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Fresh WSJ Bud Light Delenda Est Update on the front page this morning.
Bud Light sales losses continue, though they have slowed, holding steady around -28%. Coors and Miller's Lite offerings are showing more modest gains of around +16%, two weeks ago it was Bud down 15% and Coors and Miller both up 15%. I don't know what the proportion of sales is between the three light beers, but the change does indicate that some sales have been fully lost from the generic mass light beers to craft offerings or to other brewers (Yuengling! America's Oldest Brewery!) or to other alcohol categories entirely.
AB Inbev is offering hazard pay bonuses of $500 to wholesaler employees and delivery drivers who faced customer abuse for driving a Bud Light branded truck.
AB intends to triple Ad Spend for the rest of the year, a cost of millions, to try to unring the bell.
Numerous ad execs have been axed or shuffled, the whole marketing department is now under sharper observation and approval from the C Suite.
Congress is launching a (kinda bad faith) investigation into whether the Mulvaney ad violated rules about marketing to minors. Which could keep the issue alive for much longer, and lead to fines.
In yet another episode of NEVER EVER APOLOGIZE, AB now faces significant backlash to their efforts to fold to the boycott, with the LGBTQWERTY+ community they originally tried to target feeling abandoned when AB pulled back. It's better to never get involved, but if you do, never ever apologize, ride it out. No one likes a coward.
On balance the boycott seems to have significant teeth, with AB suffering major losses as a result of the boycott, and planning major spending to counter it. How big a loss do we need to see before other corporations start treating the issue as toxic? What's your over/under?
Bud Light Delenda Est, drink Yuengling or local.
you really ought to post this to the new thread. It's a substantive update, worthy of a top-level post.
I thought about it, but I posted practically the same thing two weeks ago, also from a WSJ article. The changes have been a further 7% drop in sales, the congressional investigation, and confirming the ad spend. I don't want to turn into a broken record on this one, just following the story. If you have an interesting reaction to it, feel free to post your own top level with any of this context.
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