Bud Light Wins Back 15% Of Boycotting Beer Drinkers: Poll

DUSTIN JONESAugust 17, 2023

According to a recent poll, Bud Light has won back 15% of Americans who boycotted the beer after its disastrous link with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney — though beer sales have yet to recover since the fiasco.

The proportion of bud-light drinkers who say they’re unlikely to buy the brand in the next three to six months fell from 18% to just 3% in July, Deutsche Bank said in its latest monthly reporting Bud Light parent company Anheuser-Busch InBev.

“The proportion of ex-bud-light drinkers who say it’s very unlikely they will buy the brand in three to six months has dropped from 18% to just 3%, a significant improvement,” analysts write the Deutsche Bank.

Meanwhile, just 19% of beer drinkers surveyed said they would not buy Bud Light — down from 21% in July, the survey found after 600 respondents were asked about their brewer of choice.

Yet Bud Light’s sales are still plummeting, four months after the controversial ad sparked a culture war of sorts, with conservative consumers warning brands, “Wake up, you’ll go broke.”

Bud light sales fell 26.5% in the week ended August 5, according to Nielsen data. Volumes also fell 29.7% over the period — a faster decline compared to the previous week, when volumes fell 29.3%.

A survey by Deutsche Bank found that the number of Bud Light drinkers who are unlikely to buy the brand anytime soon has dropped to 3%. The boycott is reportedly still most widespread among under-55s earning less than $25,000.

Anheuser-Busch officials did not immediately respond to the Post’s request for comment.

Taking into account all beer drinkers surveyed by Deutsche Bank — those who preferred and disliked Bud Light before the disastrous marketing bust with Mulvaney — 34% said they don’t expect to choose Bud Light in the next three to six months .

However, not all of these beer drinkers sipped Bud Light at all.

Analysts at Deutsche Bank, led by Mitch Collett, said an ongoing boycott was most pronounced among consumers aged 55 and over with annual incomes of less than $25,000 — although that’s also the demographic where the biggest improvement of consumption has taken place.

The poll also found that the most popular bud light alternatives are Corona and Heineken, although it was Mexican lager Modelo Especial that ousted Bud Light from its top-selling beer spot back in June, according to data from consulting firm Bump Williams.

Bud Light sales have been steadily declining week-on-week since the Mulvaney controversy sparked calls for a boycott on social media.

Earlier this month, AB InBev’s quarterly results showed that the Belgium-based brewer is feeling the effects of the ongoing boycott. It reported a 10.5% drop in revenue and a nearly 30% drop in core earnings in the U.S. for the second quarter.

The company has lost nearly $40 billion in value.

However, executives did not mention the costly backlash result reportInstead, the analysts pointed to their own poll, which found that “most consumers are positive about the Bud Light brand, and about 80% are positive or neutral.”

Bud Light has lost $40 billion in value since April 1, when transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney promoted the beer on her social media.

Anheuser-Busch’s survey of over 170,000 consumers was conducted across the United States in the three months ended June 30 – amid the outrage that began after Mulvaney sent the 26-year-old a customized can of Bud Light in honor of “365 Days of Girlhood” on April 1st.

Meanwhile, the world’s largest beer company attributed its huge loss in core earnings — which make up earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization — to “Bud Light’s volume decline” and “increased sales and marketing investments.”