Finally exposing the financial impact of the Bud Light boycott, Budweiser executives have revealed a startling $1.4 billion decline in US sales. The biggest brewer in the world linked this sharp drop in sales to a 15.3 percent drop in sales after transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney posted a Bud Light advertisement on Instagram in April of last year.
In the months following Mulvaney’s tweet, there were first signs of a double-digit percentage decline in sales. But this is the first time that the disastrous PR campaign has been given a numerical value. In spite of these initiatives, sales of Bud Light kept falling.
The parent company of AB InBev, a Belgian corporation that also owns Corona and Stella Artois, reported a difficult 2023, with a $1.4 billion decline in organic revenue in North America. Although Bud Light has been steadily regaining market share since May, CEO Michel Doukeris admitted that the process has gone more slowly than expected. To win back clients, the corporation has redirected its advertising budget toward concerts and sporting events.
Bud Light only succeeded in regaining 1.2 percentage points of its lost market share from May to February. Doukeris was upbeat about the development but conceded that it was not happening as quickly as they had anticipated.
Since the earnings release, shares of AB InBev have also decreased by almost 4%. The company’s performance in the US has been characterized by analysts as lackluster, with double-digit decreases in revenue and a decline in market share.
NFL greats Emmitt Smith and Peyton Manning backed Bud Light in an attempt to increase sales despite the blowback from the Mulvaney deal. A new advertisement featuring the Pro Football Hall of Famers was unveiled in December, just in time for the Super Bowl.
The commercial showed Manning and Smith pulling off a lighthearted prank, symbolizing the company’s attempts to win back the confidence and interest of customers.