Once the top-selling beer in the U.S., Bud Light is no longer on the list of the country's 10 most popular beers after it partnered with transgender activist and influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
The Bud Light dropped from the ninth most popular beer last year to its current spot at 14, according to a new YouGov survey. It fell behind other brands like Pabst Blue Ribbon, Miller Genuine Draft and Miller Lite. Rounding out the top five most liked beers were Guinness, Heineken, Corona, Samuel Adams and Blue Moon.
However, surveys taken in the second quarters of both 2022 and 2023 found that the numbers of those who "liked" Bud Light beer stayed the same at 42%.
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Anheuser-Busch, the parent company of Bud Light, has seen sales plummet amid consumers abandoning the brand after it's partnership with Mulvaney to promote the March Madness basketball tournament.
The trans activist showed off cans of Bud Light sent by Anheuser-Busch that featured Mulvaney's face to celebrated the milestone of "365 Days of Girlhood," a series where the influencer detailed daily experiences during the first year of identifying as a transgender woman on TikTok.
An interview with Bud Light‘s marketing vice president Alissa Heinerscheid also surfaced, where she criticized the brand's consumers as "fratty" with "out of touch humor."
"We had this hangover, I mean Bud Light had been kind of a brand of fratty, kind of out of touch humor, and it was really important that we had another approach," she said of her marketing strategy.
Bud Light sales are reportedly down almost 30% from last June and the brand "is showing no signs of rebounding from its slump," according to a MoneyWatch report.
In May, some stores were even selling Bud Light for free with the help of a $15 promotional rebate from Anheuser-Busch ahead of the Memorial Day weekend holiday.
The manager of a beverage warehouse in Pennsylvania said a 30-pack of Miller Lite was selling for $24.99 in the days before July 4th, while a 30-pack of Bud Light was priced at $8.99 after a rebate, making it cheaper than some cases of water the warehouse had for sale.
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In the lead up to the Fourth of July Bud Light's new advertisement featuring Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce was criticized as a "desperate" attempt to claw back the support of alienated male drinkers.
"Man Bud Light is going for the death blow at this point," one commenter wrote. "This is what they think of their client base, stupid grunting cavemen."
"Hey look! ‘Fratty’ and ‘out of touch’ is back in style at Bud Light," another wrote.
