Bud Light Sales Fall 30 Percent in Latest Week Since Boycott
Dylan Mulvaney brought on calls for boycott.The latest tracking figures by Nielsen IQ, provided to Newsweek by Bump Williams Consulting, show that in the week ending June 10, Bud Light sales volume—the number of units of beer sold—was 30.3 percent lower than in the same week in 2022, the largest such drop since the week ending April 1.However, Dave Williams, vice president for analytics and insights at Bump Williams Consulting, cautioned that Bud Light's sales earlier in the year still made it the top brand in America in both retail revenue and volumes, despite a strong showing from competitor labels.Since the calls for a boycott of the beer brand began at the start of April, both Bud Light's sales revenue and volume saw steep declines in the first five weeks of the controversy, before settling around mid-20 percent below the levels of 2022.During the controversy, parent company Anheuser-Busch was accused of alienating its traditional customer base with the partnership, while some in the LGBTQ+ community have also slammed the company for not defending its ties with Mulvaney.While the company's global CEO, Michel Doukeris, said in a May 4 investor call that the declining Bud Light sales represented about 1 percent of Anheuser-Busch's global volume, the latest figures suggest the backlash is having a lasting impact on the beer brand's U.S.
