Costco Appears to Have Handed Bud Light a Painful 'Death Star'
Social media reports indicate things could even get worse for the beer that is making boycotts famous.
To the uninitiated, the little asterisk on the upper right-hand corner of the Bud Light price tags at a few Costco stores — as seen in images now making the rounds of Twitter — is just a little speck of type.
But in the universe of the members-only warehouse retail chain, the asterisk is noted as the “death star,” because when it appears on a label, it means the store does not plan to restock the product once its supply is sold out, according to Newsweek.
Images show the “death star” on different can sizes and packaging, which could mean only certain Bud Light sizes are fading away at certain stores.
Even Costco is getting out of the game… pic.twitter.com/cUHE0CnPzr
— Brian Henderson (@aztraveldude) July 3, 2023
At Costco this morning, practically giving away Bud Light. pic.twitter.com/tsyymCZjT5
— colleen 🗣 (@plineytheelder) July 1, 2023
COSTCO says… STAR OF DEATH for Bud Light * it will not be restocked. 🍻 pic.twitter.com/hWYTXEckDA
— SHARKINTHEWATER (@s_h_a_r_k_e_y) July 11, 2023
The Western Journal reached out to Costco for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Marie Clark, editor of the shopping site CostContessa, offered confirmation that the mark shown on the Bud Light price tag is indeed called the “death star” by Costco customers.
“On Costco price tags, if you see an asterisk in the upper right-hand corner, this indicates an item won’t be restocked,” Clark said in a September 2022 interview on the food-centered website TheKitchn.
“The item might be full price or it might be discounted — an asterisk alone doesn’t tell you more than that. But if it’s something you want and you were thinking, ‘Oh, I’ll come back and get it next week instead,’ you might want to think twice and purchase it now,” she said.
Newsweek noted that according to figures from industry consultant Bump Williams Consulting, over the four weeks that ended July 1, Bud Light’s revenue dropped 28 percent compared with the same time a year ago.
The Anheuser-Busch InBev beer showed a 31.2 percent drop in the volume sold.
According to USA Today, Bud Light, which had been America’s top-selling beer until its dalliance with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, has now fallen into second place for two months in a row — in spite of the fact that prices have been slashed across the country.
Mexican beer Modelo Especial was the top seller nationally in May and June.
Dave Williams, vice president of Bump Williams, said the trend shows no sign of turning around, according to the New York Post.
“The Fourth of July is the biggest beer holiday in terms of retail sales and an opportunity to move a lot of volume, and there has been no notable signs where the course has changed for Bud Light,” he said.
“Unless something dynamic happens to bring the lapsed Bud Light customers back into the fold, I don’t think we can expect anything to reverse the course” of Bud Light’s fall, Williams said.
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