Bud Light's most recent effort to boost its beer sales has its cans priced at only 33 cents in some parts of the country as it continues to face a boycott.
Bud Light and its parent company Anheuser-Busch continue to face criticism and a boycott after partnering with Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender influencer and activist. In April, the beer brand supplied Mulvaney with a customized Bud Light can that had her face on it to promote her one-year anniversary of transitioning, with Mulvaney showcasing the can in a video posted to her Instagram.
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.
Confronted with tumbling stock prices and disgruntled customers, Bud Light implemented a variety of strategies to boost sales, such as offering steep rebates over Memorial Day weekend that made the beer free or nearly free in some areas.
The company is repeating its strategy for the Fourth of July, capitalizing on the tendency of increased alcohol consumption during the holiday. According to a report by digital media company VinePair, the Fourth of July is the top beer-drinking holiday for drinking at home. For bar or restaurant drinking, St. Patrick's Day was the holiday with the most beer consumption. Fourth of July ranked eighth.
Ahead of the holiday weekend, Bud Light offered a $15 rebate for packs of 15 of Bud Light, again making the cans free in some places. The company also offered the rebate for a 24-pack of Bud Light, greatly reducing the price to $7.99 per box or only 33 cents per can in some areas.
"...Keep ignoring #US with your tweets all you want as if though this never happened, but vengeance is ours saith the consumers," Twitter user @Shaughn_A2 wrote while sharing a picture of the sale.
"They think we will cave...guess we have to hit ALL @budweiserusa products," Twitter user @da_bears70 responded.
They think we will cave...guess we have to hit ALL @budweiserusa products
— itsyourchicagoboyholla (@da_bears70) July 1, 2023
The images come amid renewed criticism against Bud Light after the brand tweeted last Friday: "It's 4th of July weekend, enjoy some beer." The tweet then evoked a fresh bout of criticism, with boycotters tweeting back pictures of other beer brands and promising to drink those instead.
Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth spoke with CBS Mornings last week about the ongoing controversy and said in part that "there's a big social conversation taking place right now, and big brands are right in the middle of it and it's not just our industry or Bud Light."
The Bud Light outrage kicked off a slew of other boycotts targeting companies that supported the LGBTQ+ community, such as Target for offering "tuck-friendly swimsuits" for transgender women during Pride month or Christian television show The Chosen for displaying an LGBTQ+ flag on set.
Despite the approaching holiday, the latest tracking figures by Nielsen IQ, provided to Newsweek by Bump Williams Consulting, show that in the week ending on June 10, Bud Light sales volume was nearly a third lower than the same week last year, which was the steepest drop in the beer brand's sales volume since the end of March. However, Anheuser Busch's share price has slowly started to recover.
Newsweek reached out to Bud Light parent company Anheuser-Busch by email for comment.
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