As Bud Light has seen a continued decline in sales amid its widespread boycott, a former Anheuser-Busch executive warned that sales could get even worse over the coming months.
"I think there's going to be some permanent damage to this brand," Anson Frericks, the former president of operations for Anheuser-Busch, told Newsweek on Wednesday. "Unfortunately, I think it's going to be a long way to go to get back the market share they lost and a lot of headwind in front of them."
"I project that sales are not going to improve and potentially could get worse," Frericks added.
Since the beginning of April, Bud Light and its parent company, Anheuser-Busch, have continued to face criticism and a boycott following a partnership the beer brand did with transgender influencer and activist, Dylan Mulvaney.
Since the boycott began, Bud Light has seen its sales continue to decline over the past several weeks. Earlier this month, Newsweek obtained Nielsen IQ data from Bump Williams Consulting, which showed a 28 percent decrease in Bud Light's revenue sales and volume for the week ending on July 1, when compared to the same period in 2022.
The number of beer units sold during this period was also down 31.2 percent when compared to the year prior, the data showed.
For the week ending on June 24, additional Nielsen IQ data from Bump Williams Consulting showed Bud Light revenue down 27.9 percent compared to the same period a year prior. Newsweek also obtained data for the week ending on June 10, showing a 30.3 percent decline in sales volume compared to the same period in 2022.
However, a spokesperson for Anheuser-Busch told Newsweek on Thursday that year-to-date, "Bud Light remains the #1 brand in the industry (Dollars & volume) at 8.7 share."
"The Anheuser-Busch portfolio continues to be the leader of the category as the #1 brewer at 35.6 share in the latest week," the spokesperson said.
While speaking with Newsweek, Frericks explained that a decline in sales for Bud Light could also result in a loss of shelf space at a number of retailers. In addition to Bud Light, some other Anheuser-Busch beers, such as Michelob Ultra and Busch Light, have also seen a decline in sales, he said.
"You're going to have some more permanent damage it seems like, where the contagion is spreading from Bud Light to their other brands and that means not only Bud Light but a lot of the other brands in their portfolio are also going to be losing shelf space, it's not like it's going to go to some of their other brands," Frericks told Newsweek. "The whole portfolio is down."
Since the ongoing boycott began, current Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth has made a few statements but has never fully "mentioned the controversy," Frericks said.
"They never really addressed this completely," he said. "I've been relatively critical of that response where I feel that early on there should have been a clear response."
Mulvaney also recently criticized Bud Light's response to the ongoing boycott and in a statement, a spokesperson for Anheuser-Busch told Newsweek: "As we've said, we remain committed to the programs and partnerships we have forged over decades with organizations across a number of communities, including those in the LGBTQ+ community. The privacy and safety of our employees and our partners is always our top priority."
Update 07/13/23, 1:33 p.m. ET: This article was updated with comment from an Anheuser-Busch spokesperson.
