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.

  • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    No…

    Rightwingers started making a bunch of noise. And AB immediately caved to them. Making the vast majority of everyone else not want to buy their products either.

    If they stayed on course the drop probably wouldn’t happen. Instead they managed to piss of the majority of Americans on both sides.

    • pulaskiwasright@lemmy.ml
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      8 months ago

      I wonder what percentage of people who would be put off by Budweiser caving to bigots so quickly would actually regularly drink Budweiser in the first place?

      • ElderWendigo@sh.itjust.works
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        8 months ago

        Have you seen the way those hipsters guzzle PBR? Do you really think it tastes any better than Budweiser? Image is EVERYTHING when you’re selling cheap beer. Budweiser could have cemented its place as a progressive all-inclusive all-american beer. Instead they gave in to the bullies, an act that no bully can respect.

        • pulaskiwasright@lemmy.ml
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          8 months ago

          Selling hipsters on a basically dead beer like PBR would be easier than getting them to drink the most mainstream of beers.

        • thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.org
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          8 months ago

          PBR has a very distinct flavor. Its not great but its fine.

          The best thing about a PBR is, if you don’t finish it… oh well

        • jjjalljs@ttrpg.network
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          8 months ago

          I don’t think hipsters have been into pbr for like ten years, but it’s possible I’ve just aged out of hipster circles.

          • SheeEttin@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            Hipsters aren’t really A Thing any more. Sure there are people who still act like that about stuff, but I don’t really see anyone making it their whole personality any more. It’s gone back to individual niches.

        • helenslunch@feddit.nl
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          8 months ago

          Budweiser could have cemented its place as a progressive all-inclusive all-american beer.

          Why would they do that when it’s already firmly-cemented amongst a demographic of the complete opposite, and they have 392846 other beer brands to experiment with?

      • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        The people who drink Budweiser and Bud Light are the people who buy cheap beer. Whether it’s at a bar or stocking up for a party, it’s like buying chips or pizza, you aren’t thinking too hard about it. Miller or Busch or PBR or Coors or Old Style or Michelob or any other roughly equivalent beer (half of which are also owned by AB) works just as well. Budweiser gave people a reason to think about their beer, and didn’t give anyone a reason to think positively about their beer. If you are looking at the available options, and one of them is associated with bigotry, you’re going to pick anything else.

      • orclev@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        A vanishingly small percentage. The kind of people that care about inclusivity and LGBTQ+ rights aren’t the kind of people that drink Budweiser. Their core demographic skews very heavily to the dude bro side of things. They pissed off a significant chunk of their existing customers, and then by immediately backtracking lost any potential new customers they might have picked up. They basically made the worst possible set of decisions they could have.

        • SCB@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          The kind of people that care about inclusivity and LGBTQ+ rights aren’t the kind of people that drink Budweiser

          It’s so weird that people actually think this is true.

      • SCB@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        Bud Light sells at gay bars the same as any other beer lol

        Gay people are just normal people.

    • Masterchief117@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Worst part was they hung Dylan out to dry. She didn’t ask for the partnership, they wanted to use her for her demo. Then, when bigots started losing their minds, they threw her under the bus. They offered zero guidance or support of any kind. After unleashing the hate and vitriol of assholes across the country, silence. Fuck everyone involved at InBev.