One influencer post ended Bud Light's 22-year run as America's #1 beer

On 1 April 2023 Dylan Mulvaney posted a sponsored Instagram video of herself drinking a personalised Bud Light can, part of a March Madness promotion. The post became a flashpoint in the US culture war: conservative commentators urged a boycott, and Kid Rock responded with a video of himself shooting up cases of Bud Light with a rifle.

Sales fell within weeks, and Anheuser-Busch's response satisfied no one. CEO Brendan Whitworth said on 14 April: 'We never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people. We are in the business of bringing people together over a beer.' On 23 April the Wall Street Journal reported that Bud Light's marketing VP Alissa Heinerscheid and her boss Daniel Blake had been put on leave; the company said it supported their leaves of absence.

Group CEO Michel Doukeris called it 'one can, one influencer, one post and not a campaign', but the numbers said otherwise: in the four weeks to 3 June Bud Light sales were down almost a quarter, and Modelo Especial had taken the top spot with 8.4% of US beer sales by value. In the second quarter US revenue fell 10.5%, shipments fell 15% and depletions fell 14%, with North American revenue down $395 million year on year.

On 27 July the company cut about 380 US corporate jobs — less than 2% of its US workforce. By mid-August Modelo had passed Bud Light for the year to date, ending a 22-year reign as America's best-selling beer; Bud Light's dollar sales were down 14.5% for the year.

The retreat satisfied no one: dropping the influencer and shelving the campaign cost $395M in North American revenue, the #1 spot, and 380 US jobs.

One promotional post became a national flashpoint: Bud Light, a brand built to offend nobody, suddenly stood for a side in a culture war it never meant to join.

The retreat pleased nobody: the brewer dropped the influencer and shelved the campaign — capitulation to critics, betrayal to supporters — and the two executives behind the post were out within weeks.

The cost scaled absurdly with the cause: one post meant double-digit revenue declines, the end of a 22-year #1 run and hundreds of layoffs — a $395 million quarter from a single sponsorship.

Bud Light's 22-year reign rested on being the beer nobody argued about; the moment it became the beer everybody argued about, the lead was gone within weeks.

A brand that avoids taking sides must be ready for the day its marketing lands on one anyway: a single Bud Light post ended a 22-year #1 run, and the retreat that followed made it worse.

Modelo Especial overtook Bud Light as America's best-selling beer in mid-2023 — 8.4% of US beer sales by value in the four weeks to 3 June — and by 12 August it was ahead for the year to date, ending Bud Light's 22-year reign. Bud Light dollar sales were down 14.5% for the year by late July, with volume down 18.8%. The executives placed on leave in April, Bud Light VP Alissa Heinerscheid and her boss Daniel Blake, were replaced by Todd Allen. Group CEO Michel Doukeris said the brewer was working to 'earn back consumers' because drinkers 'want to enjoy their beer without a debate'.