Bud Light has lost its status as the top-selling beer in the U.S.
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Modelo Especial has quietly overtaken
Anheuser-Busch InBev
’s
Bud Light as the nation’s top-selling beer, punctuating the impact of a boycott that followed the brand’s controversial promotion by a transgender activist.
Modelo captured 8.4% of U.S. retail-store beer sales in the four weeks ended June 3, compared with 7.3% for Bud Light, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing an analysis of Nielsen data by consulting firm Bump Williams.
Bud Light’s sales dropped about 24% in the week ended June 3, compared with the same week last year, Bump Williams found. Sales of other Anheuser-Busch (ticker: BUD) brands, including Budweiser and Michelob Ultra, have also declined.
An Anheuser-Busch InBev spokesperson told Barron’s the company continues to be on top in a longer timeframe. “For the year, Bud Light remains the #1 brand in the U.S. nationally in volume and dollar sales.”
The sales drop followed an April 1 Instagram post by transgender social-media influencer Dylan Mulvaney, who showed off a personalized can of Bud Light the company sent her as a gift.
Critics slammed the association and called for a boycott. Anheuser-Busch announced that two marketing employees were taking leaves of absence, and its global CEO played down the impact of the boycott, saying that the can sent to Mulvaney wasn’t part of a wider promotion. That response upset even more people.
Although Anheuser-Busch remains the largest brewer in the U.S., the Journal said most Anheuser-Busch distributors are independently owned, many by families who have sold Budweiser brands for generations. Some told the Journal they are considering layoffs, while others say that Modelo’s sales increase is helping to compensate for Bud Light’s drop.
Modelo Especial, sold in the U.S. by
Constellation Brands
(STZ), is a Mexican beer brand Constellation bought from Anheuser-Busch in 2013, after U.S. regulators required Anheuser-Busch to sell its U.S. rights to Modelo Especial and Corona to win clearance for its acquisition of Mexican brewer Grupo Modelo, the Journal reported.
AB InBev’s stock closed up 0.9% on Tuesday, extending a rally after country music star and bar owner Garth Brooks implied he would not ban Bud Light at his bar. In a video on his Inside Studio G website, Brooks said that “inclusivity is always going to be me,” and said his “Friends in Low Places” bar will have the most popular beers, suggesting it would sell Bud Light, MarketWatch reported.
The company’s shares are down 7.4% so far this year, and fell 17.8% in May. Shares of rival
Molson Coors Beverage
(TAP), whose brands Miller Lite and Coors Light have increased sales since the Bud Light boycotts began, are up 31.5% this year.
Write to Janet H. Cho at janet.cho@dowjones.com