Bud Light Still Feeling the Pain as Quarterly Revenue Report Is Released
Executives at Anheuser-Busch InBev, parent company of Bud Light, speak as if they have learned their lesson from a conservative boycott that torpedoed the company’s profits beginning in April.
Judging by recent sales figures, however, company executives have received only part of the boycotters’ message, for they have yet to do what alienated customers would demand as a proper act of contrition.
According to Newsweek, AB InBev reported a 14 percent decline in 3rd-quarter revenue in the United States.
From July through September, the beer company suffered losses similar to those posted between April and June. This suggests that the conservative boycott of Bud Light has held steady.
That boycott began in April when transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney’s smiling face appeared on Bud Light cans in his social media to celebrate his full year of pretending to be a woman. Many conservatives, weary of having woke lies shoved in their faces, reacted with disgust and pledged to boycott the company.
As a result, Bud Light sales plummeted. In the meantime, the Mexican beer Modelo supplanted Bud Light as America’s best-selling beer.
Efforts to resuscitate the moribund Bud Light brand have included a recent partnership with the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Thus far, however, nothing has worked. In fact, the bad news appears to have extended even beyond 3rd-quarter revenue figures.
For instance, according to the U.K. Daily Mail, Bud Light sales in the U.S. fell 29 percent in the four weeks ending Oct. 21 compared to the same period in 2022.
Still, AB InBev CEO Michel Doukeris expressed reasons for optimism. The company, he said, has focused its efforts on popular pastimes like football and music. Its internal polling shows that many people would consider returning to Bud Light, and the sales decline, though precipitous, has leveled off since April.
“This gives us some certainty that we are moving in the right direction,” Doukeris said Tuesday, according to the Daily Mail.
Doukeris also explained what the company has learned about its customers.
“One, they want to enjoy their beer without a debate. Two, they want Bud Light to focus on beer. Three, they want Bud Light to concentrate on the platforms that all consumers love, such as the NFL and music,” the CEO said.
Those lessons are not wrong, but they are not entirely correct either.
To illustrate, consider how the Daily Mail described the origins of the Mulvaney-inspired boycott:
“In the controversial promotion, Mulvaney, 26, posted a video on April 1 of herself cracking open a Bud Light on her Instagram page. She showed off the customized can with her face on it — one of many corporate freebies she gets and promotes to her millions of followers.”
Newsweek described it this way: “On April 1, Mulvaney shared video of herself drinking from a personalized Bud Light can, which had been sent to celebrate her ‘Day 365 of Girlhood,’ as part of a promotion with the company.”
When publications apply “she,” “her” and “herself” to a delusional or narcissistic man, they commit the same transgression Bud Light did. They lie.
Conservatives, however, can ignore the Daily Mail and Newsweek. Most, in fact, already do. So those publications continue to lie without feeling the effects of a boycott.
Bud Light, however, placed itself in a different position. It proclaimed as true (and worthy of celebration) something its customers know to be false.
The company could have remained silent on wokeness, as Doukeris said it now intends to do. Having proclaimed the falsehood, however, silence alone will no longer suffice.
Despite having endorsed Mulvaney’s lie, Bud Light’s internal polling has merit. Alienated customers might indeed return to the brand. They will not do so, however, for the reasons Doukeris believes.
Many former Bud Light customers probably do watch UFC or football. But they will not return to Bud Light because of UFC or football.
They will return when AB InBev executives acknowledge that they pushed a woke lie.
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