Bud Light Falls From Top 10 Most Popular Beers in America

Cans of Bud Light chill in a refrigerator in Oakland, Calif., on April 28, 2023. Jeff Chiu/AP Photo

After a significant decline in market capitalization and nationwide boycotts, Bud Light is now no longer among America’s top 10 most popular beers according to a prominent survey—with women ranking the brand lower than men.

Bud Light was ranked 15th in the list of the most popular beers in the United States during the second quarter of 2023, according to a poll by YouGov. In Q2, 2022, Bud Light was ranked ninth. In the recent poll, only 42 percent of respondents said they liked Bud Light, tying the brand with Miller Lite, Miller Genuine Draft, and Pabst Blue Ribbon which also received the same popularity score. Among men, Bud Light was ranked in the 13th position. Among women, Bud Light carried a lower rank of 17.

The top three spots were taken by Guinness, Corona, and Heineken, all of which scored in excess of 50 percent in likability.

Similar results have been seen in other polls as well. E-Poll Market Research’s 2023 E-Score Brand Report (pdf) stated that “Bud Light’s popularity has decreased among adults across the board after the polarizing campaign” with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.

The biggest brand value decline was seen among Republicans. Among this demographic, “Bud Light saw the largest declines for important metrics such as Appeal, Brand Loyalty, and Brand Association.”

The brand’s Negative Buzz score surged by 45 points among Republicans, with loyalty declining by 31 points and appeal falling by 18 points.

For the week ending June 24, Bud Light sales had declined by 28 percent while competitors saw a jump in sales, according to data from Bump Williams Consulting. Sales of Yuengling Lager rose by 22 percent, Coors Light by 19 percent, and Miller Lite by 16 percent.

Tracking firm Circana estimated that this decline represented a $26.3 million sales loss for Bud Light compared to a year back.

Losing Business

Bud Light turned into a boycott target after partnering with Mr. Mulvaney in a promotional campaign in April and sending custom beer cans to the influencer featuring the trans-activist’s face. This irked numerous Americans who felt the company was pushing a transgender agenda which triggered the boycott calls.

Some experts see the ongoing rejection of Bud Light to have a long-term effect on the company’s financials. In a research note last month, Deutsche Bank analyst Mitch Collett said that Bud Light maker Anheuser-Busch would suffer a “permanent reduction” in its U.S. business given the recent underperformance, according to Barron’s.

Collett pointed out that 24 percent of Bud Light’s customers no longer buy the beer while another 18 percent are buying less.

In mid-May, an HSBC analyst had downgraded Anheuser-Busch’s stock due to the “Bud Light crisis” and suggested that there may be “deeper problems” at the management level.

“The way this Bud Light crisis came about a month ago, management’s response to it and the loss of unprecedented volume and brand relevance raises many questions,” the analyst stated.

Poor Management

Despite the backlash, Bud Light is yet to apologize for pushing a transgender agenda. During an interview on CBS, Anheuser Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth was asked whether the Mulvaney promotion was a mistake. Mr. Whitworth refused to call the incident a mistake.

“Bud Light has supported LGBTQ since 1998. So, that’s 25 years. And as we’ve said from the beginning, we’ll continue to support the communities and organizations that we’ve supported for decades,” Mr. Whitworth replied.

In an interview with Fox News, former Anheuser-Busch President Anson Frericks criticized Mr. Whitworth for failing to resolve the issue and called for him to step down.

“This chasm that we’re seeing between Bud Light and its consumers is only going to intensify because every time you come out with one of these weak statements or some of these just platitudes,” he said. “That’s not addressing the problem. And until you address the problem, I don’t see consumers coming back and coming back to this brand.”

“We’re in the fourth month of this right now … This is something that should have been addressed three or four months ago by clearly coming out and saying: hey, Bud Light historically was always a brand that didn’t get involved in politics,” Frericks said.

Unlike previous years, the vastly effective Bud Light consumer boycott has made other brands wary of offending their core customer bases, and this has opened up a pathway for traditional businesses to reassert their alliance with conservative values.

A majority of customers are fed up with the blatant promotion of sexual themes and transgenderism, especially toward minors.

Alternate online marketplaces have popped up, with one of the most prominent being PublicSq—a platform that is going public that offers a “solution for an emerging parallel economy full of patriotic consumers that are ready to spend their money with companies that respect and share their values.”

Popular ice cream brand Ben and Jerry’s has also been in the spotlight since the brand posted a divisive tweet on July 4 commemorating Independence Day. It remains to be seen how the situation will turn out as some personalities have begun calling for its boycott, and the brand’s parent company has since suffered a $2 billion loss in market capitalization.