LGBTQ Beer . Bud Light Is No Longer America’s Top-Selling Beer . After Boycott

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LGBTQ Beer . Bud Light Is No Longer America’s Top-Selling Beer . After…

The New York Times


Bud Light Is No Longer America’s Top-Selling Beer 

After Conservative Boycott


Bud Light lost its share of retail beer sales in recent weeks following a boycott by consumers over a promotional post by a transgender influencer.


Blue Bud Light cans are packed into a refrigerator.

Bud Light has grappled with a conservative-led boycott that started after Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender influencer, posted a video promoting a Bud Light contest.Credit...Jeff Chiu/Associated Press



June 14, 2023, 3:56 p.m. ET

Bud Light has been dethroned as the nation’s top-selling beer in recent weeks, a data analytics company said, a sign that the backlash the brewer received from conservatives over its relationship with a transgender influencer may be taking a toll.

Taking its place in the No. 1 spot is Modelo Especial, a Mexican beer made by Constellation Brands, making up 8.4 percent of U.S. retail beer sales in the four weeks that ended June 3, according to Nielsen IQ data analyzed by the consulting firm Bump Williams. Sales of Bud Light fell to 7.3 percent in the same period.

The shift follows a conservative-led boycott against Bud Light that started after Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender influencer, posted a video on Instagram on April 1 promoting a Bud Light contest. Bud Light’s share of retail sales has dropped about three percentage points since the boycott began.

Sales began to dip after commentators and celebrities on the right began to protest. Anheuser-Busch, the maker of Bud Light, later announced the departure of two marketing executives, but the company’s attempt to backtrack drew further criticism, this time from liberals and members of the L.G.B.T.Q. community.


The controversy has spotlighted the challenges brands and retailers like Adidas and Target have faced in marketing to L.G.B.T.Q. consumers in a polarized political environment.

Anheuser-Busch did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“Bud Light’s missteps felt like a betrayal to both its liberal and conservative customers, and that trust is going to take months, if not years, to rebuild,” said Daniel Korschun, an associate professor of marketing at Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business.

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