New Nielsen data shows that sales of Anheuser-Busch InBev’s (BUD) Bud Light plunged 24.6% over the week ending May 13th. That is an acceleration of the declines seen over the week ending May 6th, when sales declined 23.6%.
Volumes fell 28.4% from the previous week, compared to a 27.7% fall the previous week.
The collapse in the sales of Bud Light began after transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney posted an endorsement of the light beer on Instagram during the March Madness basketball tournament, featuring a beer can that had been printed with the influencer’s image.
After the post went viral online, Bud light sales began trending lower through April, and now that trend is continuing into May. The decline accelerated following a video posted online from country music star Kid Rock, in which he shot cases of the beer with a machine gun. That triggered a wider boycott from many on the right, and a surge of publicity about the situation.
In late April, Alissa Heinerscheid, Bud Light’s vice president of marketing, who was credited with the responsibility for the ad campaign featuring the transgender influencer, took a leave of absence, and was replaced by Budweiser global marketing VP Todd Allen.
The declines in sales are also spreading to the rest of ABInBev’s expansive beer portfolio as well.
Nielsen data for the week ending May 13th shows that Michelob Ultra has suffered a 6.8% decline in volume, while Budweiser has suffered a 14.9% decrease, and Natural Light has suffered an 8.5% fall.
Evercore ISI analyst Robert Ottenstein wrote in a client note, “Another week of flattish trends sequentially for Bud Light indicates that tracked channels have reached a point of stabilization, albeit at significantly lower levels for ABI than prior to the controversy. The rest of ABI’s portfolio moderated slightly after improving slightly in the week prior, which indicates that boycotts on the firm’s portfolio outside of Bud Light are continuing at this point.”
In the meantime, rivals are closing in, seeking to exploit the situation.
Heineken has plans to spend $100 million to market its new light beer, Heineken Silver, to consumers, hoping to pick up some of the disaffected Bud Light consumers who are seeking a replacement light beer. The company has said it will give away two million samples of its product for free this year as part of that campaign.
