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The owner of Bud Light has revealed a steep drop in US sales after the beer’s collaboration with a transgender social media influencer sparked a backlash.
The world’s biggest brewer, Anheuser-Busch InBev, revealed that US revenues dropped by 10.5pc in the second quarter of the year.
It said that an increase in global revenues of 7.2pc to $14.8bn (£11.7bn) had been “partially offset by the revenue decline of Bud Light in the US”.
AB InBev infuriated some of its most loyal, more conservative customers with its decision to partner transgender TikTok personality Dylan Mulvaney to attract younger drinkers.
The decision was criticised as tone deaf by everyone from Tucker Carlson to Kid Rock.
Mulvaney, a 26-year-old influencer who describes herself as one of “the most privileged trans women in America”, posted images of the customised Bud Light cans with her face on to mark “365 Days of Girlhood”.
She also published a video of herself drinking a Bud Light in the bath.
Days before Mulvaney’s partnership was unveiled, Alissa Heinerscheid, vice-president of marketing at Bud Light, said she wanted to modernise Bud Light from a “brand of fratty, kind of out-of-touch humour”.
In the eyes of Anheuser-Busch’s marketing executives, Bud Light had become a brand “in decline”.
Ms Heinerscheid told the Make Yourself at Home podcast that she wanted “a campaign that is truly inclusive”.
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In response, the musician Kid Rock filmed himself taking a machine gun to several cases of the beer and shouting: “F— Bud Light. And f— Anheuser-Busch.”
Tucker Carlson, one of America’s conservative TV anchors, said: “Bud Light fails over this. I don’t want to root for bankruptcy, but in this case, I think we have to hope for that.”
The decline in US revenues masked what was a generally solid set of results for AB InBev, which included an 18.4pc increase in combined revenues of our global brands Budweiser, Stella Artois and Corona, outside of their respective home markets in the second quarter.
Underlying profit stood at $1.45bn, while underlying earnings per share fell slightly to 72c from 73c.
Chief executive Michel Doukeris said: “Our business delivered another quarter of profitable growth.
“Revenue increased by 7.2pc with an ebitda increase of 5pc. We continue to invest in our strategic priorities for the long-term.”
AB InBev said that since April, when Mulvaney’s TikTok videos were first shown, the company had used a third party research firm to survey 170,000 customers about Bud Light.
It found 80pc were favourable or neutral about the brand.