The encyclopedia · Advertising & PR · Marketing decision · 2023
Bud Light sent Dylan Mulvaney a personalised can — then lost the #1 US beer spot
One influencer post triggered a boycott from the right and fury at the response from the left. US sales fell over 10% and two executives were put on leave.
Anheuser-Busch InBev · Bud Light · 2023-04
What happened
In April 2023, Bud Light sent transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney a personalised can of beer for a social media post. The partnership was part of a broader effort to reverse declining sales and reach younger audiences. Within days, a boycott spread across conservative social media. Musician Kid Rock, NFL player Trae Waynes and model Bri Teresi shared videos of themselves shooting Bud Light cans.
AB InBev's response was criticised from both directions. The company put two marketing executives on leave and launched a recovery advertising blitz, but was accused by commentators on the left of capitulating to the boycott and by commentators on the right of not going far enough. US sales fell more than 10% in the spring quarter. US core profits dropped more than 28%.
By summer 2023, Modelo had replaced Bud Light as the top-selling beer in the United States — a position Bud Light had held for over two decades. Molson-Coors reported its best US sales since its 2005 merger. CNN estimated the boycott may have cost AB InBev as much as $1.4 billion in sales. The company cut about 2% of its US workforce.
Why it happened
- The partnership was a routine influencer placement that the company had not prepared to defend when it became a culture-war flashpoint
- Putting the responsible executives on leave read as capitulation to the boycott, alienating the audience the campaign was meant to reach
- No crisis plan existed for a partisan backlash: the response was described internally as 'panic and rash decision-making'
- Bud Light's decades-long market lead meant the brand had never needed to fight for shelf loyalty, leaving no playbook for a sustained boycott
The lesson
If a brand cannot defend a routine marketing decision under pressure, the decision was never supported — a crisis plan that only covers product failures leaves the hardest case unhandled.
Aftermath
Bud Light's US sales continued falling into 2024. AB InBev's marketing head stepped down. The case became a textbook example of how a brand's response to a boycott can do more damage than the boycott itself: internal data showed about 80% of US consumers remained favourable or neutral toward Bud Light throughout.
Sources
- BBC News: Bud Light owner says US sales fell after boycott
- CNN: Bud Light boycott may have cost AB InBev $1.4 billion
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