Bud Light has not yet recuperated from the Dylan Mulvaney controversy, according to a former Anheuser-Busch executive.
“They haven’t at all [recovered],” former Anheuser-Busch President of Operations Anson Frericks said Tuesday during an interview on FOX Business’ “Varney & Co.”
Despite companies backing away from pushing politics through DEI and ESG policies, the damage to Bud Light is still taking its toll as “they continue to shed customers,” Frericks said.
The beer brand stumbled into controversy in 2023 following a partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
The tag team with the influencer sparked outrage from consumers, resulting in a drop in sales, customers and shareholder value.
The company also saw itself being surpassed in sales by Michelob Ultra and Modelo Especial.
Bud Light sales were down 29.9% year-over-year for the week ending Jan. 20, compared with the same period last year, according to the latest numbers provided to FOX Business by Bump Williams Consulting, which analyzed NielsenIQ data.
“I think that’s one of the most interesting parts about this story is that they lost 30% of their customers,” he pointed out. “Millions of customers, billions of dollars of shareholder value over the last couple of years.”
The former executive noted how the partnership impacted stocks and how the brand’s efforts to recover with Super Bowl ads would not relieve the pain.
“They are advertising Bud Light. And candidly, the commercials are actually pretty good,” he said. “They have Shane Gillis, who’s about the opposite of Dylan Mulvaney. You couldn’t have maybe someone more opposite. They have Post Malone, but the problem is they’ve lost a lot of their customers.”
He also pointed out the dilemma Bud Light faces regarding its vision.
“Their customers are asking them, ‘hey, what is Bud Light going to be moving forward? Is it gonna be more than Shane Gillis and fun in football, or is it Dylan Mulvaney?’”
“Until the company really comes back and says clearly what Bud Light is going to be? I don’t know if any of their loyal customers are going to come back,” he added.
Fox News Digital’s Breck Dumas also contributed to this report.
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