Anheuser-Busch U.S. Sales Decimated 'Primarily Due to' Bud Light Boycott

Anheuser-Busch's sales in the U.S. have been decimated, with revenue down 10.5 percent in the second quarter this year, its latest financial report showed—the first official confirmation of the effects of a boycott of the brewery's beer over a controversy during the same period.

While market monitors have reported sharp declines in sales revenue and volume since the controversy over a partnership between Bud Light and Dylan Mulvaney gained momentum, its latest earnings publication on Thursday also revealed that its net profits had declined 28.2 percent in the U.S.

The multinational company said that two-thirds of the decrease was "attributable to market share performance," while the remainder came from "productivity loss, increased sales and marketing investments and support measures for our wholesaler partners."

Bud Light faced a sustained backlash and calls for a boycott after it sent a promotional can to transgender influencer Mulvaney, which appeared to impact sales of Bud Light and other Anheuser-Busch labels, including Budweiser and Busch Light, in favor of competitors' beers.

The brewery was accused of alienating its traditional customer base after it sent a commemorative can to Mulvaney to celebrate her first year of transitioning to a woman, while some in the LGBTQ+ community—including Mulvaney—have since slammed the company for not defending the partnership.

The controversy speaks to a broader, culture-war debate about the inclusion of transgender individuals in public life.

In early May, Anheuser-Busch invited its Bud Light wholesalers to a meeting to discuss the impact of the boycott on sales, The Wall Street Journal reported at the time, and pledged to give every wholesaler employee a free case of the beer.

In its quarterly report, it said that sales to American wholesalers were worst affected, declining 15 percent, while sales to retailers were down 14 percent—both "primarily due to the volume decline of Bud Light."

It also reported that sales volume—the amount of beer sold—had declined 14.1 percent in the U.S. compared to the second quarter of 2022, while across the first half of 2023, volume was down 8 percent compared to the first six months the previous year.

Anheuser-Busch said that its share of the beer industry declined across the quarter "but has been stable since the last week of April through the end of June."

Globally, the company performed relatively well in the quarter, with a revenue increase overall of 7.2 percent and half-year growth of 10 percent off the back of a 1.4 percent drop in volume. Budweiser, Stella Artois and Corona had a combined 18.4 percent revenue increase outside their home markets.

Simon Hales, an analyst at Citi, told MarketWatch: "Given the solid enough Q2 delivery, we expect little change to FY23E consensus earnings estimates following these results and near-term sentiment to continue to be driven by Bud Light debates as we head into a period of more shelf resets in the fall."

The Belgium-headquartered multinational insisted in its report that despite the controversy over Bud Light's association with Mulvaney and evident impact on sales, a survey of 170,000 U.S. customers it had commissioned since April found that 80 percent had a "favorable or neutral" view of the beer brand.

Newsweek reached out to Anheuser-Busch via email for further comment on Thursday.