Bud Light pours at bars and restaurants take steep nosedive across the country: Data
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: A tech firm that provides data to the beverage industry has revealed how Bud Light saw a considerable decline in pours at restaurants and bars across the US after the brand decided to partner with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
BeerBoard, which tracks approximately 3,000 locations across the country, said that Bud Light recorded 6% lesser sales between April 2 to April 15 after calls to boycott the company. The collaboration between Bud Light and Mulvaney notably commenced on April 1 and sparked an immediate backlash, with many conservative figures distancing themselves from the brand. The beermaker's sales cratered 11% in the week after the announcement and fell a further 21% in volume the following week, per data gathered by NielsenIQ and Bump Williams Consulting.
READ MORE
Senior execs placed on leave
According to The Wall Street Journal, several execs were placed on leave over the incident, including Daniel Blake, who oversees marketing for Anheuser-Busch’s mainstream brands. Blake is reportedly the boss of Alissa Heinerscheid, Bud Light’s vice president of marketing, who was also placed on leave late last week. “Given the circumstances, Alissa has decided to take a leave of absence which we support,” a spokeswoman for Anheuser-Busch said in an email to the outlet, adding, “Daniel has also decided to take a leave of absence.” The report, however, said sources familiar with the matter indicated their decision to take a leave of absence was not voluntary.
Bud Light’s partnership with controversial transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney has completely backfired on the company, which attempted to court a younger demographic. The boycott is, indeed, working.
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) April 26, 2023
Citing declining sales, Marketing VP Alissa Heinerscheid claimed that Bud… pic.twitter.com/VE7ZPBKYMl
According to the report, Anheuser-Busch is making internal adjustments within its marketing department so that “senior staff are fully connected to decisions about brand activities." The company said, “These steps will help us maintain focus on the things we do best: brewing great beer for all consumers, while always making a positive impact in our communities and on our country."
'This brand is in decline'
Just days after the Mulvaney controversy erupted, a video surfaced of remarks made by Heinerscheid during a recent podcast appearance, in which she expressed her desire to change Bud Light's image. “I’m a businesswoman, I had a really clear job to do when I took over Bud Light, and it was ‘This brand is in decline, it’s been in a decline for a really long time, and if we do not attract young drinkers to come and drink this brand there will be no future for Bud Light,’” she said during the podcast.
Alissa Heinerscheid, Bud Light’s VP of Marketing, doubles down on her extreme woke strategy to promote the “declining” American beer brand to “young people”, while smearing her former customers as “fratty and out of touch”.
— Old Row (@OldRowOfficial) April 9, 2023
How’s that working out for you, lady? @budlight pic.twitter.com/zNYKbMnZnu
Heinerscheid said she had a "super clear" mandate “to evolve and elevate this incredibly iconic brand," following which she aimed to incorporate “inclusivity, it means shifting the tone, it means having a campaign that’s truly inclusive, and feels lighter and brighter and different, and appeals to women and to men.” The marketing exec added, “Representation is sort of at the heart of evolution, you have got to see people who reflect you in the work. We had this hangover, I mean Bud Light had been kind of a brand of fratty, kind of out-of-touch humor, and it was really important that we had another approach.”