Stat Monitor Repairman said:

---

Quote:

---

The brand is ruined

---

I think you right man. The brand is ruined.

They in Chinese handcuffs now.

Anything they do to try and recover will be instantly be memed to death.

As soon as they drop a new commercial or rebranding, It'll be, 'look at bud light, pandering to veterans, rednecks, mexicans, college kids or whoever.

---

Just saw this one. Looks like some kind of country music festival in the rain, with Zac Brown's "Chicken Fried" as the music.

Tramp96 said:

---

Still not an apology. Blames it on the corporation and says they didn't support it. Some of his comments are a little patronizing to his lost customer base, in my opinion:

Quote:

---

There was one single can made. It was not for sale and wasn't properly approved.

---

Quote:

---

The videos you may have seen are Mulvaney's own social media posts that went viral and many web-based news outlets have distorted the story. You deserve to know the truth, and life is too short to let a couple of individuals decide what you can eat or drink or spend your hard-earned money on.

---

That last, bolded line is just insulting to me. Not needed. Hire a real PR firm who knows how to word this stuff so you don't piss off your base even further by talking down to them.

---

Nope...they don't need to hire a new or real PR firm, it's done. There is no magic elixir to wash off the stench of the brand. Even if they went 1000% full contrition it's too late and would ring hollow even with the best PR firm's wordsmith.

At this point they need to stop selling it domestically and if there is a market in other countries go that route but this is no longer a profitable U.S. product and no amount of rebranding will fix it.

Quote:

---

At this point they need to stop selling it domestically and if there is a market in other countries go that route but this is no longer a profitable U.S. product and no amount of rebranding will fix it.

---

Wrong on many levels.

1) Their sales are only down ~26%. While that is a huge hit, that's still a lot of beer being sold.
2) You don't drop revenue. There's still billions in revenue in the US. It would simply be asinine to stop selling billions of dollars.
3) While the margins will need to be less, they will still make profit on what they sell.


All these emotional knee-jerking posts stating Bud needs to eliminate the brand do not think through the actual black/white business and the repercussions of their suggestions. Be better, Ags.

Quote:

---

Media keeps spinning this issue like the customers are angry.

I'd say a very small number of bud light consumers are angry, the rest just want to have a beer, relax and be left tf alone without becoming embroiled in some woke controversy.

That's what they don't get. Customers dgaf about the righteousness of wokeism. They want to drink a beer and not talk about trans people or daylan mulvaney.

---

I'm not angry at all - I just don't want to support woke Bs if I don't have to. I'm just always going to pick non-woke companies when they are available and the cost of switching isn't high.

Beer? Several alternatives make it extremely easy.

Retail like target? Would be really easy if one would come out and just say they oppose all political infiltration into this exchange and just want to sell you the things you buy.

Online news media? Elon made it pretty easy for us. Twitter becoming neutral made their little heads explode because they knew it broke the monopoly.

I hope that good, capitalist minded people wake up to the opportunity. Build an equal value alternative to these woke companies, and then just say you are neutral and refuse political positions. Watch the market share shift in your favor.

Tramp96 said:

---

Prosperdick said:

---

Tramp96 said:

---

Still not an apology. Blames it on the corporation and says they didn't support it. Some of his comments are a little patronizing to his lost customer base, in my opinion:

Quote:

---

There was one single can made. It was not for sale and wasn't properly approved.

---

Quote:

---

The videos you may have seen are Mulvaney's own social media posts that went viral and many web-based news outlets have distorted the story. You deserve to know the truth, and life is too short to let a couple of individuals decide what you can eat or drink or spend your hard-earned money on.

---

That last, bolded line is just insulting to me. Not needed. Hire a real PR firm who knows how to word this stuff so you don't piss off your base even further by talking down to them.

---

Nope...they don't need to hire a new or real PR firm, it's done. There is no magic elixir to wash off the stench of the brand. Even if they went 1000% full contrition it's too late and would ring hollow even with the best PR firm's wordsmith.

At this point they need to stop selling it domestically and if there is a market in other countries go that route but this is no longer a profitable U.S. product and no amount of rebranding will fix it.

---

No, I agree, but my point is that in his effort to try and reconcile his customer base, he ends up insulting them and just making it worse (again, in my opinion).

"Look, you idiots. It was just one can, not a campaign. Don't let others tell you what you should eat or drink, that's my job."

I mean, that is not the way to do it if you want any chance at reconciliation.

---

Too much ego and arrogance to just apologize. His statement really just appears to be the voice in his head that won't / can't accept that their single decision to employ a trans influencer has cost them billions and tanked a brand. Companies need cash cows and they sacrificed it on the altar of wokeness. He and the whole team involved should be shown the door by the shareholders

Prosperdick said:

---

CDUB98 said:

---

Quote:

---

At this point they need to stop selling it domestically and if there is a market in other countries go that route but this is no longer a profitable U.S. product and no amount of rebranding will fix it.

---

Wrong on many levels.

1) Their sales are only down ~26%. While that is a huge hit, that's still a lot of beer being sold.
2) You don't drop revenue. There's still billions in revenue in the US. It would simply be asinine to stop selling billions of dollars.
3) While the margins will need to be less, they will still make profit on what they sell.


All these emotional knee-jerking posts stating Bud needs to eliminate the brand do not think through the actual black/white business and the repercussions of their suggestions. Be better, Ags.

---

Do you really believe that 26% number? Across the country and in bars/liquor/grocery stores do you really truly believe that instead of 100 cases of Bud Light they're now selling 75 cases per establishment?

That number very likely has built-in agreements with distributors which is masking the problem and those agreements will be reworked in short order because no business makes money with product taking up shelf space indefinitely.

Hey, I could be wrong and In Bev or AB corporate's numbers aren't fudged or misleading and the countless anecdotal proofs are just white noise.

We shall see.

---

Yeah, probably the only positive revenue for them right now is contracts with stadiums, event facilities, caterers, etc. where the product may be literally the only beer being made available. I do think it is these existing contracts for mass distribution of the product to a captured customer base may be the only thing keeping AB from exponentially worse losses than they already are experiencing.

I agree that existing contracts may very well be keeping them afloat for the moment. We will know for sure in the coming months as Q3 and Q4 numbers roll in. We already know that Q2 will be poor.

However, I still disagree with the idea of scrapping a worldwide brand.

YF?

Ellis Wyatt said:

---

Quote:

---

However, I still disagree with the idea of scrapping a worldwide brand.

---

And the rest of us disagree with the idea of scrapping a huge customer base by embracing mental illness.

---

And, as I previously stated, the current numbers do not support this.

Yes, I do believe the 23-26% numbers that have been published. They've been consistent. We also have a strong confirmation bias here in this group around what we see. Other places in the US likely are not seeing the same levels.

HOWEVER, as in all things business, it depends. As more concrete numbers roll in for Q3 and Q4, tied to those previously mentioned contract expirations, my opinion may change. I'm simply not there yet.

BG Knocc Out said:

---

YF?

---

Yuengling Flight

This is the worst PR for Anheuser Busch since the company bought $1 million worth of German war bonds at the outbreak of World War I.

BG Knocc Out said:

---

Nothing short of "We apologize profusely for the recent disturbing ad campaign pushed by the psychotic liberal horse faced lady that used to work for us. Going forward, we refuse to cater to the delusions of those struggling with the mental illness of gender dysphoria and refuse to cower to the demands of the modern militant LGBTQ brigade" could ever have a chance at winning me back.

---

I haven't drank a BL in at least a decade if not over 2 decades. If they did all of that and stuck with it (I would have to wait a month or two to see how they handled the backlashfrom the woke mob), I'd probably go buy a case.

BG Knocc Out said:

---

Nothing short of "We apologize profusely for the recent disturbing ad campaign pushed by the psychotic liberal horse faced lady that used to work for us. Going forward, we refuse to cater to the delusions of those struggling with the mental illness of gender dysphoria and refuse to cower to the demands of the modern militant LGBTQ brigade" could ever have a chance at winning me back.

---

This plus a sponsorship deal with Riley Gaines.

Edit: and every other female athlete that came in 2nd to a man

DatTallArchitect said:

---

BG Knocc Out said:

---

Nothing short of "We apologize profusely for the recent disturbing ad campaign pushed by the psychotic liberal horse faced lady that used to work for us. Going forward, we refuse to cater to the delusions of those struggling with the mental illness of gender dysphoria and refuse to cower to the demands of the modern militant LGBTQ brigade" could ever have a chance at winning me back.

---

I haven't drank a BL in at least a decade if not over 2 decades. If they did all of that and stuck with it (I would have to wait a month or two to see how they handled the backlashfrom the woke mob), I'd probably go buy a case.

---

I haven't drank a BL since Clinton was in office. Always gave me a headache. I can drink regular Bud with no problems, but something about BL made me sick.

With that said, I agree with the above, but it isn't enough. They also have to bring back Michelob and Michelob Light to Texas. Now that I know they actually still produce those, I want them back.

So, to summarize:
1. An apology for mixing politics with beer.
2. A vow to disavow themselves from the woke (and all other political) agendas, and just go back to being a beer company.
3. Bringing Michelob (the real Michelob) back to Texas.

As such, I don't hold out hope any of the three will happen, so I'm going to stick with my status quo...not drinking AB products.

FTAG 2000 said:

---

Tramp96 said:

---

Prosperdick said:

---

Tramp96 said:

---

Still not an apology. Blames it on the corporation and says they didn't support it. Some of his comments are a little patronizing to his lost customer base, in my opinion:

Quote:

---

There was one single can made. It was not for sale and wasn't properly approved.

---

Quote:

---

The videos you may have seen are Mulvaney's own social media posts that went viral and many web-based news outlets have distorted the story. You deserve to know the truth, and life is too short to let a couple of individuals decide what you can eat or drink or spend your hard-earned money on.

---

That last, bolded line is just insulting to me. Not needed. Hire a real PR firm who knows how to word this stuff so you don't piss off your base even further by talking down to them.

---

Nope...they don't need to hire a new or real PR firm, it's done. There is no magic elixir to wash off the stench of the brand. Even if they went 1000% full contrition it's too late and would ring hollow even with the best PR firm's wordsmith.

At this point they need to stop selling it domestically and if there is a market in other countries go that route but this is no longer a profitable U.S. product and no amount of rebranding will fix it.

---

No, I agree, but my point is that in his effort to try and reconcile his customer base, he ends up insulting them and just making it worse (again, in my opinion).

"Look, you idiots. It was just one can, not a campaign. Don't let others tell you what you should eat or drink, that's my job."

I mean, that is not the way to do it if you want any chance at reconciliation.

---

Agreed.

What seems to be lost on so many is that those people who went and tried other beers (Yuengling Flight, etc.) found another beer at a comparable price point that actually tastes better.

On top of that Bud Light is now the source of jokes - guys are giving each other a ton of **** if they got caught ordering or even drinking one offered. It's become a social contagion.

No amount of mea culpas or patriotic patronizing commercials are bringing those folks back. They are gone.

And this idiotic blame your consumers act by Bud Light and now several of their distributors? Tone deaf.

---

First, the bolded Tone deaf comment, is 100% spot on. But, that should be expected from a marketing department that crapped on their customer base by calling them fratty and accused of being a "party beer."

The other comments regarding BL becoming the butt of jokes, what that is saying is that BL is now squarely in the cultural conscience as a tag line or a joke. That will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to move beyond.

I wish I could contribute in some significant way to the downturn in BL and AB InBev revenue but I've never been a BL drinker and don't drink enough of their other offerings to make a difference. Guess I'll just continue to not drink their beer.

The downtown Whole Foods in Austin is giving Budweiser four spaces in its singles refrigerator. That's 4 times as many spaces as all the other beers. They can't get rid of the stuff either.

I have a buddy high up in a craft brewery owned by ABI. Even their sales have tanked because retailers have stopped or scaled back orders of ABI products across the product offerings. Unfortunately, that means a lot of good local guys are being hit hard for the actions of some east coast liberals.

Next PR crisis for bud light is when we see viral video of pallets of expired bud light being bulldozed into a landfill.

AB will also take heat from the greenies for not recycling the aluminum cans.

We saw the same thing develop during covid, but instead of bud light, it was pallets of unused ventilators.

BG Knocc Out said:

---

Nothing short of "We apologize profusely for the recent disturbing ad campaign pushed by the psychotic liberal horse faced lady that used to work for us. Going forward, we refuse to cater to the delusions of those struggling with the mental illness of gender dysphoria and refuse to cower to the demands of the modern militant LGBTQ brigade" could ever have a chance at winning me back.

---

If they said this I would immediately switch to only drinking BL.

Book cooking going on

Prosperdick said:

---

Guys this is just confirmation bias...you're seeing what you want to see. Sales are only down a quarter of a percent and will bounce back just in time for summer drinking season!

---

What is this "drinking season" you speak of?

For some of us, every season is drinking season.

They have programs to help with that. Unfortunately our football seasons haven't been helping.