Quoted:
Looks like they still have enough money to support Pride Week in Cincinnati.

https://nypost.com/2023/05/26/bud-light-sponsors-cincinnati-pride-parade-after-dylan-mulvaney-controversy/amp/

Quoted:


Nope. If you purchase Corona or Modelo product in the USA, A-B doesn’t get one cent.

Bud Light To Sponsor Pride Parades Despite Ongoing Boycott
By  Spencer Lindquist

May 25, 2023   DailyWire.com

[Signage of Bud light outside a bar in New York City, United]
Roberto Machado Noa/LightRocket via Getty Images

Bud Light and its parent company Anheuser-Busch are sponsoring at least three different upcoming Pride events despite backlash over the partnership with Dylan Mulvaney, a social media influencer who identifies as transgender.

Bud Light is listed as a sponsor on the Cincinnati Pride Parade website. Planned Parenthood and the Cincinnati Children's Hospital, which medically transitions minors, are both also listed.

Meanwhile, in St. Louis, Missouri, where Anheuser-Busch is headquartered, the company is listed as the presenting sponsor of the St. Louis Pride Parade. A sponsorship packet explains that there are only four "presenting sponsor" slots available. The "Rainbow" sponsorship tier, located below the "presenting sponsor" tier, requires entities to pay $25,000.

Bud Light is also listed as a "Diamond Sponsor" of Stonewall Columbus, which organizes and hosts the annual Columbus, Ohio, Pride Parade. The "diamond" sponsorship tier requires companies to donate $20,000, a document from the organization specifies. The document also adds, "All Stonewall Columbus sponsors must affirm Stonewall's diversity, equity, and inclusion policies AND agree to donate no less than 8 hours of volunteer time during a calendar year."

Anheuser-Busch was also listed as a premier sponsor for the San Francisco Pride Parade in 2022. The 2023 sponsors of the San Francisco Pride Parade have not yet been released.

Bud Light was listed as a sponsor of the Chicago Pride Parade on a page that has since been scrubbed. Bud Light boasted that "we have a clear role to play in bringing real change and creating an inclusive and equitable world where we cherish and celebrate one another."

Corona and Corona Hard Seltzer, products of Anheuser-Busch, are listed as sponsors of the upcoming Los Angeles Pride Parade.

Cutwater Spirits, another Anheuser-Busch product, is listed as a sponsor of the 2023 Chicago Pride Fest, which will occur one week before the Chicago Pride Parade.

The Pride Fest is a two-day festival that will include a "best of Chicago drag performance" and "a Youth Pride Space for teens." Children as young as 12 will be allowed to attend the "youth pride space."

Bud Light sales have declined since its partnership with Mulvaney was revealed, and the company is even offering to buy back expiring cases of Bud Light from retailers. The controversy began when the company gave Mulvaney Bud Light cans with his face on them.

Anson Frericks, the former president of sales and distribution of Anheuser-Busch, offered his prediction for the company's future in an interview with The Daily Wire, saying that he expects a "long, hot, dry summer for Anheuser-Busch."

Anheuser-Busch did not respond to a request for comment.

Quoted:
Looks like they still have enough money to support Pride Week in Cincinnati.

https://nypost.com/2023/05/26/bud-light-sponsors-cincinnati-pride-parade-after-dylan-mulvaney-controversy/amp/

Quoted:
And people will still be stupid enough to think the 'bitch marketing woman' didn't have full company approval for the Mulvany thing.  

Commentary
Investors in Target, Bud Light Have Lost Eye-Popping Amount of Money as Result of Epic Marketing Failures
 By Warner Todd Huston  May 29, 2023 at 12:38pm

Investors who have money in Bud Light and Target have lost their shirts over the last few months as regular Americans everywhere have finally gotten sick and tired of these companies and their obsession with pushing radical left-wing ideologies on consumers.

The woke corporate world is reeling from the twin financial disasters being suffered by Bud Light and Target as the pair have lost a combined $28 billion, according to Fox News.

In the case of Bud Light, it seems obvious that the brand was way too dismissive of its core customer base and took it for granted during its attempt to reach out to new, woke potential customers.

Indeed, one of its executives even insisted that it was time for Bud Light to get past the “fratty” customers who made it the top U.S. beer brand and to begin reaching out to a more woke — and younger — clientele.

Alissa Heinerscheid, vice president of marketing for Bud Light, made the huge mistake of taking a slap at her own customers in the months before the controversy began by saying, “Bud Light had been kind of a brand of fratty, kind of out-of-touch humor.”

The criticism seemed tailor-made to upset longtime customers who might resent being called “fratty” and “out-of-touch.” But her comments didn’t really cause much of a ripple until she approved an effort to partner with transgender TikTok influencer Dylan Mulvaney by having her PR department send Mulvaney some personalized beer cans with the influencer’s face on them.

The move sparked outrage in customers who until then had thought of Bud Light as an all-American-styled beer, not a woke brand. Then, when Heinerscheid’s “fratty” comment resurfaced, it incensed customers enough to launch one of the most serious boycotts coming from the right in recent memory.

Heinerscheid even ended up being “put on leave” as the fiasco played out, and the company rushed out “patriotic” commercials in hopes of getting past the transgender mess quickly.

All the behind-the-scenes moves, though, have not staunched the bleeding for Bud Light as it loses billions in market share and is forced to buy back its own expired product because people are leaving the beer sitting on shelves past expiration dates.

As Fox noted, the mess Bud Light got itself into prompted HSBC analyst Carlos Laboy to cut the stock to a hold rating and question the competence of the beer brand’s leadership.

“Why did its US leadership underestimate the risk of pushback given the recent experience of other firms? Is A-B hiring the best people to grow the brands and gauge risk? If Budweiser and Bud Light are iconic American ideas that have long brought consumers together, why did these marketers fail to invite new consumers without alienating the core base of the firm’s largest brand? These questions are not trivial to the crisis and say a lot about the state of A-B’s marketing culture,” Laboy wrote.

Target has also found itself on the losing end of a boycott movement after the company came under fire for its transgender “tuck-friendly,” female-style swimsuits and its partnership with a company and its designer who actually espouses Satanism.

While Bud Light’s customers likely reacted because most were unaware that the beer brand had a history of supporting the radical LGBT agenda, no one is under any illusion that Target was any sort of all-American brand, as it is well known that the retailer has for more than a decade pumped millions into the radical gay movement that seeks to groom our children.

It seems likely that Target quickly found itself in the midst of a boycott and losing billions because the boycott of Bud Light was so successful, not to mention that over the last several years conservatives are finally warming to castigate the transgender movement for targeting our children.

Regardless, Fox News noted that the move was not a great one for Target’s bottom line.

“The merchandising move shaved more than $9 billion off the retailer’s market value since mid-week last week with shares down over 12.6%, as tracked by Dow Jones Market Data Group. Over the same time frame, the S&P 500 is little changed,” Fox noted.

Timothy Calkins, associate chair of the marketing department at Northwestern Kellogg, told Fox that he thinks Target and every other corporation will continue supporting the extreme LGBT movement despite the twin boycotts going on now.

“I believe Target is still very much going to support Pride. And I think we’ll see lots of organizations do that because that is an issue that has broad support across the country and that isn’t as controversial as transgender issues,” Calkins said.

These giant corporations absolutely expect you all to get tired of the boycott and to come right back to buying their products in due time. And they feel they are too big to fail and can withstand a few lost dollars for a few weeks, so as things stand now, they won’t likely pare back their donations to extremist groups.

So, Calkins is likely correct. Unless, that is, the boycotts of Target and Bud Light continue and become a cultural phenomenon preventing the brands from rebounding later on. And, also, unless conservatives continue to expand their boycotts to other brands — perhaps smaller brands that will really feel the pain.

Both Bud Light and Target are suffering. Conservatives who are tired of these corporations shoving extremist, left-wing, anti-child and anti-American politics down everyone’s throats have the power to make these companies pay dearly for their needless political activism. If we keep the faith and refuse to patronize these companies, we may finally start to see them cutting off the billions that left-wing groups have been receiving from the business sector.

And anyone who thinks boycotting them is a waste of time

If only they had stuck to selling beer.

Interesting how spitting on your base = inclusivity.

Quoted:
Politico playbook has confirmed it:
https://archive.is/MAFvg



Target has too:
https://archive.is/dZep3


"Recieved threats"

Yeah. I don't believe you just because you say it.

"How can we do stuff the leftist revolutionaries won't like without getting pummelled by them ... I KNOW! Say someone was threatened!"

------------------------

This is not the time to ease up on the pressure.

LGBTQ+ activists call for new strategies to promote equality after Target backlash
By DENISE LAVOIE and ANDREW SELSKYtoday


RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Following Target’s announcement last week that it removed products and relocated Pride displays to the back of certain stores in the South, activists in the LGBTQ+ community are calling for new campaigns to convince corporate leaders not to cave to anti-LGBTQ+ groups.
“We need a strategy on how to deal with corporations that are experiencing enormous pressure to throw LGBTQ people under the bus,” said California state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, a member of the LGBTQ legislative caucus.
“We need to send a clear message to corporate America that if you’re our ally — if you are truly our ally — you need to be our ally, not just when it’s easy but also when it’s hard,” he said.
While the retailer said its actions were aimed at ensuring the safety and well-being of its employees after protesters knocked over Pride signs and confronted workers in stores, the controversy comes at a time when conflict over LGBTQ+ rights is simmering.

Nearly 500 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced in state legislatures around the country this year. At least 18 states have enacted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming care for transgender minors.
The hostile environment has prompted some groups to hire security consultants to advise them on activities planned for Pride Month, which begins on Thursday.
“We are forced to think differently about how we handle security at our events and whether or not we can post our staff’s names and emails on our website,” said Janson Wu, executive director of GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, a nonprofit legal rights organization based in Boston.
Debra Porta, executive director of Pride Northwest, in Portland, Oregon, said there have been discussions about a possible boycott, a letter-writing campaign and other actions directed at Target, but plans for an organized protest haven’t yet materialized.
“Because the news is fairly new, more actions may be announced, especially as Pride Month gets here,” said Porta.
Target isn’t the only company grappling with public criticism.
Bud Light is still dealing with fallout from its partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, who in April posted a picture on Instagram of a beer can with her face on it. In response to the hate-filled and transphobic backlash that followed, the company said it “never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people,” but didn’t directly address the rhetoric or signal clear support for Mulvaney. Bud Light’s parent company, Anheuser-Busch, is tripling its U.S. marketing spending this summer as it tries to restore lost sales.
In early May, several gay bars in Chicago stopped selling Anheuser-Busch products to protest the company’s response.
Chicago’s 2Bears Tavern said the company’s response “shows how little Anheuser-Busch cares about the LGBTQIA+ community, and in particular transgender people, who have been under unrelenting attack in this country.”
“Since Anheuser-Busch does not support us, we will not support it,” said the company.
Sidetrack, the largest gay bar in the Midwest, did the same, saying Anheuser-Busch “wrongfully validates the position that it is acceptable to acquiesce to the demands of those who do not support the trans community and wish to erase LGBTQ+ visibility.”
In Florida, Disney has been engaged in a legal battle with Gov. Ron DeSantis since the company expressed its opposition to the state’s classroom limits on discussing gender identity and sexual orientation.
And the Los Angeles Dodgers announced last week that a satirical LGBTQ+ group called the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence will again be welcome at the team’s annual Pride Night — nearly a week after the team rescinded its original invitation, citing backlash from conservative Roman Catholics and politicians who accused the group of mocking the Christian faith.
“Now’s not the time to back down,” said Brian K. Bond, executive director of PFLAG, an organization founded in 1973 to advocate for LGBTQ+ people and their families.
“I think both business and us as citizens need to look within ourselves into new strategies. The old models aren’t necessarily working,” he said.
Some people remain concerned about the impact of Target’s Pride displays on children, said Victoria Cobb, president of The Family Foundation of Virginia, a conservative, faith-based organization in Richmond.
“Target is paying the price for telling kids to be discontent with their bodies, putting ideology ahead of the interests of investors, and creating a hostile store environment for parents with children,” Cobb said in a statement.
In a Richmond Target store on Sunday, Pride merchandise was prominently displayed at the front of the store.
Brenda Alston, a 75-year-old retiree, said she bought a pair of rainbow sandals to show support for the LGBTQ+ community and for Target.
“If you come in the store and this is not what you support, keep on walking and get what you need in another part of the store,” Alston said. “Who are you to tell me what to buy and what Target should offer their customers?”
Still, some see the hostility toward Target and other retailers as just the latest obstacle in a decades-long struggle for equality.
“To me, this is a sign that we’re winning,” said Derek Mize, a gay attorney who lives in an Atlanta suburb with his husband and two children.
“I think that these people moaning about our visibility are the last breaths of a dying prejudice,” he said. “Society is changing, and most people are not concerned about Target selling an LGBTQ shirt.”
___
Selsky reported from Salem, Oregon.

Beer Published May 27, 2023 10:47am EDT
Bud Light 24-pack sells for $3.49 in at least one store as sales tank: report
Bud Light's marketing mishap shows no signs of ending
By Chris Pandolfo FOXBusiness

Bud Light sales fell for the sixth straight week, industry data shows, amid a boycott that has retailers desperate to unload the unwanted beer. 

Since Anheuser-Busch's ill-fated team-up with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, the beer giant's sales have tanked, its stock price is down, and stores have begun marking down Bud Light and other Anheuser-Busch products to get them off their shelves. 

Analysts for the trade publication Beer Business Daily, who reviewed Nielsen IQ data, said Bud Light volumes for the week ending May 13 fell 28.4%, following a 27.7% decline the week before.

Other Anheuser-Busch brands have taken a hit, too, with Budweiser Red volumes down 14.9% for that week and Michelob Ultra down 6.8%. 

Competitors are benefiting from the controversy, with Coors Light sales up 16.9% and Miller Lite up 15.1%, according to Beer Business Daily.

The sales catastrophe has prompted Anheuser-Busch to introduce a promotional rebate ahead of Memorial Day weekend. The rebate promises an amount "equivalent to the purchase price of one (1) 15-pack or larger, up to $15" of Bud Light, Budweiser, Budweiser Select or Budweiser Select 55 paid via Anheuser-Busch Digital Prepaid Mastercard.

But since some retailers are selling 15-packs or larger of Budweiser products for under $15, the rebate makes these purchases free, excluding sales tax or any state restrictions.

Beer Business Daily analysts expect more promotions throughout the summer to turn around Budweiser's sales. 

"This could be a promotional summer the likes we haven’t seen since after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, where there was so much beer inventory backed up in the trade that it initiated the price war of all price wars," Beer Business Daily said.

The trade publication explained that "large price wars are often sparked by external events—in that case Hurricane Katrina, and in this case Hurricane Mulvaney." 

Bud Light’s gifting transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney a personalized pack of beer with the influencer's likeness as part of an ad for the company's March Madness contest and to celebrate the year anniversary since Mulvaney began identifying as a woman has cost Anheuser-Busch nearly $19 billion with shares down 14% amid nationwide boycotts of the beer and sales tanking. The S&P 500 has risen 2.5% over the same time period.
"The only difference this time is the external event is only negatively affecting one brewer," the report said. 

Bud Light’s Sales Implosion, Explained (by Mises)
Jon Miltimore 
– May 27, 2023

stopped drinking Bud Light decades ago, so when the Dylan Mulvaney controversy exploded last month, I didn’t need to consider if I’d stop drinking Anheuser-Busch’s most popular product.  

What’s clear is that many others have decided to quit the beer over the brand’s decision to wade into transgender politics. According to figures reported in The St. Louis Dispatch, based on data from a Connecticut-based consulting group that focuses on the alcoholic beverage industry, Bud Light’s in-store sales fell 11 percent in the week that ended April 8 from the same period the previous year. Year-over-year sales fell even faster over the next two weeks, dropping 26 percent in mid April. The decline continued into May despite ad blitzes and marketing gimmicks that included $20 rebates—on a $19.98 case of beer. Oof.  

Endless ink has been spilled over the controversy, which was fueled by celebrities like Travis Tritt and Kid Rock, who shot up several cases of Bud Light after the Mulvaney ads began to go viral.  

Many public figures seemed genuinely stunned by what they saw as a massive overreaction to a single March Madness ad featuring Mulvaney, who drank from a Bud Light while talking cluelessly about the NCAA tournament.  

“I thought there must be a piece of the story that I’m missing,” shock jock Howard Stern said on his show. 

Writing at Vox, Emily Stewart poo-pooed the Bud Light controversy and predicted it would blow over, pointing out that similar campaigns directed at other major brands quickly fizzled out. 

“In terms of hurting sales, boycotts tend not to be super effective as most people don’t respond, let alone stick to them,” wrote Stewart. “Remember the Great Keurig Boycott of 2017? Or Frito-Lay in 2021? Or, more recently, when people were mad because M&Ms were girls?” 

Stewart might be correct that Bud Light’s problems will blow over, though I have doubts. Still, critics scratching their heads over the controversy have a point that there’s something fickle and disproportionate about it. After all, Jack Daniels, a brand with a consumer base similar to Bud Light, recently ran its own LGBTQ+ ad campaign featuring American drag queen Ru Paul, and it generated a fraction of the scrutiny. Miller Lite, meanwhile, ran its own “woke” ad that was ignored for months. 

In a way, I feel sorry for Bud Light. The company is being singled out for doing the same thing other publicly traded companies are doing: catering to the ESG (environmental, social, and governance) puppeteers who are scoring them on “social responsibility.”  

ESG scoring is notoriously opaque, but the costs of not playing the game are quite real. ESG funds managed some $40 trillion in assets as of 2022, according to Bloomberg, and a poor score can get a publicly traded company booted from a fund just that fast, as Tesla found out that same year when it was kicked off the S&P 500 ESG index despite its sparkling sustainability score.  

“While Tesla may be playing its part in eliminating fuel-powered cars, it has fallen behind its peers when examined through a broader ESG lens,” said Margaret Dorn, the executive in charge of ESG scoring for North America. Dorn didn’t feel it necessary to elaborate further.  

Unsurprisingly, companies are not thrilled about having to do this ESG dance. While they pay lip service to ESG publicly, a 2022 CNBC survey showed most CFOs supported efforts to prohibit pension funds from using ESG scoring to determine how they invest.  

One can see why corporate executives chafe under the ESG framework. Instead of focusing on creating value and serving consumers, companies are forced to dance to the ESG piper’s tune and perform whatever social initiatives a tiny cabal of people regard as important.  

This was always the danger in “stakeholder capitalism,” the decades-old attempt to nudge corporations into serving interests other than their own shareholders and consumers. It subordinates consumers, the very people who should be in charge.  

“The real bosses, in the capitalist system of market economy, are the consumers,” the economist Ludwig von Mises famously wrote in his book Bureaucracy. “They, by their buying and by their abstention from buying, decide who should own the capital and run the plants. They determine what should be produced and in what quantity and quality.” 

This is the true lesson of “Bud-lash.” Bud Light forgot who its bosses really were. It wasn’t just that Bud Light was serving the ESG puppeteers—who award companies points for diversity and inclusion initiatives as well as environmental ones—and ignoring its own consumer base. The company was openly insulting its consumer base, describing Bud Light as a “fratty” beer and “out of touch” brand “in decline.” It’s one thing to disregard your boss. It’s another thing to openly insult her.  

Many see Bud-lash as “anti-trans,” but the response is more about reminding corporations who their boss really is: consumers. These are the true masters in a free market economy; they decide who wins and loses, who becomes rich and who becomes poor. And yes, consumers are fickle.  

“They are no easy bosses,” Mises reminds us. “They are full of whims and fancies, changeable and unpredictable. They do not care a whit for past merit. As soon as something is offered to them that they like better or that is cheaper, they desert their old purveyors. With them nothing counts more than their own satisfaction.” 

Bud Light was serving a boss other than its consumers, and it really shouldn’t have to. “ESG is a scam. It has been weaponized by phony social justice warriors,” Elon Musk wrote on Twitter after Tesla was given the boot from the S&P 500 ESG index. 

Musk is not wrong. ESG is a scam, and a dangerous one. It is embraced by anti-capitalists precisely because it undermines the consumer sovereignty Mises described, and empowers the financial class, bureaucrats, and money printers central bankers by enabling them to manage society as they desire while further enriching themselves.     

A famous ancient text says, “No one can serve two masters.” Corporations like Bud Light need to remember who their true bosses are, and it’s past time consumers reminded them. 
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Jon Miltimore

Jonathan Miltimore is the Managing Editor of FEE.org. His writing/reporting has been the subject of articles in TIME magazine, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, Forbes, Fox News, and the Star Tribune.

Bud Light Beer Sells for 14 Cents (A CAN-Flashman) as Company Struggles During Boycott
By Anna Skinner On 5/29/23 at 11:43 AM EDT

A boycott continues to cripple Bud Light sales in stores around the nation, with at least one retailer slashing its price for a 24-pack of Bud Light to $3.49, or approximately 14 cents per can, according to a recent report by Beer Business Daily.
Bud Light and its parent company Anheuser-Busch have experienced a sharp decline in sales since April, when transgender influencer and activist Dylan Mulvaney promoted the brand after receiving a beer can with her face on it to celebrate her one-year anniversary of transitioning to a woman.

Company boycotts have been gaining popularity across the country recently as some people say companies should focus on their products rather than social issues, with Bud Light's marketing decision quickly backfiring in the divisive political landscape around LGBTQ+ issues. People were quick to boycott the beer brand, tanking the company's stock price while sales for products from competitors like Miller Light and Coors Light rose.
The backlash has Anheuser-Busch offering various promotions for its products, with retailers also marking down prices to sell the unwanted beer.

However, the most recent price of 14 cents per can of beer for a 24-pack is not the lowest price for the beer, as Bud Light offered a Memorial Day promotion of a $15 rebate for packs of 15 cans or more. In some areas, a 15-pack of Bud Light sells for less than $15, making the beer free.

Anheuser-Busch also recently offered free beer to its wholesalers to smooth over soured relationships. The company overhauled its marketing department and promised to dedicate more funds to it, but some wholesalers are still disappointed in the boycott. One wholesaler in Alabama, Steve Tatum of Bama Budweiser, took out a radio ad earlier this month to convince customers to return to his establishment as it did not support the brand's decision to partner with Mulvaney.

"We at Bama Budweiser, an independent wholesaler, employ around 100 people who live here, work here, and our children go to school here," Tatum said in part in his ad. "We do not, and as I said before, did not support this issue involving Dylan Mulvaney. There was one single can made. It was not for sale and wasn't properly approved. As a result, the Bud Light brand has new leadership."

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Anheuser-Busch told Newsweek last month that the company "works with hundreds of influencers across our brands as one of many ways to authentically connect with audiences across various demographics," adding that the commemorative can it had given to Mulvaney "was a gift to celebrate a personal milestone and is not for sale to the general public."

The row over transgender brand ambassadors is symbolic of a wider debate about the inclusion of transgender women in female issues and spaces. Some say transgender women should be treated the same as other women, while others say they are different and that hard-won women's rights must be protected.

Bud Light's marketing mishap also has impacted LGBTQ+ influencers, with some admitting that they haven't seen the influx of partnerships they typically do in advance of Pride month, which begins on June 1.
Many public figures have joined the boycott of Bud Light, including Representative Lauren Boebert, a Colorado Republican, musician Kid Rock, and many others.

Newsweek reached out to Anheuser-Busch by email for comment.

Bud Light risks losing No. 1 status in US as sales plunge 25.7% in latest week
By Lisa Fickenscher
May 30, 2023 6:04pm Updated

Bud Light sales suffered their worst week ever, falling 25.7% — endangering its status as the world’s No. 1 beer brand, according to the latest data provided to The Post on Tuesday.

The plunge follows a 24.6% decline from the previous week and the sixth straight week sales have been hit since trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney promoted Bud Light on April 1.

The precipitous drop has narrowed the gap in sales between Bud Light and nearest rival Modelo Especial, which saw its sales surge 9.2% for the week ending May 20, according to Bump Williams Consulting and NielsonIQ data.

“While Bud Light loses week after week, Modelo Especial gains week after week and now Modelo outsells Bud Light on a national basis across all trade channels combined,” Bump Williams, who runs the consulting firm, told The Post. 

“If this continues Modelo will surpass Bud Light for the year,” he added

Anheuser-Busch InBev owns both brands, but it does not control Modelo in the US, where it is owned by New York-based conglomerate Constellation Brands.

“This is a big achievement for Modelo, but it’s short term,” said Benj Steinman, editor of Beer Marketer’s Insights. “Constellation is closing the gap and has said it wants to be the No. 1 beer.” 

For the four-week period ended May 20, Bud Light sales were down 24.3% compared with Modelo’s 8% growth, according to the data.

“That’s a monumental decline,” Williams told The Post. “Modelo has surpassed Bud Light for the first time since it was launched in 1982.”

Bud Light sales have been in freefall since Mulvaney released photos and video of herself  (HIS self - Lisa you don't play-act as if the delusional lies are true! - Flash) swigging the beer in a bubble bath with the  hashtag #budlightpartner.

Bud Light also sent her a tallboy can with her image on it.

The backlash also has caused sales of other Anheuser-Busch beers to dive.

For the week ending May 20, Budweiser plunged 11.2%, Michelob Ultra fell 6.5%, Busch Light was off 5.2% and Natural Light was down 4.9% according to the data.

Modelo hasn’t been the only competitor to benefit from Bud Light’s seismic miscalculation.

Based in Pottsville, Pa., the beer is distributed to just 25 states and operates just three breweries, in Pennsylvania and Tampa, Fla. 

“Yuengling is having a great moment with the greatest growth of all the premium beers,” Williams said.

Coors Light, Miller Light and Pabst Blue Ribbon have all seen double-digit sales increase since the Mulvaney flap.

Demand for Bud Light over the crucial Memorial Day weekend — the official kickoff of the summer beer buying season — was lukewarm with many store shelves still holding cases of the once mighty beer, Williams said after a spot check of local stores.

At least one store was trying to unload a 24-pack of Bud Light for just $3.49, according to Beer Business Daily.

Quoted:Yuengling, which bills itself as “America’s Oldest Brewery,” has seen sales of Yuengling Flight soar by a whopping 47.6% and its lager spike by 32% for the four-week period ended May 20, according to the data.

Bud Light Digs Itself Deeper Hole as It Donates $200,000 to 'Empower LGBTQ+ Owned Small Businesses'
By C. Douglas Golden  May 31, 2023 at 6:45am

There's a saying in politics: Stand in the middle of the road and you're bound to get run over.

As the folks who brew Bud Light are discovering, however, you're just as likely to get hit if you keep jumping from one side to the other.

As you may vividly recall, Anheuser-Busch InBev's fortunes took a massive nosedive in April when some geniuses in the Bud Light marketing department decided they wanted to ditch the brand's "fratty" image for one that was "inclusive"   and "inclusivity," to them, involved a promotion featuring transgender TikTok "influencer" Dylan Mulvaney.

Bud Light's sales quickly dropped, leading to non-apology apologies from corporate brass, ultra-patriotic commercials and an attempt by the CEO to brand the idea of the Mulvaney sponsorship deal as a campaign as being "misinformation."

But, uh-oh! Not only did that not placate conservative Americans sick of having wokeness shoved down their throats, but it also angered woke LGBT pressure groups, who were now angry Anheuser-Busch had stopped shoving rainbow wokeness down the gaping maw of Middle America.

Gay bars began to boycott Anheuser-Busch, too, because they felt the company had dropped Mulvaney like the cultural millstone that he was. The Human Rights Campaign, an LGBT group, stripped Anheuser-Busch of its perfect 100 score on its corporate index based on its failure to "really stand up and demonstrate the importance of their values of diversity, equity and inclusion" by backing Mulvaney.

Well, now it's almost "pride month"   the perfect time for Bud Light folks to jump back to the other side of the road and hope no one notices.

Thus we get this from a company news release Tuesday: "Today, Bud Light and the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC), the exclusive certifying body for LGBT-owned businesses, announce they are extending their partnership to continue supporting economic opportunities and advancements for LGBTQ+ Americans and business owners across the country."

"Bud Light was brewed to be an 'Easy to Drink, Easy to Enjoy' beer for everyone 21+ and that still holds true today," the company said.

"We look forward to extending our work with the NGLCC to continue making a positive impact on the LGBTQ+ businesses that play a critical role in bringing people everywhere, together."

And not only is it pride-tastic, it's intersectional, too!

"This year, Bud Light will donate $200,000 to the NGLCC in support of its Communities of Color Initiative (CoCi)," the release said. "This initiative is designed to support the growth and success of minority LGBTQ+-owned businesses through certification, scholarships and business development in an effort to create equal opportunities for the economic advancement of small businesses in the LGBTQ+ community."

As the marketing publication Ad Age noted, the "donation to support LGBT Chamber of Commerce comes as AB InBev deals with criticism for failing to speak up for transgender rights in wake of Dylan Mulvaney controversy."

Perhaps Bud Light marketers thought this was the perfect time to mend fences with the wokeness brigade while still flying under the radar. After all, we're about to hit "pride month," the 30 days when basically every corporate logo is rerendered in rainbow colors. (Except in the Middle East, of course.)

The problem is that none of this is going to go under the radar because Bud Light has become the shining symbol of everything Middle America loathes about corporate America's obeisance to progressive activism.

In fact, the phenomenon of a company having to backpedal from an overly woke campaign has become known, in the short space of just two months, as "BudLighting."

That neologism saw frequent use in the media after Target's recent "pride month" kerfuffle involving, among other things, "tuck" women's bathing suits meant for men to hide their, um, maleness, and LGBT-themed merchandise designed by an honest-to-goodness satanist.

Nor has the boycott against Bud Light abated; according to Newsweek, data by Bump Williams Consulting and Nielsen IQ found Bud Light sales were down 29.5 percent year-over-year on the week ending May 20, a new low. Reports say AB InBev has lost $15.7 billion in market cap because of the boycott, and there have been sightings of 24-cases of Bud Light being sold for as low as $3.49.

Thus, Bud Light going woke again is a quick and easy way to negate all of the BudLighting it's been doing, like this:

   pic.twitter.com/T3TVGEzIi0

     Budweiser (@budweiserusa) April 14, 2023

As for the DEI throng on the other side of the road, sure, they'll be happy that Bud Light is donating $200,000 to the NGLCC to help out LGBT businesses. But, they'll ask, what about standing behind Dylan Mulvaney? Are you ready to do that to prove you're really worthy of the rainbow-hued logo?

And then the Bud Light execs will hem and haw a bit, mutter among themselves and try to jump back to the other side of the road.

Or maybe they'll try standing in the middle. Who knows? Perhaps we'll see a commercial with a pack of Clydesdales draped with the transgender pride flag galloping around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as Sam Elliott provides a gravelly voiceover about how there's nothing more American than a Memorial Day barbecue with hot dogs, good friends and a very queer beer.

Well, whatever. In two months, Bud Light has jumped from one side of the road to the other so often that nobody on either side seems to want it there.

Thus, after two months of furious hopping, there's only one place left: the middle of the road. And we all know what happens when you stand there.

Anheuser-Busch Stock Enters Bear Territory Amid Anti-Trans Bud Light Backlash
Derek Saul
Forbes Staff
I cover breaking news with a focus on markets and sports business.
May 31, 2023,10:52am EDT

Updated May 31, 2023, 11:35am EDT

Topline
Shares of Bud Light's parent company are now down more than 20% in the two months since the beer sent personalized memorabilia to transgender social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney, a seemingly innocuous marketing partnership that's cost the company billions amid right-wing backlash.

Key Facts

Anheuser-Busch InBev's stock slipped 2% early Wednesday, continuing its dramatic slide against broader market gains and tanking to a new eight-month low of about $53.

Shares of the multinational beer giant have fallen 20% since March 31, the day before Mulvaney shared a video on TikTok showcasing the personalized cans of Bud Light sent to her by the company, commemorating the anniversary of her coming out as transgender.

That set forth a firestorm of controversy among mostly right-wing celebrities, politicians and beer drinkers, including former President Donald Trump, country music singer Kid Rock and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.).

Anheuser-Busch sales slipped by 10% or more over each of the last four weeks compared to the same week last year, according to NielsenIQ data cited Tuesday by Goldman Sachs.

Meanwhile, sales for rival Molson Coors are up more than 15% on an annual basis, and shares of the Coors Light and Miller Light parent have gained 19% over the last two months.
Big Number

$26 billion. That's how much market capitalization Anheuser-Busch has lost over the last two months.
Contra

Despite the company's stock slide, Wall Street remains fairly bullish on Anheuser-Busch; the nearly three dozen analysts surveyed by FactSet have an average price target of about $67 for the stock, implying roughly 25% upside and projecting it to hit its pre-controversy level. In a Wednesday note to clients, Bernstein analysts led by Nadine Sarwat said Bud Light's market share losses appear to be "stabilizing," maintaining their $68 price target while noting the situation has unexpectedly "officially become a microcosm of U.S. politics."
Key Background

Anheuser-Busch, which also owns Stella Artois, Busch and Michelob, is far from the only company grappling with a drag on sales and stock price amid anti-LGBTQ pushback. Retailers Target and Kohl's each received criticism from far-right pundits for Pride-themed clothing, and their stocks are down 8% and 16% over the last week, respectively, as the negative publicity outweighed profit and revenue beats in their respective quarterly earnings reports released over the last two weeks. Shares of Nike, Adidas and North Face similarly are down 7% or more over the last month while they each faced some backlash for trans-inclusive advertising campaigns. The S&P 500 is up 0.4% during the timeframe.
Chief Critic

Anheuser-Busch CEO Michel Doukeris told the Financial Times earlier this month the massive pushback against his company is based on little more than "misinformation," attempting to distance the company's intentions in its dealings with Mulvaney. The firm put two of its top-ranking marketing executives on leave last month amidst the controversy.

Quoted:
Modelo #1?
I was suspecting Coors Light.
The throw them out the window beers in my neck of the woods have traditionally been
Bud Light
Coors Light
Busch Light
Bud

I don't believe I've ever seen a Modelo in the ditch.

EDIT: this list doesn't have Modelo in the top 20, which would put it behind Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.
The list does pretty closely follow my ditch sightings.

https://stacker.com/food-drink/20-best-selling-beer-brands-america

Quoted:
Modelo #1?
I was suspecting Coors Light.
The throw them out the window beers in my neck of the woods have traditionally been
Bud Light
Coors Light
Busch Light
Bud

I don't believe I've ever seen a Modelo in the ditch.

EDIT: this list doesn't have Modelo in the top 20, which would put it behind Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.
The list does pretty closely follow my ditch sightings.

https://stacker.com/food-drink/20-best-selling-beer-brands-america

Quoted:
My neighbor owns a beach bar in Florida.  He says that the Bud distributer delivers to his bar twice a week.  He normally gets 50 to 70 cases of Bud Light each delivery (100-140 cases per week).  He now gets 5-10 cases per week.  The drop in bar sales are far greater than the 25% drop in retail sales that are being reported.

Quoted:
Congratulations to Bud Light for losing the #1 beer in America spot . That is the kind of marketing success that will be taught at college.

Quoted:


That is what I questioned when I saw the 30% drop in a chart above.  How can their drop in sales be only 30%?

Quoted:
you guys need to get the Mich Ultra hate up. I wanna see these bud light prices for ultra so i can stock up.


and before anyone asks or says anything,

/media/mediaFiles/sharedAlbum/idgas_zpsiohwxh7k_GIF-112.gif

Quoted:
you guys need to get the Mich Ultra hate up. I wanna see these bud light prices for ultra so i can stock up.


and before anyone asks or says anything,

/media/mediaFiles/sharedAlbum/idgas_zpsiohwxh7k_GIF-112.gif

Quoted:


Maybe not the way you suggest.   Colleges are one more asset of liberalism and they will paint it as a result of transphobic paranoia/hateful hating hate.