The conservative adage “go woke, go broke” comes to mind when exploring the poor condition that Bud Light is in. According to The Daily Mail, the sales of its product remain much lower than they were a year ago ahead of the July 4th weekend. In fact the company suffered its second worst decline on record, a 27.9 percent drop- that was only beat out by a 28.5 decline the week before.
Unit sales were worse off for the week of June 24, dropping off 31.3 percent, and beat out the prior week’s 31.3 percent decline. So bad is Bud Light’s situation that it lost its status as America’s best selling beer, a position it previously held for more than 2 decades, to Modelo in mid-June.
The significance of the loss of sales for Bud Light during the Fourth of July weekend was noted by Dave Williams, vice president for analytics and insights at Bump Williams Consulting, who said that “[t]he Fourth of July is the biggest beer holiday in terms of retail sales and an opportunity to move a lot of volume…And there has been no notable signs where the course has changed for Bud Light.”
The reason for Bud Light’s remarkable and rapid decline was its partnering with the transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney, who is a biological male claiming to identify with being a woman. Mulvaney back in April shared a video of a customized Bud Light beer can on Instagram that the company sent Mulvaney as a gift.
This partnership by the brand alienated its conservative consumers who boycotted the beer. The company was in for a double whammy when liberals joined in the boycott albeit for different reasons. Liberal consumers claimed that Bud Light failed to adequately show its solidarity with Mulvaney.
The company’s downturn has become something of a meta-joke by conservatives who now cite the brand as a warning to those who alienate their otherwise loyal consumer base through poorly thought through marketing decisions. For example, Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) used the Bud Light template to mock Fox News. He tweeted back in June 16th asking “Did Fox hire Bud Light’s marketing director?” in response to news that the media company was giving money to anti-conservative causes.
Did Fox hire Bud Light’s marketing director? https://t.co/I3V7OYucUc
— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) June 16, 2023
Senator Lee also used the term in relation to a (in his opinion poor) deal over the debt between House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and President Joe Biden. Lee wrote “Once the Biden-McCarthy deal is fully understood, it will be about as popular with Republican voters as Bud Light … purchased on sale at Target.”
Once the Biden-McCarthy deal is fully understood, it will be about as popular with Republican voters as Bud Light … purchased on sale at Target. pic.twitter.com/HcpvXhymAn
— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) June 1, 2023
