Bud Light distributors no longer expect sales to recover from Dylan Mulvaney disaster

Published

2 years ago

August 4, 2023

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Many Anheuser-Busch distributors say they are resigned to their painful Bud Light losses — and that they have given up on luring back disaffected customers following the Dylan Mulvaney fiasco, The Post has learned.

After four months of hiring freezes and layoffs — with some beer truck drivers getting heckled and harassed even as Bud Light sales have dropped by more than 25% — Anheuser-Busch wholesalers have accepted that they have lost a chunk of their customers for good — and need to focus on a new crop of drinkers.

Consumers have made a choice,” said an executive at a Texas-based beer distributor who did not want to be identified. “They have left [Bud Light] and thats how its going to be. I dont envision a big percentage of them coming back.

Sales of other Anheuser-Busch beers including Budweiser, Michelob Ultra and Busch Light also have been in decline since Bud Lights marketing tie-up with transgender influencer Mulvaney.

Whats more, those lost customers have likely found that Bud Lights competitors, including Coors Light and Miller Lite, are a very similar product.

Winning the beer wars comes down to whoever is best at marketing, the executive said.

“There is an increasing feeling that this [Bud Light] decline rate could last for a while and the distributors are worried about losing those drinkers to other similar brands,” David Steinmann, executive editor of Beer Marketers Insights, told The Post.

A pair of social media posts by Mulvaney on April 1 — holding a 16-ounce can of Bud Light with her image on it and another of her sitting in a bubble bath surrounded by Bud Light cans — sparked a backlash that has lasted longer than most anticipated.

The strategy of targeting younger, newer consumers is the right one, Michael Stone, chairman of Beanstalk Group, a New York-based branding firm, told The Post. But Anheuser-Busch made a mistake executing on the strategy.

One silver lining for beleaguered Anheuser-Busch distributors is the rise of Modelo Especial — the No. 2 beer brand, which Anheuser-Busch owns outside of the US.

Rival Constellation Brands distributes Modelo in the US, where it has been outselling Bud Light on a weekly basis since May.

Whats helping distributors is having Modelo in their portfolio, the beer executive said. But if you dont have Constellation, you are in a pickle.

While Bud Light remains the No. 1 beer brand in the US, those days are likely numbered, with Modelo expected to overtake it by the end of August, experts say.

Even before the Mulvaney disaster, beer suppliers have been fighting a broader crisis.

Beer has long been the No. 1 alcoholic drink in the world and the beverage of choice for new drinkers, but just last year, spirits surpassed beer for the first time ever in the US.

Hard liquor accounted for 42.1% market share in 2022 compared to beers 41.9% market share, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States.

The increasing popularity of ready-to-drink cocktails is fueling the trend away from beer.

In response, breweries are partnering with spirits companies that are making canned cocktails.

Those include Cutwater Spirits, which Anheuser-Busch bought in 2019. The craft distillery is now part of Anheusers Beyond Beer.

Beer distributors and suppliers want to win over so-called “legal age drinkers,” before they acquire a taste for other alcoholic beverages.

There are so many different options for coming-of-age drinkers today, the beer executive said.

Politics

Starmer ran the gauntlet with Trump but just about emerged intact

Published

50 mins ago

July 28, 2025

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Starmer ran the gauntlet with Trump but just about emerged intact

When TV cameras are let in to film world leaders meeting in person, the resulting footage is usually incredibly boring for journalists and incredibly safe for politicians.

Not with Donald Trump.

Sir Keir Starmer ran the gauntlet on Monday.

Trump latest: President treats PM to a ride on Air Force One

Put through a total of almost 90 minutes of televised questioning alongside the American leader, it was his diciest encounter with the president yet.

But he still just about emerged intact.

For a start, he can claim substantive policy wins after Trump announced extra pressure on Vladimir Putin to negotiate a ceasefire and dialled up the concern over the devastating scenes coming from Gaza.

There were awkward moments aplenty though.

Top of the list is Mr Trump’s trashing of the prime minister’s Labour colleague, London mayor Sir Sadiq Khan.

But more important than that, Monday’s meeting was the clearest representation of the political gulf that separates the two leaders.

“He’s slightly more liberal than me,” Mr Trump said of Sir Keir when he arrived in Scotland.

What an understatement.

On green energy, immigration, taxation and online regulation, the differences were clear to see.

Sir Keir just about managed to paper over the cracks by chuckling at times, choosing his interventions carefully and always attempting to sound eminently reasonable.

At times, it had the energy of a man being forced to grin and bear inappropriate comments from his in-laws at an important family dinner.

But hey, it stopped a full Trump implosion – so I suppose that’s a win.

My main takeaway from this Scotland visit though is not so much the political gulf present between the two men, but the gulf in power.

Sir Keir flew the length of the country he leads to be the guest at the visiting president’s resort.

He was then forced to sit through more than an hour of uncontrolled, freewheeling questioning from a man most of his party and voters despise, during which he was offered unsolicited advice on how to beat Nigel Farage and criticised (albeit indirectly) on key planks of his government’s policy platform.

In return he got warm words about him (and his wife) and relatively incremental announcements on two foreign policy priorities.

So why does he do it?

Because, to borrow a quote from a popular American political TV series: “Air Force One is a big plane and it makes a hell of a noise when it lands on your head.”

World

Israeli human rights organisations accuse country of genocide

Published

50 mins ago

July 28, 2025

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Israeli human rights organisations accuse country of genocide

Two Israeli human rights organisations have said the country is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

In reports published on Monday, B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) said Israel was carrying out “coordinated, deliberate action to destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip”.

The two groups are the first major voices within Israeli society to make such accusations against the state during nearly 22 months of war against Hamas.

Israel has vehemently denied claims of genocide. David Mencer, a spokesperson for the government, called the allegation by the rights groups “baseless”.

He said: “There is no intent, (which is) key for the charge of genocide… it simply doesn’t make sense for a country to send in 1.9 million tonnes of aid, most of that being food, if there is an intent of genocide.”

B’Tselem director Yuli Novak called for urgent action, saying: “What we see is a clear, intentional attack on civilians in order to destroy a group.”

The organisation’s report “is one we never imagined we would have to write,” Ms Novak said. “The people of Gaza have been displaced, bombed, and starved, left completely stripped of their humanity and rights.”

PHR said Israel’s military campaign shows evidence of a “deliberate and systemic dismantling of Gaza’s health and life-sustaining systems”.

Both organisations said Israel’s Western allies were enabling the genocidal campaign, and shared responsibility for suffering in Gaza.

“It couldn’t happen without the support of the Western world,” Ms Novak said. “Any leader that is not doing whatever they can to stop it is part of this horror.”

Hamas said the reports by the two groups were a “clear and unambiguous testimony from within Israeli society itself regarding the grave crimes perpetrated by the occupation regime against our people”.

Dire humanitarian conditions

Since Israel launched its offensive in Gaza following the deadly Hamas attack on 7 October 2023, nearly 60,000 people – mostly civilians – have been killed, according to Gaza health officials.

Much of the infrastructure has been destroyed, and nearly the whole population of more than two million has been displaced.

An increasing number of people in Gaza are also dying from starvation and malnutrition, according to Gaza health authorities.

On Monday, the Gaza health ministry reported that at least 14 people had died from starvation and malnutrition in the past 24 hours, raising the total number of hunger-related deaths during the war to 147.

Among the victims were 88 children, with most of the deaths occurring in recent weeks.

UN agencies say the territory is running out of food for its people and accuse Israel of not allowing enough aid deliveries to the enclave. Israel denies those claims.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said “there is no starvation in Gaza” and vowed to fight on against Hamas.

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that many in Gaza are facing starvation and implied that Israel could take further steps to improve humanitarian access.

Israel has repeatedly said its actions in Gaza are in self-defence, placing full responsibility for civilian casualties on Hamas. It cites the militant group’s refusal to release hostages, surrender, or stop operating within civilian areas – allegations that Hamas denies.

UK

Two killed in stabbing at business premises in London

Published

50 mins ago

July 28, 2025

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Two killed in stabbing at business premises in London

Two men have died after a stabbing in central London.

Police were called to a business premises in Long Lane, Southwark, at 1pm on Monday, where they found four people had been stabbed.

A 58-year-old man died at the scene while three others were taken to hospital, the Metropolitan Police said. These included a 27-year-old man who has since died.

A third man, who is in his thirties, remains in hospital with injuries described as non-life-threatening.

Another man in his thirties, who has been detained in connection with the incident, remains in a life-threatening condition in hospital.

Detective Chief Superintendent Emma Bond said: “Our investigation is in the early stages and we are working hard to understand the full circumstances of this shocking incident.

“At this point, we do not believe it to be terrorism-related and there is no further risk to the public.”