this post was submitted on 31 Oct 2023
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Anheuser-Busch Inbev said Tuesday that revenue growth in most of its global regions was offset by a drop in North American sales, in a sign of continuing fallout from a promotion with a transgender influencer that cost it sales.

The world’s largest brewer and parent company of Bud Light said adjusted earnings for the latest quarter rose 4.1% to $5.4 billion on revenues that climbed 5% to $15.6 billion.

Revenue in the United States for the July-September period, however, tumbled 13.5%. AB InBev, based in Leuven, Belgium, noted that sales to retailers were down “primarily due to the volume decline of Bud Light.”

Bud Light sales plunged amid a conservative backlash after the brand sent a commemorative can to transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney in early April.

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[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 229 points 1 year ago (7 children)

No...

Rightwingers started making a bunch of noise. And AB immediately caved to them. Making the vast majority of everyone else not want to buy their products either.

If they stayed on course the drop probably wouldn't happen. Instead they managed to piss of the majority of Americans on both sides.

[–] pulaskiwasright@lemmy.ml 57 points 1 year ago (20 children)

I wonder what percentage of people who would be put off by Budweiser caving to bigots so quickly would actually regularly drink Budweiser in the first place?

[–] ElderWendigo@sh.itjust.works 62 points 1 year ago (7 children)

Have you seen the way those hipsters guzzle PBR? Do you really think it tastes any better than Budweiser? Image is EVERYTHING when you're selling cheap beer. Budweiser could have cemented its place as a progressive all-inclusive all-american beer. Instead they gave in to the bullies, an act that no bully can respect.

[–] thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.org 28 points 1 year ago (1 children)

PBR has a very distinct flavor. Its not great but its fine.

The best thing about a PBR is, if you don't finish it.... oh well

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[–] pulaskiwasright@lemmy.ml 16 points 1 year ago

Selling hipsters on a basically dead beer like PBR would be easier than getting them to drink the most mainstream of beers.

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[–] themeatbridge@lemmy.world 26 points 1 year ago

The people who drink Budweiser and Bud Light are the people who buy cheap beer. Whether it's at a bar or stocking up for a party, it's like buying chips or pizza, you aren't thinking too hard about it. Miller or Busch or PBR or Coors or Old Style or Michelob or any other roughly equivalent beer (half of which are also owned by AB) works just as well. Budweiser gave people a reason to think about their beer, and didn't give anyone a reason to think positively about their beer. If you are looking at the available options, and one of them is associated with bigotry, you're going to pick anything else.

[–] SCB@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Bud Light sells at gay bars the same as any other beer lol

Gay people are just normal people.

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[–] Masterchief117@lemmy.world 18 points 1 year ago

Worst part was they hung Dylan out to dry. She didn’t ask for the partnership, they wanted to use her for her demo. Then, when bigots started losing their minds, they threw her under the bus. They offered zero guidance or support of any kind. After unleashing the hate and vitriol of assholes across the country, silence. Fuck everyone involved at InBev.

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[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 122 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Note that they still gained revenue. The idiots not buying Bud Light just bought another of the bajillion beers AB Inbev owns.

[–] rockSlayer@lemmy.world 67 points 1 year ago (2 children)

And not just gained revenue, but 5.4 god damn billion dollars. "Hurting" my ass. They can give me some of that so they can keep milking this bs

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[–] foggy@lemmy.world 26 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Reminds me of when the US was in some soccer related match against Belgium, and AB In-Bev decked their Budweiser cans out in American flags.

Idiots everywhere. 'yeah gimme an America beer to support team USA!!'

...Those sales went to a Belgian owned conglomerate.

[–] bioemerl@kbin.social 11 points 1 year ago

Nothing is more American than global trade and purchasing shit from our allies, nothing wrong with that

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[–] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 56 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Everyone that got pissed off about that tried other stuff and found out it was actually better.

[–] ki77erb@lemmy.world 53 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Also, a lot of dumbasses probably went to the store and bought a different product... made by the same company.

[–] HawlSera@lemm.ee 19 points 1 year ago

Hang out at a gas station in the south a lot...

Lot of dumbasses buying Budweiser hoping that Budlight goes bankrupt because of their decision to get something else.

Might as well be trying to bankrupt Coke by buying Diet Coke.

[–] MayvisDelacour@lemmy.world 26 points 1 year ago (9 children)

Haha came here thinking the same thing. I actually liked their endorsement for that trans person but I'd never switch to fuckin bud lite. Ew.

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[–] Furedadmins@lemmy.world 44 points 1 year ago (1 children)

People should be boycotting bud light because it's awful not because of their ad.

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 19 points 1 year ago (3 children)

What I don't get is all the people pointing out Bud Light doesn't taste good like it's a recent discover or new change...

Like, do you all really think people are out their drinking shitty light beer because they like the taste?

They're drinking it because it's cheap and they can drink a case a day by themselves.

Hell, back in college if someone showed up with Budweiser, they got shit for wasting money on "expensive" beer. Normally everyone just bought whatever was the cheapest option, because how it tasted was the absolute lowest priority when getting enough booze for 50-100 broke college kids to binge drink.

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[–] Discoslugs@lemmy.world 39 points 1 year ago (2 children)

My mom drinks bud light because she can drink all day and still use power tools with relative safety.

[–] pozbo@lemmy.world 24 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Your mom might be everyone's dad. Shit is real.

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[–] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

It's just water. I don't see what the big deal is. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[–] negativeyoda@lemmy.world 39 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

I didn't understand that campaign... Bud Light has always been the wilfully shitty and boring beer that appeals to (and I'm trying to be diplomatic here... ) blue collar types or those that don't really have a discerning palate.

Millennials and Zoomers by and large don't drink that much beer. Gender neutral/accepting club kids don't drink beer. If they're drinking anything, it's likely cocktails or white claw. In the odd event they went for beer it would be something quirky or higher quality than Bud fucking Light. Presumably Bud was trying to appeal to that crowd since their chief demographic is stagnant, but Bud Light was silly to not go after a group adjacent to their core audience but instead court a fickle segment of the population who doesn't give half a fuck about what they're selling and moreover is full on HATED by who already consumed their beer. Bud has decades of cultural weight about being a conservative, blue collar beer... that matters for better or worse

For the record: I'm glad a brand like Bud (who I have zero love for) made overtures to the trans community... even if it was crass commercialization. From a purely capitalist perspective, it made zero sense for a brand like Bud. What's worse, due to Bud's misstep, bigots now feel emboldened and other brands might make the decision to not be inclusive after watching this play out

Trans allies (and open minded folks in general) by and large moved on from tasteless American adjunct lagers a decade ago and drink completely different beer. Bud is a relic. Trying to give it a hurried makeover won't suddenly make it cool. Jumping into the culture war fray and folding the instant bigots complained just fucked things up Bud's appeal for anyone whose attention they had

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[–] mctoasterson@reddthat.com 36 points 1 year ago (5 children)

InBev is anus and their generic beers are mostly horrible. People should have already been boycotting them long ago for being a soulless international conglomerate.

Chances are there is a local or regional brew that corresponds to whatever mass market swill they produce, and people should drink those small local brewery offerings instead.

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[–] Burn_The_Right@lemmy.world 26 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Conservatism is a plague of oppression. If you are not with them, you are against them.

The disease of conservatism is long overdue for a cure. Do your part by teaching your children why it is inappropriate to keep relationships with conservatives

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[–] paultimate14@lemmy.world 25 points 1 year ago (20 children)

ITT: "Bud Light is bad"

So are all of the top-selling beers in the world, and especially in America (which is the subject of this article).

We get it. You're into craft beer that costs $20/pint. I like them on occasion myself. But when I want to get drunk on beer cheaply, I'm not going to my local brewery. I'm not even going to Great Lakes or Same Adams. I'm going for a cheap, light, mass-produced pilsner. PBR, Coors, Miller Lite, Bud Light, Youngling, etc. They're all the same cheap swill.

It's the same with everything. The average person who isn't an enthusiast consumes tons of mediocre junk. Taylor Swift is probably a good analog for music: I don't see a lot of academic musicians analyzing the new music theory she's implementing, or literary analysts dissecting her lyrics. Marvel Movies are getting famous for being pretty much the same heroes journey with rushed CGI every 6 months or so. Tons of people still watch shows like Friends, the Office, and Seinfeld. McDonald still sells billions of burgers in spite of the existence of high-end restaurants.

And that's okay. Not everything. You consume needs to be some ultra-expensive artisanal elitist product.

As for Bud Light in particular, this is a a great example of a bad PR team. Either stick to your guns or don't enter the fight in the first place. The fact that they've backed down and caved to transphobes means they're much lower on my list now.

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[–] Wilibus@lemmy.world 25 points 1 year ago (2 children)

That's a very loose definition of the word "struggles"

[–] ours@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago (2 children)
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[–] HawlSera@lemm.ee 24 points 1 year ago

...So... it's making billions instead of billions? My God...

[–] corroded@lemmy.world 22 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I'm only familiar with the "controversy" from the headlines, but I don't quite understand what pissed off the conservatives so much. Budweiser just sent this person a custom-branded 6-pack or something, right?

Every company sells their product to people from all walks of life, it's just not always publicized. The fact that they choose to rage against Budweiser of all brands is just ridiculous to me. Now if they were complaining about the quality of the beer, that I might understand.

[–] kandoh@reddthat.com 17 points 1 year ago

Rightwing influencers need content just like every other influencer. They found out about the promotion and then went to work making the videos that would drive their audiences absolutely insane over this nonsense.

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[–] RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world 21 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think it's more related to the total lack of spine on their part, and their willingness to sell out one market in order to appease another.

They could have had a market for life. Just ask Subaru.

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[–] Coreidan@lemmy.world 20 points 1 year ago (8 children)

Their beer is awful. Maybe that’s the reason

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[–] pineapplelover@lemm.ee 18 points 1 year ago

They posted about trans issues and removed it so the conservatives think they support it and the trans people think they're liars (they are). They kind of get the worse of both worlds now, if they stuck with supporting trans rights, they could've at least retained the lgbt+ market

[–] kaotic@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I just hate Budweiser, not the company… the product.

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[–] kttnpunk@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

Really doubt it was because of this one incident, conservatives just sensationalize anything to do with trans people. Like... Budwieser is a trash product. Everyone knows it. Anybody with taste buds who wants to drink will grab anything else.
But ofc it makes business sense to blame it on us trans people, like this was anything, like Budweiser ever did shit for us in the first place...

[–] DrMango@lemmy.world 29 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Iirc they backed a trans influencer drawing conservative outrage, then, after realizing that the conservatives were a large part of their customer base, they did a 180 and publicly cut ties with the influencer thereby also alienating the customers they hoped to gain in the first place while also not gaining back much of their conservative customers.

Someone feel free to fact check me I'm drawing on memory here.

[–] SmoothIsFast@citizensgaming.com 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Eh you are forgetting the spot where the conservative snowflakes also just started buying different beer from anheuser-busch because they don't know how companies are structured and thought bud light was a whole company. They haven't lost money here just the share of money coming from bud light in north America has shifted to other beers they own.

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[–] Skkorm@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I mean they pissed off the only people willing to drink their dog shit excuse for alcohol.

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[–] TenderfootGungi@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They are not even trying. All their tv commercials are now for Modello. Same company.

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[–] Illuminostro@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Why are "conservatives" so weak willed, and need to belong to a team?

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[–] Pulptastic@midwest.social 10 points 1 year ago

The only reason I've ever bought bud light is because of the trans support.

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