AMAC Exclusive – By Shane Harris
In the clearest sign yet of just how hard the Bud Light boycott is hitting the beer giant, Anheuser-Busch global CEO Michel Doukeris unequivocally disowned the brand’s partnership with controversial TikTok influencer Dylan Mulvaney in a letter to retailers last week. In an era where woke ideology dominates the corporate world, the letter – along with tumbling sales figures – is a striking example of conservative-led backlash forcing a multi-billion-dollar company to retreat from left-wing social politics.
“Anheuser-Busch did not intend to create a controversy or make a political statement,” a clearly exasperated Doukeris wrote. “In reality, the Bud Light can posted by a social media influencer that sparked all the conversation was provided by an outside agency without Anheuser-Busch management awareness or approval.”
Bud Light first ignited uproar in early April when Mulvaney, a man who identifies as a woman and boasts millions of social media followers, posted a video advertising the beer that featured custom cans with his face on it.
Mulvaney’s post was also tagged with “#budlightpartner” – casting immediate skepticism on Doukeris’s claim that Anheuser-Busch leadership was not aware of the partnership. A spokesperson for the company also explicitly stated just two days after Mulvaney posted the video that the company produced the can for him, saying, “Anheuser-Busch works with hundreds of influencers across our brands… This commemorative can was a gift to celebrate a personal milestone and is not for sale to the general public.”
Regardless, if the dramatic drop in Bud Light sales is any indication, Doukeris’s explanation may be too little too late for the brand that has for years been the best-selling beer in America.
Beer Business Daily reported last week that Bud Light’s sales in supermarkets, gas stations, and convenience stores were down 26 percent for the week ended April 22 vs. the same week a year earlier. That decline followed a 17 percent decline for the week ended April 15 vs. a year ago.
Sales at bars and restaurants were equally dismal. After bartenders poured 15 percent more Bud Light than any other brand from March 18 to April 1 – the two weeks before the controversy began – they poured 6 percent less Bud Light than other brands from April 2 to April 15, according to BeerBoard, a company that tracks beer flows. Beer-focused newsletter Insights Express called that decrease “staggering.”
Viral videos showing beer aisles at grocery stores fully stocked with Bud Light but empty of other brands are further evidence of the backlash. One social media user posted a video late last week that appeared to show no one in line at Bud Light stands at Fenway Park in Boston, even as other concession stands had long lines. Stew Leonard’s, a regional grocery chain with eight stores in New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey, has reported a 50 percent decline in Bud Light sales.
Meanwhile, sales of competitor brands have soared. Coors Light and Miller Lite sales were up 18 percent for the third week of April.
Those dismal numbers have led to some major shakeups at Bud Light. The company announced on April 23 that Alissa Heinerscheid, Bud Light’s vice president of marketing, and her boss Daniel Blake, who oversaw marketing for Anheuser-Busch’s mainstream brands, were both taking leaves of absence. Insiders at the company reported that their decisions to leave were not voluntary.
Heinerscheid in particular became a toxic figure for Bud Light after an interview clip of the executive from March surfaced showing her openly disparaging Bud Light drinkers. “Bud Light had been kind of a brand of fratty, kind of out of touch humor,” she said. “It was really important that we had another approach.”
In an apparent attempt to win back its disaffected drinkers, the brand launched a new ad during the NFL draft that featured a heavy country-blue-collar theme, with individuals in western wear drinking Bud Light outside in the rain at a rodeo, all set to the song “Country Fried” by the Zac Brown Band. But social media users were quick to blast the spot as a transparent and cynical attempt to pander to the audience Bud Light had alienated, leading the company to turn off comments on its posts sharing the video.
It appears, however, that the ad will hardly be the last effort by Bud Light to make amends with consumers. Last week, the company also announced it will triple its ad spending for the summer, in addition to giving away free beer to its distributors – another sign that the boycott has had its intended effect.
A full account of just how much Bud Light’s business has tanked will not be available until the company releases its earnings report for the second quarter, likely sometime in early July. Yet no matter what the numbers are, conservatives have proven that the battle for the culture is not yet lost, and corporate wokeism is far from invincible.
Shane Harris is a writer and political consultant from Southwest Ohio.
