Anheuser-Busch, mother company of Bud Light, issued a statement about the social media backlash triggered, literally, by Kid Rock shooting Bud Light cans in a popular Twitter video. Rock’s beer-splattering shootout was his response to Bud Light utilizing a trans person — Dylan Mulvaney — to promote their product.
Many have since praised Rock for his stance, despite the fact that Mulvaney is one of many influencers that Bud Light uses to help promote their brand specifically to that particular influencer’s followers. So, despite Mulvaney not being a the next major spokesperson for Bud Light — and being limited to promoting the product on their own accounts — Kid Rock feels some type of way.
Since then, many on the bird app have called for a boycott of the beer but has that boycott hurt sales at all? And what’s been happening with Anheuser-Busch stock since the promotion?
Well, there is good news and bad news for the brewer. First, the bad news.
While it’s a little too early to see if overall sales are down for Bud Light, Beer Business Daily reports that numerous businesses say that they notice sales are down this weekend for Bud Light. However, they also point out that, despite Bud Light taking an apparent hit, a part of it is likely because it was Easter weekend.
The other bad news is that the stock is down, as numerous headlines will tell you, including Newsweek. However, this is somewhat misleading and is where the good news appears.
Here’s a screenshot from MarketWatch that shows the Bud stock at $65.02 a share. You’ll notice in the chart that it did take a dive.
Upon further inspection, however, the stock actually tells a slightly different story.
Looking at the last three months clearly reveals a very obvious spike happening when they started the Mulvaney promotion. Sure, it dipped by about 3% following the backlash but that’s after a more than 8% increase over a week earlier, so the payoff — at least in terms of shares — is still clearly beneficial.
Epoch Times reached out to Anheuser-Busch and asked about their response to the Kid Rock video as well as clarification on whether or not the special Dylan Mulvaney Bud Light can will be for sale. The company’s Marketing Communications Director, Michael Goon, responded, though he shied away from blasting Kid Rock.
Goon mostly stuck with a company statement from a week ago about the Mulvaney promotion, explaining that Anheuser-Busch works with hundreds of influencers from numerous demographics, adding that the special can is just a gift for Mulvaney.
In conclusion, the company seems to have immediately benefitted from the promotion despite the negative effect of the backlash. However, time will tell if Bud Light sales truly are impacted. Until then, we safely assume that Kid Rock will be enjoying Miller Lite.
