Steep drops in sales of Bud Light continued to worsen for the sixth consecutive week, plunging by nearly 25% since the ill-fated promotion with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, the latest industry data shows.
Sales of the US’s No. 1 beer were down 24.6% for the week ended May 13 compared to a year ago — slightly worse than the 23.6% dip they suffered a week earlier, according to Bump Williams Consulting and Nielson IQ research.
Even more alarming, industry experts say, is the negative impact on Anheuser-Busch InBev’s other brands, including Budweiser, Michelob Ultra — with the latter being the nation’s No. 3 beer last year with more than $3.3 billion in sales last year.
Michelob Ultra sales were off 2.9% versus a year ago in the latest week, in line with a drop a week earlier, according to a Bump Williams analysis of Nielsen IQ data. Sales of Budweiser, last year’s No. 7 beer with more than $1.8 billion in sales, were down 9.7% in each of the two most recent weeks.
“Bud Light is ‘sick,’” Bump Williams, founder of the consultancy said of the US’s top-selling beer, which raked in $4.8 billion in sales last year. “It’s now infected other healthy brands with the InBev portfolio and that’s a bigger problem in my mind.”
Sales of Busch Light were down 6.8% compared to 0.3% decline the previous week, while Anheuser-Busch’s Natural Light sales were down by 2.8% in the week ended May 13 compared to a 2.5% decline the previous week.
Meanwhile, Anheuser-Busch’s competitors are guzzling market share with Coors Light up 23.2% in the week ended May 13 compared to a bump of 22.2% the previous week. Sales of Modelo Especial – the second most popular beer brand in the US with more than $3.7 billion in sales last year – are up by 10% in the most recent week compared to a 5% increase the previous week.
Bud Light has lost $110 million in sales volume year-to-date compared to the same period last year. The number of Bud Light cases sold was down 28.4% in the week ended May 13 from a year ago compared to a 27.7% decline the previous week.
The timing couldn’t be worse for the Belgium-based conglomerate. Beer is most in demand in the summer months and key drinking season kicks off on Memorial Day weekend.
“If Bud Light doesn’t stop the bleeding now, [it] runs the risk of losing the entire three months of the high demand for beer,” Williams said.
Anheuser-Busch’s 385 distributors are feeling the most pain, imploring consumers and businesses alike to look past the Mulvaney flap and understand how the backlash is hurting local businesses.
Anheuser-Busch has conceded as much and has committed to buying back unsold cases of expired Bud Light.
The public relations debacle began on April 1, when Mulvaney was given a commemorative can of Bud Light with her image on it in celebration of her one-year anniversary of womanhood. Mulvaney posted videos of herself on her social media in a bubble bath, surrounded by Bud Light cans and showed off the can with her image on it — with the backlash and boycotts beginning almost immediately.