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Bud Light Sales Keep Cratering After Transgender Controversy. Price Wars May Be Next.
Barron's ^ | May 23, 2023 | By Andrew Bary

Posted on 05/23/2023 8:28:48 PM PDT by lasereye

Bud Light sales show no signs of recovery as the Dylan Mulvaney controversy continues to bite, and now parent Anheuser-Busch Inbev ABI +0.02% may be unleashing a beer price war that could depress profits industrywide this summer.

Bud Light sales volumes were down 28.4% in the week ended May 13, worse than the 27.7% decline in the previous week, according to Beer Business Daily, which uses NIQ scan data.

Other Anheuser-Busch (ticker: BUD) brands are hurting, with Budweiser Red volumes down 14.9% in the latest week and Michelob Ultra, the company’s strongest U.S. brand, down 6.8%.

Rivals continue to benefit, with sales of Coors Light up 16.9%, and Miller Lite up 15.1%, according to Beer Business Daily.

It’s now about two months since a conservative backlash and boycott erupted over a Bud Light marketing pitch involving transgender influencer Mulvaney and the impact on the brand continues to be keenly felt.

Anheuser-Busch, the world’s largest brewer, is now offering $15 rebates on 24-can cases of Bud Light and regular Budweiser. That can cut the cost of a case to under $5.

Beer Business Daily wrote that it’s “significant that we are seeing, in effect, $3.49 24-pack cans of Bud Light being sold, and it isn’t even Memorial Day yet.”

Anheuser-Busch stock fell 0.9% Monday to $58.83, and is off about 10% since the company reported first-quarter earnings in early May. Barron’s wrote favorably on the company recently, arguing that the company is strong internationally and that the Mulvaney impact on sales would diminish as the year progresses. The stock is unchanged in early trading Tuesday.

Analysts say the troubles at Bud Light will sharply reduce the company’s profits in the U.S.

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


TOPICS: Business/Economy; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: beer; budlight; buttlite; dylanmulvaney; queerbeer; transgender
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To: lasereye

Another factor in the Bud Lite saga is that the company tried to sort of apologize for the Dylan ads and then the “woke world” got mad at them too.
.
It’s not often that both sides of the political spectrum are angry at you.


41 posted on 05/24/2023 3:45:34 AM PDT by Baldwin77 (First they came for Trump ...)
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To: stars & stripes forever

Yep. JC Penny’s introduced Ellen Degenerate as their model pitch person and they went bust. You would think these idiots at InBev would know marketing 101, don’t piss off your base.


42 posted on 05/24/2023 4:02:41 AM PDT by DownInFlames (P)
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To: lasereye

“Target” means YOU and your kids are the target of trans grooming.


43 posted on 05/24/2023 4:18:05 AM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: lasereye

Target is just another ChiCom store front.


44 posted on 05/24/2023 4:19:15 AM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: lasereye

Screw all the symbolism!...A friend offered me a can of cold Bud Light after playing 18 holes yesterday and it occurred to me that if I drink it, it will only turn to so much piss anyway, so I said piss on it, I’ll have one. I could have pissed on that empty can after I had drained it but what good would that have done?


45 posted on 05/24/2023 4:52:27 AM PDT by equaviator (If 60 is the new 40 then 35 must be the new 15.)
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To: equaviator

Might a well just drink the piss. This stuff tastes terrible.


46 posted on 05/24/2023 5:35:22 AM PDT by rivercat
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To: stars & stripes forever

I forgot about them dropping My Pillow. I think they were going downhill well before that.


47 posted on 05/24/2023 6:25:53 AM PDT by lasereye ( )
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To: lasereye

I wonder if they are very carefully wording this so that the week to week declines are not added together. They lost 20% in week 1, then another 20% in week 2, then 20% in week 3, which means they are down 60% overall, but the 20% number doesn’t look as bad. I want to see current sales numbers compared to 3 months ago.


48 posted on 05/24/2023 11:02:09 AM PDT by zeugma (Stop deluding yourself that America is still a free country.)
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To: lasereye

I humbly believe, as many others have stated, that the source of the bud light reaction is found wholly at the door of Anheuser-Busch CEO Michel Doukeris. One of the following is probably the cause of this reaction. 1). CEO Doukeris’ operating orders for his troops to follow were not clearly crafted, unintentionally or intentionally ambiguous, and the operation went forth with them trying to accomplish an action that was personally desired, justified within the unclear, ambiguous rules and push out the of boundaries of the status quo. 2.) CEO Doukeris’ operating orders were clearly issued and his troops followed them. 3.) CEO Doukeris’ has lost control of his troops and they are independently operating as how they think the company should run. Any one of these three leads to the same conclusion, CEO Michel Doukeris has proven unfit to continue as the Anheuser-Busch CEO. As he stated, this was “only one post”. This “one post” was the result of “one” action that was authorized by a senior level Anheuser-Busch executive. If you don’t want the company to take a journey of a thousand miles and be accountable for the results, you better make sure that no one takes that “one” step to start the company’s journey.


49 posted on 05/24/2023 2:07:31 PM PDT by pack29172 (Enforce 18 U.S. Code 2101. Sentence to the Max!)
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To: PGR88
It seems they are still stuck and haven’t really publicly recognized their mistake

So true...the corporate types are trying to spin that it was a big misunderstanding, rather than just gross stupidity.

50 posted on 05/24/2023 2:28:23 PM PDT by Cuttnhorse
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To: rivercat
Might a well just drink the piss. This stuff tastes terrible.

But it keeps the Clydesdales busy makeing it.

51 posted on 05/24/2023 2:30:20 PM PDT by Cuttnhorse
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