this post was submitted on 31 Oct 2023
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Anheuser-Busch Inbev said Tuesday that revenue growth in most of its global regions was offset by a drop in North American sales, in a sign of continuing fallout from a promotion with a transgender influencer that cost it sales.

The world’s largest brewer and parent company of Bud Light said adjusted earnings for the latest quarter rose 4.1% to $5.4 billion on revenues that climbed 5% to $15.6 billion.

Revenue in the United States for the July-September period, however, tumbled 13.5%. AB InBev, based in Leuven, Belgium, noted that sales to retailers were down “primarily due to the volume decline of Bud Light.”

Bud Light sales plunged amid a conservative backlash after the brand sent a commemorative can to transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney in early April.

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[–] [email protected] 122 points 10 months ago (4 children)

Note that they still gained revenue. The idiots not buying Bud Light just bought another of the bajillion beers AB Inbev owns.

[–] [email protected] 67 points 10 months ago (2 children)

And not just gained revenue, but 5.4 god damn billion dollars. "Hurting" my ass. They can give me some of that so they can keep milking this bs

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Reminds me of when the US was in some soccer related match against Belgium, and AB In-Bev decked their Budweiser cans out in American flags.

Idiots everywhere. 'yeah gimme an America beer to support team USA!!'

...Those sales went to a Belgian owned conglomerate.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago

Nothing is more American than global trade and purchasing shit from our allies, nothing wrong with that

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[–] [email protected] 56 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Everyone that got pissed off about that tried other stuff and found out it was actually better.

[–] [email protected] 53 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Also, a lot of dumbasses probably went to the store and bought a different product... made by the same company.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 10 months ago

Hang out at a gas station in the south a lot...

Lot of dumbasses buying Budweiser hoping that Budlight goes bankrupt because of their decision to get something else.

Might as well be trying to bankrupt Coke by buying Diet Coke.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 10 months ago (9 children)

Haha came here thinking the same thing. I actually liked their endorsement for that trans person but I'd never switch to fuckin bud lite. Ew.

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[–] [email protected] 44 points 10 months ago (1 children)

People should be boycotting bud light because it's awful not because of their ad.

[–] [email protected] 39 points 10 months ago (2 children)

My mom drinks bud light because she can drink all day and still use power tools with relative safety.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Your mom might be everyone's dad. Shit is real.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

It's just water. I don't see what the big deal is. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[–] [email protected] 39 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (3 children)

I didn't understand that campaign... Bud Light has always been the wilfully shitty and boring beer that appeals to (and I'm trying to be diplomatic here... ) blue collar types or those that don't really have a discerning palate.

Millennials and Zoomers by and large don't drink that much beer. Gender neutral/accepting club kids don't drink beer. If they're drinking anything, it's likely cocktails or white claw. In the odd event they went for beer it would be something quirky or higher quality than Bud fucking Light. Presumably Bud was trying to appeal to that crowd since their chief demographic is stagnant, but Bud Light was silly to not go after a group adjacent to their core audience but instead court a fickle segment of the population who doesn't give half a fuck about what they're selling and moreover is full on HATED by who already consumed their beer. Bud has decades of cultural weight about being a conservative, blue collar beer... that matters for better or worse

For the record: I'm glad a brand like Bud (who I have zero love for) made overtures to the trans community... even if it was crass commercialization. From a purely capitalist perspective, it made zero sense for a brand like Bud. What's worse, due to Bud's misstep, bigots now feel emboldened and other brands might make the decision to not be inclusive after watching this play out

Trans allies (and open minded folks in general) by and large moved on from tasteless American adjunct lagers a decade ago and drink completely different beer. Bud is a relic. Trying to give it a hurried makeover won't suddenly make it cool. Jumping into the culture war fray and folding the instant bigots complained just fucked things up Bud's appeal for anyone whose attention they had

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[–] [email protected] 36 points 10 months ago (5 children)

InBev is anus and their generic beers are mostly horrible. People should have already been boycotting them long ago for being a soulless international conglomerate.

Chances are there is a local or regional brew that corresponds to whatever mass market swill they produce, and people should drink those small local brewery offerings instead.

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Conservatism is a plague of oppression. If you are not with them, you are against them.

The disease of conservatism is long overdue for a cure. Do your part by teaching your children why it is inappropriate to keep relationships with conservatives

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[–] [email protected] 25 points 10 months ago (18 children)

ITT: "Bud Light is bad"

So are all of the top-selling beers in the world, and especially in America (which is the subject of this article).

We get it. You're into craft beer that costs $20/pint. I like them on occasion myself. But when I want to get drunk on beer cheaply, I'm not going to my local brewery. I'm not even going to Great Lakes or Same Adams. I'm going for a cheap, light, mass-produced pilsner. PBR, Coors, Miller Lite, Bud Light, Youngling, etc. They're all the same cheap swill.

It's the same with everything. The average person who isn't an enthusiast consumes tons of mediocre junk. Taylor Swift is probably a good analog for music: I don't see a lot of academic musicians analyzing the new music theory she's implementing, or literary analysts dissecting her lyrics. Marvel Movies are getting famous for being pretty much the same heroes journey with rushed CGI every 6 months or so. Tons of people still watch shows like Friends, the Office, and Seinfeld. McDonald still sells billions of burgers in spite of the existence of high-end restaurants.

And that's okay. Not everything. You consume needs to be some ultra-expensive artisanal elitist product.

As for Bud Light in particular, this is a a great example of a bad PR team. Either stick to your guns or don't enter the fight in the first place. The fact that they've backed down and caved to transphobes means they're much lower on my list now.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Excellent take, but in defense of the AB PR team, I don't think they were expecting so much backlash from giving a 6 pack of beer to a trans person. I think it was just a small promotion they were doing and they were not anticipating this blowing up into something big. Right wing Twitter caught wind of it and made it a much bigger deal than it was.

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[–] [email protected] 25 points 10 months ago (2 children)

That's a very loose definition of the word "struggles"

[–] [email protected] 12 points 10 months ago (2 children)
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[–] [email protected] 24 points 10 months ago

...So... it's making billions instead of billions? My God...

[–] [email protected] 22 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

I'm only familiar with the "controversy" from the headlines, but I don't quite understand what pissed off the conservatives so much. Budweiser just sent this person a custom-branded 6-pack or something, right?

Every company sells their product to people from all walks of life, it's just not always publicized. The fact that they choose to rage against Budweiser of all brands is just ridiculous to me. Now if they were complaining about the quality of the beer, that I might understand.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 10 months ago

Rightwing influencers need content just like every other influencer. They found out about the promotion and then went to work making the videos that would drive their audiences absolutely insane over this nonsense.

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I think it's more related to the total lack of spine on their part, and their willingness to sell out one market in order to appease another.

They could have had a market for life. Just ask Subaru.

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 10 months ago (8 children)

Their beer is awful. Maybe that’s the reason

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 10 months ago

They posted about trans issues and removed it so the conservatives think they support it and the trans people think they're liars (they are). They kind of get the worse of both worlds now, if they stuck with supporting trans rights, they could've at least retained the lgbt+ market

[–] [email protected] 14 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (4 children)

Really doubt it was because of this one incident, conservatives just sensationalize anything to do with trans people. Like... Budwieser is a trash product. Everyone knows it. Anybody with taste buds who wants to drink will grab anything else.
But ofc it makes business sense to blame it on us trans people, like this was anything, like Budweiser ever did shit for us in the first place...

[–] [email protected] 29 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Iirc they backed a trans influencer drawing conservative outrage, then, after realizing that the conservatives were a large part of their customer base, they did a 180 and publicly cut ties with the influencer thereby also alienating the customers they hoped to gain in the first place while also not gaining back much of their conservative customers.

Someone feel free to fact check me I'm drawing on memory here.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Eh you are forgetting the spot where the conservative snowflakes also just started buying different beer from anheuser-busch because they don't know how companies are structured and thought bud light was a whole company. They haven't lost money here just the share of money coming from bud light in north America has shifted to other beers they own.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

I just hate Budweiser, not the company… the product.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 10 months ago (4 children)

I mean they pissed off the only people willing to drink their dog shit excuse for alcohol.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 10 months ago (1 children)

They are not even trying. All their tv commercials are now for Modello. Same company.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Why are "conservatives" so weak willed, and need to belong to a team?

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