Bud Light haunted by ‘very stubborn boycott’ as one-year mark approaches, beer guru says
Beer Business Daily publisher Harry Schuhmacher told Fox News Digital he’s never seen anything like the backlash Bud Light has faced.
Bud Light has struggled to win back many of its once-loyal drinkers as the one-year mark since its disastrous pact with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney approaches.
"The drinkers that they lost last April and May have not come back to any discernible rate… it's a very stubborn boycott. The likes of, I don't think we've ever seen before," Beer Business Daily publisher Harry Schuhmacher told Fox News Digital.
The boycott started almost one year ago when the trans activist showed off a custom can of Bud Light sent by Anheuser-Busch, celebrating Mulvaney’s "365 Days of Girlhood" series, which detailed daily experiences in the influencer’s first year identifying as a transgender woman on TikTok.
Bud Light has struggled to win back many of its once-loyal drinkers as the one-year mark since its disastrous pact with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney approaches, according to Beer Business Daily publisher Harry Schuhmacher. (LightRocket via Getty Images)
Subsequent posts featured Mulvaney drinking Bud Light to celebrate March Madness, even enjoying the beer in a bathtub. Many conservatives were outraged, and the backlash resulted in Bud Light no longer being America's top-selling beer brand in key metrics.
Schuhmacher said the ordeal has been so prominent that it has "entered the lexicon" of Americans from all sides of the political spectrum.
"When a brand does something that loses market share you say, ‘Oh, it's a Bud Light moment,’" he said. "We're sitting here a year later, and Bud Light's trends remain almost unchanged since they were last May -- down in the 27% to 28% in volume."
Schuhmacher noted that Anheuser-Busch was initially slow to respond to the backlash, and many within the industry assumed criticism of the Mulvaney drama would fizzle out after a few weeks. Things only got worse for the beer brand when it was subsequently revealed Alissa Heinerscheid, who was vice president of marketing at the time, had swiped its core consumers by saying Bud Light's past advertising was "fratty" and "out of touch humor."
BUD LIGHT REMAINS DRAG ON PARENT COMPANY AS DYLAN MULVANEY HIT LINGERS
Bud Light sales plummeted after a promotional partnership with transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney caused widespread backlash. (Instagram)
As the boycott continued through the summer, Schuhmacher said Bud Light finally started taking steps in the right direction to no avail.
Kid Rock, who went viral in April with a video of him gunning down a case of Bud Light, was spotted drinking a can of it at an event in August. In the fall, UFC announced a multiyear deal with the beer giant, which essentially turned popular and outspoken CEO Dana White into a quasi-pitchman.
Comedian Shane Gillis also announced a partnership with Bud Light earlier this year.
"They got these blessings from these cultural figures on the right that they thought would, I think, help the trajectory of the brand. And, you know, it's early, but so far it hasn't improved," Schuhmacher said, noting Anheuser-Busch also spent big money on a Super Bowl ad featuring NFL legend Peyton Manning that failed to "move the needle."
"AB has spent all the money. They've done all the right things," Schuhmacher said. "They spent the money on the right things. And amazingly, it hasn't really affected the trend that much. It's unbelievable."
Late last month, parent company Anheuser-Busch InBev said revenue in the U.S. market declined by 9.5% in 2023 and dropped by 17.3% in the fourth quarter "with sales-to-retailers (STRs) down by 12.1%, primarily due to the volume decline of Bud Light." U.S. volumes were also weaker than expected, falling 15.3% in the fourth quarter. Schuhmacher believes May and June will be critical for the brand, as it will be able to tout year-over-year growth without pre-boycott data factored in.
A picture of the commemorative Bud Light can featuring TikTok influencer Dylan Mulvaney. (Dylan Mulvaney/Instagram)
Schuhmacher has run Beer Business Daily, a trade publication that covers the U.S. beer industry, for 25 years and has never experienced anything like the Bud Light saga. He said the beer industry has been "pretty steady" for decades, and the last time a company saw such shifts in market share was back in the 1970s when Schlitz angered customers by putting out some inadequate batches of the product. But the Schlitz debacle was roughly 50 years ago, and the industry has remained steady year-to-year until Mulvaney’s video hit social media.
"We track market shares very closely over here. And to see these wild swings go back and forth, it's never happened before. So, it's been really fascinating to cover it. You know, I've been doing this for so long," Schuhmacher said. "It's been a wild year."
Anheuser-Busch looked toward to the future when reached for comment.
"As America’s leading brewer, we are confident in the beer industry – growing in dollar sales versus last year – and optimistic about the future of our business. Bud Light remains the number 1 selling brand in the U.S. by volume, with millions of beer drinkers choosing it every day at retail stores, bars and stadiums across America – and positive sentiment toward the brand continues to increase. Our industry-leading portfolio of brands is on a positive market share trajectory over the last six months, and we are focused on what we do best – brewing great beer for everyone and earning our place in the moments that matter for our consumers," an Anheuser-Busch spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Fox News’ Joseph A. Wulfsohn and Breck Dumas contributed to this report.