Bud Light sales fizzle in Western Pennsylvania amid transgender boycott
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Slain officer fundraiser impacted The Bud Light protest has had a residual negative affect at Myrna's Brewery Outlet in New Kensington, said manager Keith Brancato. "We've been running a promotion with Bud Light to raise money for (Justin) McIntire's family," he said, referring to the slain Brackenridge police chief. "Sales were actually perking up because of that until the boycott. It's not like we aren't selling any Bud Light, but it's down quite a lot." The store donates $1 from each 18-pack case of Bud Light sold to McIntire's family.
The backlash brewing from a movement to boycott Bud Light because of its partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney has drastically cut sales of the top-selling brand at numerous Pittsburgh-area beer distributors.
But the sharp dip since Mulvaney’s Instagram post April 1 to promote Bud Light’s March Madness contest does not appear to be hurting the bottom line for local businesses or parent company Anheuser-Busch InBev.
“We haven’t been seeing a drop in sales overall, but But Light sales are way down,” said Keith Brancato, a manager at Myrna’s Brewery Outlet in New Kensington.
Myrna’s typically sells about 200 cases a week of Bud Light, one of the store’s top sellers along with Miller Lite and Coors Light. But last week, the store was selling only about 40 cases, Brancato said.
“Some people make comments about the controversy when they check out, and there are others who I know are regular Bud Light drinkers who are buying something else,” Brancato said.
Sales of Bud Light in the U.S. fell 17% during the week ending April 15 compared to the same week last year, Robert Ottenstein, an analyst with Evercore ISI, a New York investment banking advisory firm, told The Associated Press.
During the same week, rival brands Coors Light and Miller Lite each grew by 17.6%, the AP reported.
Jim Stunja of Beer, Bets & Butts in North Huntingdon said Bud Light sales have not dropped substantially, “but it’s definitely noticeable.”
“People are switching beers, not switching to wine or liquor,” he said. “So business overall isn’t being affected very much.”
Stunja said some customers have come into the business armed with a list of products to avoid buying.
“They go down the list and say, ‘Anheuser-Busch owns this,’ and then they buy stuff that Anheuser-Busch doesn’t own.”
In addition to Bud Light, Anheuser-Busch produces Budweiser, Busch, Busch Natural Light, Kona, Michelob Ultra, Stella Artois, Estella Jalisco, Landshark Lager, Presidente, Hoegaarden and Shock Top.
They also make 20 varieties of craft beer and have a “beyond beer” division that sells hard seltzers, canned wines and canned cocktails such as Cutwater Spirits, Hi Ball Energy and Nütrl, which is made with vodka, seltzer and juice.
Negligible financial impact, so far
At Myrna’s, though, many customers are still buying other beers made by Anheuser-Busch, Brancato said.
“I’m not sure if they’re doing it because they don’t know the beer they’re getting is made by the same company,” he said, “or if they really don’t care all that much about the issue.”
That could be why backlash from the boycott hasn’t inflicted the deep financial stress on Anheuser-Busch that some celebrities and politicians on social media have suggested.
The AP reported April 25 that the beer maker’s stock price has dipped and sales of Bud Light are down year-on-year in recent weeks. But there’s no sign the company has been fatally wounded, according to industry experts.
“Not only is it not going bankrupt, the lost sales of Bud Light are nearly negligible in relation to its global sales, at least so far,” Harry Schuhmacher, publisher of the trade publication Beer Business Daily, told the AP.
Anheuser-Busch stock prices fell as low as $63 per share in recent weeks but traded at about $65 a share Monday. Analysts told the AP the stock’s valuation actually is up about 45% since September, when shares were trading at about $45.
The boycott has claimed two casualties at Anheuser-Busch. Daniel Blake, who oversees marketing for Budweiser and Bud Light, and Alissa Heinerscheid, Bud Light’s vice president of marketing, both took a leave of absence after the brand was criticized for its partnership with Mulvaney, according to the AP.
More Alle-Kiski Valley reaction
Managers at several other beer distributors have reported similar experiences with a drop in Bud Light sales.
“Our Bud Light sales are down by half,” said Tyler Wray of Allegheny Beverage in Harrison. “We’ve had people say they’ll never buy that beer again. But then some of them turn around and grab a case of something made by the same company.”
Wray also said the boycott isn’t cutting into overall profits for the store.
“It’s not like people are going to stop drinking the liquid,” he said. “They’re just drinking another kind of of beer.”
Aaron Kreinbrook of Brackenridge Beverage in Brackenridge and Laura Kelly at Hillcrest Distributing in Lower Burrell both said Bud Light sales have dropped since the controversy began.
“We did get a call from a bar owner who asked if he could return all the Bud Light he bought, but he wasn’t one of our customers,” Kreinbrook said. “I thought that was a little odd.”
Kway Jackson at Beer on Butler in Pittsburgh’s Lawrenceville neighborhood said only a handful of customers have mentioned the boycott when checking out, but Bud Light sales are down significantly.
“The owner usually orders a pallet (79 cases) every two weeks,” she said. “But we didn’t even go through one pallet last month.”
Buzz Knepp, owner of Steel City Beer on Main Street in Sharpsburg, said Bud Light sales at his business during the past month don’t indicate customers’ buying habits have changed.
“Bud Light sales have been up and down week to week,” he said , noting that Miller Lite typically outsells Bud Light by about 7-1 . “It’s never been a big seller here, but it doesn’t look like the people who do buy it have stopped.”
Knepp doesn’t question Anheuser-Busch’s decision to team with an influential media personality such as Mulvaney as part of its marketing strategy.
But he said he thinks they stumbled badly by doing so with the Bud Light brand.
“They make an entire line of hard seltzers and other drinks that are being marketed to younger people,” he said. “I think if they had sent her a personalized can of one of the other products, we wouldn’t be talking about this at all.”
Representatives for the Frank B. Fuhrer Co. in Pittsburgh’s South Side, which is the wholesaler for Anheuser-Busch products in the Pittsburgh area, did not respond to several requests for comments.
The Pennsylvania Beer Alliance, a Harrisburg-based advocacy group for the state’s beer distributors, also did not respond to requests for comment.
A brewing controversy
Bud Light became the target for conservatives who were upset by the Mulvaney campaign.
The former Broadway actor has more than 10.8 million followers on TikTok, where she documented her transition, and another 1.8 million followers on Instagram.
Bud Light sent Mulvaney a personalized beer can with her face pictured on it to celebrate the one-year anniversary of publicly identifying as transgender. The cans sent to Mulvaney and other influencers with whom Bud Light works were not available to the public.
The controversy began when Mulvaney, 26, displayed the commemorative can in a sponsored Instagram video for Bud Light’s March Madness contest that offered a $15,000 prize.
A number of conservative personalities reacted by calling for customers to boycott Bud Light.
Among them was musician Kid Rock, who posted a YouTube video of himself shooting up cans of Bud Light while yelling profanities about the company.
Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a presumed presidential hopeful, posted a spoof on Twitter titled “Real Men of Women’s Sports” that parodies Anheuser-Busch’s “Real Men of Genius” advertising campaign.
In Florida, girls play girls’ sports and boys play boys’ sports. That’s why we are replacing Bud Light with FREEDOM HEAVY ???????? … made 100% woke-free. pic.twitter.com/UD39AQnAui — DeSantis War Room ???? (@DeSantisWarRoom) April 18, 2023
Country singer Travis Tritt banned all Anheuser-Busch products on his tour.
I will be deleting all Anheuser-Busch products from my tour hospitality rider. I know many other artists who are doing the same. — Travis Tritt (@Travistritt) April 5, 2023
Mulvaney, who met with President Joe Biden at the White House in October to discuss transgender rights, has garnered public support from a number of celebrities in the wake of the controversy, including Emmy winner Kristin Chenoweth, singer-songwriter Jason Isbell and comedian Rosie O’Donnell.
U.S. Rep. Ted Lieu of California posted a tweet of himself and three other Democrats holding bottles of Bud Light in support of transgender rights.
Claims by boycotters debunked
Misinformation about the boycott has been swirling on social media as supporters of the effort try to advance the cause.
The AP reported that a widely circulated video of Bud Light drinkers using a “steamroller” to destroy beer cans as part of the boycott was false.
The video is from February, prior to the controversy, and shows a road roller in Mexicali, Mexico, crushing cases of beer that were confiscated during the covid-19 pandemic.
The AP also refuted a report that the CEO of Anheuser-Busch resigned in response to the boycott, saying it started as a satirical article and used the wrong name in references to the CEO.
The news agency likewise determined a report that Anheuser-Busch created a billboard advertisement that reads “LOL Crybabies” in response to being targeted for a boycott was false.
The AP also investigated a claim made in a tweet shared more than 6,000 times that reported Oktoberfest in Germany banned Budweiser brands. AP determined that the claim is false and came from a satirical website.
The annual German festival, in fact, only allows beer made by breweries in Munich.
Efforts by Anheuser-Busch to tamp down the controversy included an April 14 statement from CEO Brendan Whitworth, which was criticized by people on both sides of the issue.
In the statement, Whitworth says: “We have thousands of partners, millions of fans and a proud history supporting our communities, military, first responders, sports fans and hard-working Americans everywhere.
“We never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people. We are in the business of bringing people together over a beer.”
Daily Wire conservative commentator Ben Shapiro responded in a tweet that the company failed to fix the problem it created.
Anheiser-Busch CEO has now released a statement in which he addresses zero of the problems with hiring a man cosplaying as a woman to sell cheap beer to a predominantly male audience. — Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) April 14, 2023
LGBTQ+ publication The Pink News panned Whitworth’s statement for “saying nothing” and “meaning nothing.”
Supporters of Anheuser-Busch’s partnership with Mulvaney note that the company has a history of tackling social issues in its marketing, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Bud Light had a commercial in 2016 featuring actors Seth Rogen and Amy Schumer promoting equal pay. Another ad supported same-sex marriage and featured Rogen and Schumer attending a wedding.
Bud Light also partnered with the LGBTQ+ rights advocacy group GLAAD in 2019 to release a special-edition rainbow-colored aluminum bottle in celebration of Pride month.
Sarah Reynolds, chief marketing officer for the human resources platform HiBob, said that while Bud Light’s most recent effort to broaden its customer base by partnering with Mulvaney may have been fumbled, it is likely here to stay for many companies because inclusive marketing is good business.
“A few years from now,” Reynolds said, “we will look back on this ‘controversy’ with the same embarrassment that we feel when we look back at ‘controversies’ from the past surrounding things like interracial couples in advertising.”
Staff writer Haley Daugherty contributed to this report.
Source: TribLIVE
