Amidst conservative outcry over a campaign featuring transgender celebrity Dylan Mulvaney, Anheuser-Busch Inbev announced a decline in U.S. revenue for the second quarter.
The biggest brewer in the world revealed on Thursday that sales in the US fell by 10.5% between April and June of last year compared to the same time the previous year, “primarily due to the volume decline of Bud Light.”
After more than 20 years, it no longer holds the title of America’s best-selling beer. In June, it fell to second position, trailing the Mexican lager Modelo Especial, that is also owned by ABInBev, based in Belgium.
After Mulvaney shared a commemorative Bud Light can with her millions of social media followers, the firm received negative feedback.
Bud Light was being boycotted by conservatives and others, and Mulvaney’s followers were accusing the beer company of not doing enough to back her. After claiming to have experienced bullying and transphobia, Mulvaney blasted the company for failing to get in touch with her during the uproar around their collaboration.
The world’s largest beer company reported that overall revenue increased 7.2% to $15.1 billion in the second quarter of this year compared to the same period last year, offset by sales of worldwide brands like Corona and Stella Artois.
It reported a 5% increase to $4.9 billion in normalized earnings pre-interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization.