In a story that continues to disrupt the beer industry, Bud Light sales have continued to decline for the ninth week in a row and has now fallen an astounding 24.4% over that period. The downfall has led to significant sales declines at AB wholesalers across the country, an uptick in sales for competing brands and has allowed Modelo to replace Bud Light as the number one selling beer.
The boycott of the brand began after Bud Light partnered with social media contributor Dylan Mulvaney who celebrated the one-year anniversary since she began identifying as a woman.
The impact has resulted in approximately $27 billion lost in market value for AB InBev. The lost sales have reverberated downstream to the middle tier where AB wholesalers have few if any brands that have benefited from the drop in Bud Light. Sales people who are usually paid in part by commission based on overall sales have reportedly lost as much as $2000 last month compared to a typical May.
It also now appears that Modelo Especial has bumped Bud Light off the top-selling beer position. Making up 8.4 percent of U.S. retail beer sales, according to an article in the New York Times, sales of Bud Light fell to 7.3 percent of U.S. beer sales while Modelo hit 8.4 percent in the four weeks that ended June 3. Bud Light has held the number one position for about two decades, although it has been on the decline prior to the boycott.
The situation has even strained relations between AB and the industry press, with Beer Business publisher Harry Schuhmacher spending time on his most recent podcast describing how AB executives have shunned the industry press and encouraged their wholesalers to do the same.
It now appears that Bud Light may have a difficult time recovering and sales will almost certainly never return to where they stood earlier this year. The controversy has little impact, and no benefit to the craft beer segment, but it is a profile in consumer reaction that will long be remembered by all in the industry.