Anheuser-Busch is sponsoring a Fourth of July promotion to entice customers to purchase Bud Light and Budweiser beverages.
Customers who buy a 15-pack of Bud Light, Budweiser, Budweiser Select, or Budweiser Select 55 between June 15 and July 8 will receive a $15 rebate. The reimbursement will be issued in the form of a digital card.
This indicates that Anheuser-Busch is paying people to drink its beer in regions where a 15-pack costs less than $15. The business conducted the same campaign over the Memorial Day weekend when Bud Light sales plummeted due to a contentious partnership with transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney.
In fact, revenues fell 28.5% in the week ending June 17, setting a new low for the business. Following Modelo Especial’s dethronement of Bud Light as America’s No. 1 beer, the terrible figure and sales gimmick followed.
Anheuser-Busch is attempting to rebuild the Bud Light brand. Good luck with that.
For example, CEO Brendan Whitworth said to customers earlier this month, “We hear you.” Whitworth stated in that statement that the company would focus its efforts on developing good beer rather than getting involved in a culture war.
VISIT OUR YOUTUBE CHANNELHowever, Whitworth never apologized. I don’t even think an apology at this point in time would be enough to save the company.
Anheuser-Busch InBev global chief marketing officer Marcel Marcondes stated last week that the boycott was a “wake-up call” that marketers need to “be very humble.”
Nonetheless, the criticism is spreading to other Anheuser-Busch products. Along with a 28.5% drop in Bud Light sales, Budweiser sales fell 12.3%, Busch Light down 8.1%, and Michelob Ultra fell 4% during the week ending June 17.
Modelo sales, on the other hand, are increasing, as are Miller Light, Coors Light, and Yuengling Lager sales.
Anheuser-Busch has not disclosed the status of the marketing executives who took leave in April following the start of the boycott. However, the Daily Caller claimed on Tuesday that both had been discreetly sacked.
It didn’t make matters any better for the company by Bud Light sponsoring a Pride event in Canada over the weekend. It just shows that they still have not learned their lesson. You don’t alienate yourself from your core customers. There are videos of the event, but I haven’t found any yet that would be considered “family-friendly.”
It seems like the executives at Anheuser Busch still believe that this boycott is a temporary thing and that people will come back to their brand in time. Contrary to popular belief, beer drinkers are sophisticated customers and they understand that the executives at Bud Light think that they are stupid beer-guzzling hicks who are going to get over their irrational anger at the company for supporting a movement that goes against Christianity and the American way of life.
We are in the middle of a culture war, and you have to pick sides.
