The Bud Light controversy began when its marketing department decided to abandon its strategies of old and partner up with transgender TikToker Dylan Mulvaney resulting in disastrous press conference and sales numbers.
The NeilsenIQ and Bump Williams Consulting groups released sales data that shows Bud Light sales by dollar amount have dropped by 17% and volume dropping by 21% for the week ending on April 15th. The Bud Light and Mulvaney advertisement campaign began the week ending on April 8th, which showed a 6% drop in sales and 11% drop in volume.
According to a popular newsletter focusing on beer-centered information called Insights Express, the publication describes the drop in sales numbers “staggering.”
“These numbers are staggering,” they wrote in their latest newsletter. “Right now this is an extremely difficult scenario for Anheuser Busch, the Bud Light brand and for AB distributors.”
Many upset consumers have decided to take their beer business to different companies the newsletter explained. Just last week, Bud Light lost 6.7% of the entire market share, while Coors Light and Miller Light saw record increases in sales upwards of 18% and the obvious victor.
In Washington D.C., the Anheuser-Busch distributors will be meeting to discuss just how the company plans to deal with the negative publicity and the social media wave of criticism. The drop in sales has had major repercussions on the distributors forcing them to cancel events long planned beforehand and “are looking for a much more pointed and well developed plan on how Anheuser-Busch might stem the onslaught of negative attention and sales trends.”
The social media reaction to the advertising campaign has been brutal and the critics aren’t holding back.