The controversy over Bud Light’s partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney looks like it has staying power — raising the risk that boycotts will further cripple sales of the nation’s biggest beer brand, according to industry experts.
It’s “way too early” to know whether the controversy will ultimately hurt the brewery’s bottom line, said Evercore ISI analyst Robert Ottenstein. Nevertheless, there is plenty of anecdotal evidence showing its potential to wreak havoc.
Eleven days after Anheuser-Busch delivered custom-made cans with Mulvaney’s mug on them to the influencer, Kid Rock used Bud Light cans for rifle practice. Squabbles have broken out at bars and distributors are canceling events featuring the iconic Clydesdale horses.
“This boycott seems to have more legs than most,” Justin Kendall, editor of beer industry trade publication Brewbound, told The Post. “It started out as a conversation on social media and has breached into mainstream media.”
It will be another week before Bud Light sales data at grocery and convenience stores is available but industry experts say its sales have been declining for years.
Sales of Bud Light — whose share of the U.S. beer market is the nation’s biggest at 10.6% — were down 0.4% to $974 million this year through March 26 compared to a year earlier according to Circana, which tracks millions of consumer products across 500,000 stores in 20 countries.
Bud Light is the largest beer brand in the U.S., controlling more than 10% of the market.NurPhoto via Getty Images
By contrast, Bud Light’s closest competitor Modelo Especial sales were up 11.1% to $706 million over the same period.
“Bud Light is the best-selling beer in the country,” Kendall said, but it remains to be seen whether the drinkers who say they are never going to have another Bud actually follow through on the threat, he added.
Fanning the flames were remarks by Anheuser-Busch’s president of marketing, Alissa Heinerscheid, who said she hoped to update the “fratty” and “out of touch” humor of the beer company to appeal to younger consumers.
“She didn’t need to go that far and trash the prior campaigns,” said branding expert Michael Stone, chairman of Beanstalk Group, a New York-based branding firm. “She could have said we are moving on to reach the demographic we want to reach and to communicate a different message.”
Bud Light’s vice president of marketing, Alissa Heinerscheid, discussed in a recent interview how she was inspired to update the “fratty” and “out of touch” humor of the beer company with inclusivity. Fox News Digital
Heinerscheid went on to declare that “this brand is in decline, it’s been in a decline for a really long time, and if we do not attract young drinkers to come and drink this brand, there will be no future for Bud Light,” according to a March 30 interview with the podcast “Make Yourself At Home”.
The backlash is having a chilling effect in Middle America where Anheuser-Busch distributors are feeling the heat.
Wil Fischer Companies canceled an event in Springfield, Mo. where the iconic Clydesdale horses were supposed to make an appearance, citing safety concerns for their employees, according to local reports.
Transgender influencer, Dylan Mulvaney, was given commemorative cans by Anheuser-Busch.Instagram
Anheuser-Busch has remained silent about the Mulvaney flap and its social media has been temporarily suspended.
The company “knew there would be backlash and they were stepping in an area where there is a great political divide in America and among their own customers,” Stone said. “They did a ton of research [likely showing that] they’d be supported by some and offend others.”
A spokesperson issued a statement to media outlets saying Anheuser-Busch “works with hundreds of influencers across our brands as one of many ways to authentically connect with audiences across various demographics.” It also said the cans that were given to Mulvaney were a “gift to celebrate a personal milestone and is not for sale to the general public.”
The milestone is Mulvaney’s one-year anniversary of transitioning to a woman.
Last week, restaurateur Guy Cummins, who owns Smokin’ This and That BBQ in Florence, Ky., posted a Facebook message that he’d no longer be serving Budweiser beer in his restaurant because of the alliance with Mulvaney. The business owner said Anheuser-Busch had “a lack of communication with their real-time plain folk customers.”
Anheuser-Busch is trying to appeal to a younger, more diverse consumer.Getty Images for GLAAD
The post was taken down – though it was shared on Reddit – after Cummins learned that the Mulvaney cans were commemorative and not available for sale, according to a Newsweek report. Cummins said he became concerned after he witnessed heated exchanges between customers who were ordering Bud Light at the bar and those who heckled them for doing so.
“Boycott Bud Light” searches spiked 810% last week, according to a survey by Averagebeing.com, which showed the most interest in the boycott in 10 red states, including Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota and West Virginia.
Meanwhile, NYC grocers say they haven’t noticed any change in sales of Bud Light beer.
“Anheuser-Busch reps were in our office last week and they didn’t say anything about the boycott,” said Gristedes and D’Agostino’s president Joe Parisi.
Source link: https://nypost.com/2023/04/11/bud-light-boycott-has-legs-as-sales-outlook-thrown-into-doubt/