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Bud Light Boycott Effects Endure—Brand Drops To Third
forbes ^ | 23rd July 2024 | Alicia Park

Posted on 08/21/2024 8:48:50 AM PDT by Cronos

Bud Light fell to third place in U.S. beer sales as Michelob Ultra took its place behind the top-selling Modelo, reinforcing the impact of the 2023 Bud Light boycott, which toppled the brand from its No. 1 spot.

In the four weeks ending July 6, the U.S. beer market was led by Modelo—which overtook Bud Light last May—with 9.7%, followed by Michelob Ultra with 7.3%, Bud Light with 6.5% and Corona Extra sitting just below 6%.

The crucial four-week period includes the July Fourth weekend, which can heavily impact a beer brand’s yearly performance, according to the Wall Street Journal.

While Bud Light continues to decline, its brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev is also the maker of Michelob Ultra and Busch Light—both of which have seen increases in sales in the four week period—though AB InBev shares have dipped 4% year to date.

(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: budlight
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1 posted on 08/21/2024 8:48:50 AM PDT by Cronos
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To: Cronos

Does the Bud Light boycott really matter when Anheuser Busch also make Michelob Ultra?


2 posted on 08/21/2024 8:52:12 AM PDT by Yo-Yo (Is the /Sarc tag really necessary? Pray for President Biden: Psalm 109:8)
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To: Cronos

“the largest beer brand in the industry,”

“Heinerscheid, who in July 2022 became the first woman to lead Bud Light—”the largest beer brand in the industry,” as her LinkedIn reads—in the company’s 40-year history, said that her mandate at the company, from the very beginning, was to evolve the brand and make it more inclusive.”


3 posted on 08/21/2024 8:53:39 AM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: Cronos

So Michelob and Busch sales are up almost enough to cover the Bud Light loss. Net effect is almost zero to A-B InBev because Modelo is up and A-B InBev owns 50% of Modelo and distrubutes it world-wide, except for the US. It is like boycotting Chevy only to have buyers choose Buick or Caddy - it is all GM.


4 posted on 08/21/2024 8:53:52 AM PDT by HonorInPa
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To: Cronos

I wonder whatever happened to alissa heinerscheid, the crazy woke advertising chick who will go down as making one of the worst corporate marketing decisions of all time.


5 posted on 08/21/2024 8:54:15 AM PDT by srmanuel
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To: Cronos

I will never buy a Budweiser product again. That’s for life. Neither will many people I know.


6 posted on 08/21/2024 8:55:13 AM PDT by piytar (Remember Ashli Babbitt and Rosanne Boyland!)
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To: HonorInPa
It is like boycotting Chevy only to have buyers choose Buick or Caddy - it is all GM.

Yup, which is why I also will never buy any of those.

7 posted on 08/21/2024 8:57:30 AM PDT by piytar (Remember Ashli Babbitt and Rosanne Boyland!)
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To: Yo-Yo
Does the Bud Light boycott really matter when Anheuser Busch also make Michelob Ultra?

True. But its a smack-down for the Bud Light managers, and a clear warning to corporations everywhere.

We have seen how quickly John Deer and Harley Davidson dropped their DEI and LGBTQ programs when confronted.

Its still a big victory.

8 posted on 08/21/2024 8:57:34 AM PDT by PGR88
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To: ansel12

“...said that her mandate at the company, from the very beginning, was to evolve the brand and make it more inclusive.””

Well, that just means Budweiser got stupid. Most executives would have been satified with increased sales.


9 posted on 08/21/2024 8:59:49 AM PDT by odawg
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To: piytar

I got spoiled during my recent trip to Spain, you simply can’t go back to American beer after that.


10 posted on 08/21/2024 9:00:05 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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Here are the top ten U.S. beer brands by market share in four weeks ending July 6, according to an analysis by Bump Williams Consulting.

Modelo Especial (9.7%)
Michelob Ultra (7.3%)
Bud Light (6.5%)
Corona Extra (5.8%)
Coors Light (5.7%)
Miller Lite (4.8%)
Budweiser (2.9%)
Busch Light (2.8%)
Natural Light (1.8%)
Miller High Life (1.0%)

I note that the top ten only add up to 48.3%, so there is a lot more variety out there.


11 posted on 08/21/2024 9:02:00 AM PDT by Rio
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To: Yo-Yo

It matters a lot, it isn’t as absolutely perfect as a boycott against the entire giant international corp.. whose vast line of products would be almost impossible to avoid entirely, but to destroy their number one brand is an inescapable message and close enough to a perfect boycott.

Rarely have we seen a message so effectively delivered to such a giant corporate entity, and it was such a common man product and a common man customer base that it made it clear to a huge number of companies what they were facing and losing and made them back off from something that was taking over the entire market place.


12 posted on 08/21/2024 9:02:27 AM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: Cronos

Yuengling, oldest brewery in the United States, great beer, no WOKE messaging in commercials.


13 posted on 08/21/2024 9:02:41 AM PDT by BrexitBen
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To: srmanuel
I wonder whatever happened to alissa heinerscheid, the crazy woke advertising chick who will go down as making one of the worst corporate marketing decisions of all time.


Alissa Heinerscheid was reportedly placed on leave after Bud Light’s ill-fated partnership with Dylan Mulvaney. However, an insider said she was actually fired, though the company didn’t use the word “fire” over fears of a lawsuit.

14 posted on 08/21/2024 9:03:17 AM PDT by COBOL2Java (The country bounces along like Custer on the way to Little Big Horn, thanks to Dear Leader)
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To: Cronos

brand loyalty goes both ways? huh, who’da thunk it.


15 posted on 08/21/2024 9:04:15 AM PDT by teeman8r (Armageddon won't be pretty, but it's not like it's the end of the world or something )
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To: odawg

Increased sales, greater market share, better brand identification, happier customers, they should teach that in business school.


16 posted on 08/21/2024 9:06:43 AM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: ansel12

“Heinerscheid, who in July 2022 became the first woman to lead Bud Light... said that her mandate at the company, from the very beginning, was to evolve the brand and make it more inclusive.”

That’s how women think, they want to make it more inclusive they get a trans to endorse it when really all she had to do was one slight change to the branding.

i.e. Smooth Bud Light


17 posted on 08/21/2024 9:07:01 AM PDT by Clutch Martin ("The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right." )
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To: piytar

>>>I will never buy a Budweiser product again. That’s for life. Neither will many people I know.

I fully second that! Why these idiotic companies including Harley-Davidson are targeting a market that’s less than 2-3% is beyond any reasonable logic. They fail on a basic 80/20 rule. 80 percent of your profits come from 20 percent of your customer base. (repeat customers)


18 posted on 08/21/2024 9:09:27 AM PDT by existentially_kuffer
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To: Cronos
I haven't bought any a/b product in decades.
The only product I used to imbibe was the original michelob.

https://deadspin.com/whatever-happened-to-michelob-1711675528/

19 posted on 08/21/2024 9:10:52 AM PDT by chief lee runamok ( Le Flâneur @Large)
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To: COBOL2Java

Every College Marketing class should spend a week just showing this example of HOW TO DESTROY A BRAND. It took decades of advertising to make Bud Light the number one selling beer in the USA/World. They spent hundreds of millions of dollars on sporting event commercials. They went from frogs to Dilly Dilly. Then ruined it all in a few months.

Yet, they continue to try and do it over and over. It almost happened again with Harley Davidson.


20 posted on 08/21/2024 9:12:01 AM PDT by woodbutcher1963
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