Bud Light sales down after partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney

Bud Light sales have taken a hit as sales reps and bars are struggling to move the beer after the brand announced a partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney earlier this month.

A report from trade publication Beer Business Daily said that distributors of Anheuser-Busch, Bud Light’s parent company, were witnessing a lag in sales in some key markets.

“By Thursday afternoon, we had reached out to a handful of [Anheuser-Busch] distributors who were spooked, most particularly in the Heartland and the South, and even then in their more rural areas,” read the report published Monday.

Beer Business Daily did point out that Easter weekend may have affected some consumer behaviors, but the data still wasn’t encouraging.  

“With the very limited data from a handful of wholesalers, it appears likely Bud Light took a volume hit in some markets over the holiday weekend, particularly in rural areas, which consist of their higher share markets,” the trade publication wrote.

One distributor shared a video on social media where he said he’d “never seen such little sales as in the past few days.” The man said that if he can’t sell the beer, he can’t feed his family.

Bud Light sales plunge following trans partnership

Anheuser-Busch rep: “I’ve never seen such little sales as in the past few days… I can’t feed my family.”pic.twitter.com/HIQI0mK4oq

Bud Light sales have actually been in decline for years, according to Fox Business.

Correcting that trend is what Alissa Gordon Heinerscheid said she is trying to do as the brand’s vice president of marketing.

“I’m a businesswoman, I had a really clear job to do when I took over Bud Light, and it was ‘This brand is in decline, it’s been in a decline for a really long time, and if we do not attract young drinkers to come and drink this brand there will be no future for Bud Light,’” she said on the “Make Yourself at Home” podcast on March 30.

Part of that brand “hangover” was that Bud Light was known for its “fratty, kind of out-of-touch humor,” Ms. Heinerscheid said. She believed that “it was really important that we had another approach.”

Introducing Ms. Mulvaney, a biological man who identifies as a woman, as a brand ambassador has led to some fierce reactions.

Singer Kid Rock shot up cases of Bud Light in an apparent protest of the beer brand’s partnership with Ms. Mulvaney. Country singer Travis Tritt said he was deleting a contract rider with Anheuser-Busch products. 

Another country singer, John Rich, told Fox News’ Tucker Carlson that he’s pulling Bud Light from his downtown Nashville bar because it’s not selling.

“Our number one selling beer up until a few days ago was what? Bud Light. We got cases and cases and cases of it sitting back there,” Mr. Rich said Monday. “But in the past several days you’re hard-pressed to find anyone ordering one.”

Bud Light has gone silent on social media since the partnership with Ms. Mulvaney was announced on April 1.

The union between Bud Light and Ms. Mulvaney included selling a can with the transgender influencer’s image on it to celebrate the one-year anniversary of living as an openly transgender woman.

• Matt Delaney can be reached at [email protected].

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