It really hit them.
Anheuser-Busch InBev, the Belgium-based beverage giant that owns more than a third of the American beer industry, posted a 9.1 percent revenue decline in Q1 of 2024. The culprit? The Bud Light boycott.
The world’s largest brewing company, which makes everything from Budweiser to Stella Artois to Corona, reported a sales decline of fourteen percent due primarily to the drop in demand for Bud Light.
The Bud Light boycott began last year when the brewing giant launched an advertising campaign headlining Dylan Mulvaney, a high-profile transgender influencer.
The campaign provoked irritation and outrage among Bud Light’s core customer base: blue-collar and working class white men, who did not appreciate their favorite beverage being associated with emasculation. Momentum quickly built among longtime brand loyalists to find another go-to social drink.
This boycott cost Bud Light its enviable position as the top-selling beer in the United States, dropping it to the number two slot behind Mexican draught Modelo (Which is also owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev).
Despite their difficulties in the U.S., the brewer’s global market position remains strong. They have posted a 2.6 worldwide revenue increase, due primarily to a 15.5 percent global sales spike in their Mexican brand Corona.
Sales volumes in general were good in Europe and Mexico, which the company partly attributes to Easter (and its attendant merry-making) falling in the first quarter of the year this year. In the report, the beermaking behemoth also promoted its wide product portfolio, which includes everything from artisinal ales and niche stouts to flavored and sweetened non-beer alcoholic beverages, and attributed to this diversity its robustness in the face of the pressure from the Bud Light boycott.
Overall, the company posted a profit of $1.51 billion for the quarter. During the same period last year, it netted $1.31 billion in profits.
The Budweiser parent company said that before taxes, interest, amortization, and depreciation, it expects that the 2024 fiscal year will show an overall growth of between 4 and 8 percent.
