Anheuser-Busch, the brewer of Bud Light has faced backlash after the company sponsored two Instagram posts from a transgender woman.
Bud Light sales continued to worsen for the week ended April 29, NielsenIQ data showed, amid controversy around the brand's partnership with a transgender influencer.
The country's No. 1-selling beer brand saw in-store sales of $71.6 million that week, off 23.4% from the same week in 2022.
Bud Light sales were off 21.4% for the week ended April 22 and 17% for the week ended April 15.
And in the April 29 week, its competitors continued to report increased sales, with Coors Light up 20.3%, to $56.7 million, and Miller Lite up 20.6%, to $49.2 million.
Other A-B brands are still hurting.
Budweiser sales were off 11.4%, to $31.5 million. Michelob Ultra was off 4.4%, to $60.2 million. And Busch Light (off 1.8%, to $23.4 million) and Natural Light (off 5.2%, to $17.9 million) also showed decline.
Anheuser-Busch InBev didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Bud Light sales have fallen after last month it unveiled a social media partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, in addition to controversial statements from a brand executive that it had featured "fratty, out-of-touch humor."
Executives with the Belgian beer giant, with its North American headquarters in St. Louis, said last week that they'd triple spending on the brand, with increased marketing and advertisement efforts focused on sports and music.
CEO Michel Doukeris said it’s too early to determine the effects of boycotts or to forecast when they may subside, and he noted that the recent events have negatively affected company employees and frontline workers.
The company will provide “direct financial support” to frontline workers, including delivery drivers, sales representatives, wholesalers, and bar owners, Doukeris said.
He added that the Mulvaney partnership was "one camp, one influencer, one post and not a campaign."
North American Zone Chief Executive Brendan Whitworth last month released a statement saying that the company is “in the business of bringing people together over a beer" and did not mean to divide people.
Backlash last month also prompted two Bud Light marketing executives to take leaves from the company.
The controversy spurred from Mulvany’s April 1 post occurred after the end of the company’s first quarter, in which its revenue increased as people continued to buy beer despite higher prices.
“Please tell that the generic beer isn’t still around.
The generic beer is not still around to my knowledge. I just remembered the fad in the ‘70s to have plain labels to make it appear that costs were cut in inflationary times. Store brands still exist, and the label is a trivial part of the cost of most commodity goods. I was just thinking about how A-B could recover some money on unsaleable beer”
Trader Joes has had some generic beer, maybe still does.
You and I both know he is desperately watching his sales numbers (probably on the phone all day to distributors), hoping for an uptick to signal the end of the boycott.
As to the CEO's responsibility, he either delegated sufficient authority to the marketing department and possibly to a lowly marketing exec to single-handedly destroy the company's brand in the U.S. OR this Woke shift came down from the top.
Either way, this CEO is toast.
The CEO and the entire marketing chain of command have lost the respect of the company and its investors. If they are not fired, they need to fall on their swords and resign.
The company will provide “direct financial support” to frontline workers, including delivery drivers, sales representatives, wholesalers, and bar owners, Doukeris said.“
I knew this was the response from the CEO back in April bu didn’t remember the part about negatively affecting frontline workers, basically making the boycotts feel guilty from taking money away from the drivers etc. totally evil tactic not unlike the tactic leftists use. Doubling down on the boycott now. F these MFers
Other A-B brands are still hurting.
Budweiser sales were off 11.4%, to $31.5 million. Michelob Ultra was off 4.4%, to $60.2 million. And Busch Light (off 1.8%, to $23.4 million) and Natural Light (off 5.2%, to $17.9 million) also showed decline.
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With all this ‘good news’, I need someone much smarter than me to explain why A-B’s stock price isn’t completely in the toilet..... since it is not, shouldn’t it be madly shorted even now?
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/BUD/
Never heard of the 36 pack. I have a Costco membership too. 6/12/18/24 packs but never seen 36. If this something new in just select markets?
You mean buschhhhhhhh
I doubt the CEO wanted to destroy the brand. Maybe the marketing genius did though. Kind of how liberals infect everything they touch and then it rots from the inside out.
I was wondering why the stock price isn’t in the 20’s right now instead of 64
Corporations may be learning that using their popular brands for woke purposes is not good for business. Bud should have created a new product, say “Queer Beer” to cater to that crowd.
I hope you approached them and said, "Gee, you don't look gay." :-)
Beer did give me children, because it was the only way I could have mustered sufficient interest to do the act with the ex-wife hose bag who is their mother. And beer always goes on vacation with me. :-)
I am the same way. I love good beer, but during a hot afternoon, a watery cheap beer can be delicious in it’s own way. Far better than sodas. Blechhh! I hate sodas.
I six of Bud Lite is cheaper than a six of name brand bottled water.
Miller Lite better be careful. This is what the can looked like when I was served a Miller Lite at my local Irish Pub last week:
Maybe the Rainbow Klan isn’t loved as much as the elites think?
I’m not a Beer Drinker per se, but I have always despised diet beer.
Probably our 401K money managed by Blackrock/Vanguard is propping up the stock. It’s similar to Fox exec’s celebrating the new advertisers in Tucker’s spot, despite no ratings, they make more money. The financial oligarchs reward what the customers hate, it’s all upside down. Regardless, won’t catch me holding a Bud Light.
Near me Bud Light was 8 dollars off a case and a mail in rebate and it was still stacked to the ceiling.
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