The company has taken a beating since the Bud Light ad featuring Dylan Mulvany went viral.
Not only has the former beer giant lost its number one spot, just a few months later, they are set to lay off staff.
According to reports, hundreds are about to lose their jobs amid the company taking a sales beating.
In May, Modelo Especial dethroned Anheuser-Busch in just one month following the controversy, and the beer giant has never recovered.
From Reuters:
Constellation Brands’ Modelo Especial was the top-selling beer brand in the United States for a second consecutive month in June, after first dethroning Anheuser-Busch InBev’s Bud Light in May.
Bud Light, which held the top spot as the most-sold beer in 2022 and in the first four months of this year, has seen sales drop after a backlash from conservatives over a social media promotion with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
Several U.S. retailers have faced pushback from conservatives over the sale of LGBTQ+ merchandise. Target, which has sold Pride-themed merchandise in June for years, was forced to remove some of it following confrontations between customers and employees.
Modelo Especial was the top-selling beer brand for the four weeks ended July 1, with an 8.7% share of overall beer sales through retail stores for the period, while Bud Light came in second with a 7% share, according to consulting company Bump Williams, which sources data from NielsenIQ.
Sales of Bud Light have dropped a staggering 28%.
“The Bud Light and Budweiser share losses would persist through the year and we believe that the consumers who have opted to move away from those two brands are ultimately lost to the company,” said TD Cowen analyst Vivien Azer.
The company attempted a surge for the 4th of July holiday, basically giving the beer away; however, social media was flooded with images of unsold Bud Light near-empty shelves.
Here’s what salem Oregon folks think about BUDLIGHT products pic.twitter.com/yXFsoRJPen
— Blomquist Swain (@occupiedforces) July 4, 2023
