Bud Light sales continue to plunge following its ill-fated marketing tie-up with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney — and four key rivals are mopping up in the meantime.
Anheuser-Busch-owned Bud Light, the nation’s No. 1 beer, saw sales tumble 26.1% for the week ended July 15 — slightly worse than the 23.6% drop it suffered during the week of July 4, the most important beer-drinking holiday on the US calendar.
Meanwhile, sales of No. 2 Modelo Especial were up 13.2% for the week ended July 15, according to data from NielsonIQ and Bump Williams Consulting that was released on Monday.
Modelo has been outselling Bud Light at retail stores since May, and its market share has grown to 8.1% year-to-date compared with Bud Light’s 8.5%.
Elsewhere, rival brands Yuengling Lager, Coors Light and Miller Lite are seeing even greater sales surges — up 25%, 21.6% and 16.9%, respectively.
Pennsylvania-based Yuengling, known as “America’s Oldest Beer,” is having a moment, beer experts say. It’s distributed mainly in the eastern US, but has recently been expanding to more states, according to Bump Williams, head of the consultancy.
“If things continue at the current rate, we’ll continue to see Modelo climb the ladder and Miller Lite, Coors Light and Yuengling gain market share,” said Dave Williams, vice president of the consultancy.
Dylan Mulvaney’s social media posts on April 1 sparked a massive boycott of Bud Light beer. Instagram
Pennsylvania-based Yuengling beer has had rapid growth at the expense of Bud Light over the past four months. D.G. Yuengling & Son, Inc.
Modelo is the #2 beer brand in the US and has been outselling Bud Light since May. REUTERSIt has been four months of steady declines for Anheuser-Busch’s Bud Light brand. Meanwhile, the flagship Budweiser brand is also getting dragged down in the mess, plunging 10% in the most recent week, according to the data.
Michelob Ultra and Busch Light dropped 1.3% and 2.8%, respectively, in the week ended July 15, according to the NielsonIQ, Bump Williams Consulting data.
