WASHINGTON (Aug 3, 2023)— Bud Light’s parent company Anheuser-Busch InBev reported a huge drop in revenue from its U.S. market on Thursday, which the company attributed to losing market share as well as spending more on marketing and support for distributors who have struggled to sell Bud Light. The beer has suffered from a boycott since May over a social media collaboration between Bud Light and transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
Lawrence J. Parnell is an associate professor and Strategic Public Relations Program Director at The Graduate School of Political Management at George Washington University.
“Despite ‘tripling’ its ad spend this summer and trying to shift the message to one of summer themes and humor - it's not working. Bud Light sales are down 26.8% this week vs last year same time and it's not getting better,” Parnell writes. “Crisis management 101 - accept responsibility; apologize (if necessary) and show it won't happen again and THEN try to move on. AB InBev seems to be trying to skip these critical first steps - and failing as a result.”
If you would like to speak with Lawrence Parnell, please contact Rachel Larris at rlarris
gwu [dot] edu (rlarris[at]gwu[dot]edu).