After a significant decline in market capitalization and nationwide boycotts, Bud Light is now no longer among America’s top 10 most popular beers according to a prominent survey—with women ranking the brand lower than men.
The top three spots were taken by Guinness, Corona, and Heineken, all of which scored in excess of 50 percent in likability.
The biggest brand value decline was seen among Republicans. Among this demographic, “Bud Light saw the largest declines for important metrics such as Appeal, Brand Loyalty, and Brand Association.”
The brand’s Negative Buzz score surged by 45 points among Republicans, with loyalty declining by 31 points and appeal falling by 18 points.
Losing Business
Bud Light turned into a boycott target after partnering with Mr. Mulvaney in a promotional campaign in April and sending custom beer cans to the influencer featuring the trans-activist’s face. This irked numerous Americans who felt the company was pushing a transgender agenda which triggered the boycott calls.Collett pointed out that 24 percent of Bud Light’s customers no longer buy the beer while another 18 percent are buying less.
In mid-May, an HSBC analyst had downgraded Anheuser-Busch’s stock due to the “Bud Light crisis” and suggested that there may be “deeper problems” at the management level.
Poor Management
Despite the backlash, Bud Light is yet to apologize for pushing a transgender agenda. During an interview on CBS, Anheuser Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth was asked whether the Mulvaney promotion was a mistake. Mr. Whitworth refused to call the incident a mistake.“Bud Light has supported LGBTQ since 1998. So, that’s 25 years. And as we’ve said from the beginning, we’ll continue to support the communities and organizations that we’ve supported for decades,” Mr. Whitworth replied.
“This chasm that we’re seeing between Bud Light and its consumers is only going to intensify because every time you come out with one of these weak statements or some of these just platitudes,” he said. “That’s not addressing the problem. And until you address the problem, I don’t see consumers coming back and coming back to this brand.”
“We’re in the fourth month of this right now … This is something that should have been addressed three or four months ago by clearly coming out and saying: hey, Bud Light historically was always a brand that didn’t get involved in politics,” Frericks said.
Unlike previous years, the vastly effective Bud Light consumer boycott has made other brands wary of offending their core customer bases, and this has opened up a pathway for traditional businesses to reassert their alliance with conservative values.
A majority of customers are fed up with the blatant promotion of sexual themes and transgenderism, especially toward minors.