Anheuser-Busch InBev the world’s largest brewer, faced a significant financial setback due to a backlash following its brief collaboration with a transgender influencer to promote Bud Light beer. Despite reporting record revenues for 2023, AB InBev revealed that its US business was constrained, with sales taking a hit because of a boycott of Bud Light triggered by a sponsored Instagram post featuring Dylan Mulvaney. In North America, organic revenue plummeted by a staggering $1.4 billion last year. The backlash was so severe that Mexican lager Modelo Especial surpassed Bud Light as America’s top-selling beer the following month, ending Bud Light’s two-decade reign. Although Bud Light has been slowly regaining lost market share since last May, ABinBev CEO informed investors that the pace of recovery remains slow, with only a marginal improvement of 1.2 percentage points reported by February. Additionally, the company’s Asia business, Bud APAC, saw its shares close nearly 7% lower in Hong Kong due to a decline in profits attributable to shareholders, partly because of a one-off customs charge in South Korea. Furthermore, sales volumes in China fell in the fourth quarter despite double-digit growth in sales of premium brands. Is this the impact of the boycott over supporting the LGBTQ+? If yes, where does it leave the community on the corporate landscape of America?
