Since April 2023, things haven’t been the same for Anheuser-Busch InBev, parent company of the Bud Light beer brand. It all began with a promotional campaign gone wrong, followed by a mass boycott, and a a monumental dip in revenue. But out of nowhere, Bill Gates has given the company a $95 million lifeline which should hopefully reverse its fortunes by some degree.
Anheuser-Busch InBev’s fortunes have been dwindling for quite some time, and pleas by its CEO on behalf of its employees whose jobs and livelihoods have been hanging off a cliff have largely fallen on deaf ears.
People are angry. But why? Or what did Bud Light do to enrage so many people at the same time? Let’s see.
In a bid to shore up sales among the trans community, Bud Light began a promotional campaign featuring trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney. Mulvaney proceeded to make a social media video while dressed as Holly Golightly from Breakfast at Tiffany’s. The video was to be one of the entries for Bud Light’s Easy Carry video contest.
Using the beers sent by the company, Mulvaney celebrated March Madness and her first year of womanhood. Then, hell broke loose.
It began in the conservative camps, with popular right-wing influencers such as Kid Rock and Ben Shapiro showing their disgust at the campaign. “Our culture has now decided men are women and women are men and you must be forced to consume products that say so,” Shapiro said on an episode of his podcast. He then went on to describe the product as “piss water masquerading as beer.”
Kid Rock expressed his anger with actions more than words. He posted a video where he shot some cases of Bud Light while uttering expletives at the beer brand and its parent company.
Travis Tritt said he would cut all ties with the beer, including dropping the product from his tour. Other popular faces who joined in what has been called a “budlash” include John Rich and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).
It didn’t take long after the massive condemnation for the stock market to react. Bud Light stock prices took a break from its 10-day win streak and began to drop.
First, the brand recorded a 3% drop in stock prices. By the end of the second quarter, its price had fallen by 10.5%, with a 30% downward slide in operating profits.
Bud Light has also forfeited its enviable position as the number one beer in the beer rankings, dropping to 14th place. The company has had to lay off at least 300 of its staff to survive the harrowing ordeal.
So, it’s refreshing for the BUD to know that people haven’t given up on the brand. Having one of the wealthiest men alive in that number is a big morale booster.
Bill Gates, through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, secured about 1.7 million BUD shares. That’s a massive vote of confidence from a man who, in his own words, “isn’t a big beer drinker.” But whether Bill Gates’s investment will spark a revival in Bud’s market performances is something we will have to wait to see.
