So it’s come to this…
According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, Anheuser-Busch is getting desperate in the wake of a consumer boycott in response to a partnership with trans TikToker Dylan Mulvaney.
WSJ reports free beer is now on the table as the company scrambles to make amends.
The Bud Light folks have “pledged to boost its marketing spending on Bud Light, accelerate production of a new slate of ads, and give a case of Bud Light to every employee of an Anheuser-Busch wholesaler, distributors said.”
From The Wall Street Journal:
The efforts are continuing a month after Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender social-media star, spoke in an Instagram video about a personalized can of Bud Light that the brewer had sent her as a gift. The April 1 post sparked a boycott that caused sales to plummet for both Anheuser-Busch and its independently owned distributors. The distributors’ employees, many of whom drive trucks bearing the Bud Light logo, were confronted by angry people on streets, in stores and in bars.
In the week ended April 22, Bud Light’s U.S. retail-store sales fell 21.4% compared with the year-earlier period, according to an analysis of Nielsen data by Bump Williams Consulting. Meanwhile, sales of rival brands Coors Light and Miller Lite each grew about 21%.
Sales of other Anheuser-Busch brands declined, too, including Budweiser, Busch Light and Michelob Ultra, according to Bump Williams.
“It sent shock waves through distributors,” said Jeff Wheeler, vice president of marketing for Del Papa Distributing near Houston, Texas, where he said his administrative staff fielded “tons of phone calls from people being very hateful.”
More over at The Wall Street Journal:
The maker of Bud Light is working to make amends with its distributors, who say they have taken the brunt of the backlash to a company promotion with Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender social-media star https://t.co/284OhJXaRL
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) May 2, 2023
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