Anheuser-Busch has informed wholesalers that they will buy back expired Bud Light as the brand boycott shows no sign of letting up.
Conservatives have been boycotting Bud Light over the brand partnering with transgender activist and influencer Dylan Mulvaney. Liberals joined the boycott after claiming the brand did not do enough to defend the TikTok celebrity.
According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, “by the second week of May, Bud Light sales volume was down more than 28% compared with the same period last year in U.S. retail stores, according to an analysis of Nielsen data by consulting company Bump Williams. It was a rare case of a politically inspired product boycott working.”
“Bud Light sales began dropping in the first week of April and kept falling for more than a month,” the report added. “The boycott has hurt other Anheuser-Busch beers, too, including Budweiser, Michelob Ultra and Busch Light. Sales volumes for rivals Coors Light and Miller Lite in the second week of May were up about 17% and 15%, respectively, according to Bump Williams.”
The report says that the company is sponsoring a veteran’s organization, making camo print beer cans, and using more football and country music in their commercials to win back customers.
Though the company is attempting to rebuild its image, it does not seem to think the beer will soon be flying off the shelves. The report says that Anheuser-Busch recently told wholesalers that it “would buy back unsold cases of beer that have gone past their expiration date.”
“In the current environment in the social media landscape, you know that consumer brands in different situations might be pulled into the discussion,” AB InBev Chief Executive Michel Doukeris said in an interview with the newspaper. He explained that Bud Light “wasn’t the first and won’t be the last.”
“With one can, one post… we saw how this grew,” Doukeris added.
During a conference call later the same day, Doukeris said, “while beer will always be at the table when important topics are debated, the beer itself should not be the focus of the debate.”
Mulvaney is a biological adult male who has been living as a “girl” for just over a year. He has become a controversial figure over his “Days of Girlhood” series on TikTok — and meeting with President Joe Biden on “Day 222 of being a girl” to advocate for allowing minors to transition.
Mulvaney has 10.8 million followers on TikTok.
