A growing boycott of Bud Light over its partnership with a transgender influencer has hurt sales at parent group AB InBev.
AB InBev, which owns Bud Light, Stella Artois, Budweiser and Corona, said on Thursday that sales to retailers in the US fell by 17.4pc in the last quarter of 2023, which it blamed primarily on the decline of Bud Light.
The slump is deeper than the 16.6pc fall seen in the third quarter of last year and means AB InBev has now suffered three consecutive quarters of double-digit percentage sales falls in the US.
AB InBev sold 19.7m hectolitres of beer in the US in the final three months of 2023, compared to 23.4m in the same period of 2022, a decline amounting to roughly 651m pints. Revenues in North America fell 9.5pc.
Formerly the US’s best selling beer brand, Bud Light angered American conservatives last year after a marketing tie-up with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney in April.
Bud Light sent the 26 year-old a personalised beer can to celebrate her first year since transitioning gender.
It sparked boycotts from the political right, who accused the brewer of pursuing a left wing agenda. Rapper Kid Rock filmed himself shooting a pack of Bud Light beers with an assault rifle, while former Republican presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis accused AB InBev of associating with “radical social ideologies”.
The brewer also faced backlash from human rights groups on the left, who criticised the company for not defending or supporting Ms Mulvaney after the marketing stunt.
Ms Mulvaney said she faced transphobia and abuse following the partnership and felt abandoned by AB InBev.
Bud Light’s vice president of marketing, Alissa Heinerscheid, took a leave of absence in the wake of the controversy and AB InBev has spent recent months trying to resuscitate the brand’s image with more patriotic TV advertising focusing on the idea of “the American spirit”.
AB InBev also launched a $1bn (£824m) share buyback last October in a bid to restore faith among investors.
Donald Trump has called for Republicans to end the boycott of Bud Light, calling the marketing stunt a “mistake of epic proportions” but suggesting that the beer “perhaps deserves a second chance”.
Global sales at AB InBev rose 7.8pc in 2023, the brewer said, falling shy of analysts’ expectations. The volume of its own beer sold across the world fell by 2.3pc as consumers cut back because of higher prices.
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