Bud Light lost its spot amongst America’s top ten favorite beer brands — just a month after Modelo replaced it as the “King of Beers” due to the public’s backlash against the brand’s partnership with trans activist Dylan Mulvaney.
A survey conducted by YouGov for the second quarter of 2023 shows Bud Light dropping from ninth spot in 2022 to tying for 14th with Pabst Blue Ribbon, Miller Genuine Draft, and Miller Light., Newsweek reported. In both years’ surveys, the proportion of people who like beer stays the same at 42 percent. However, the popularity of other beers increases.
Guinness, Heinken, and Corona — all of which are imported — were the top three most popular beers.
However, Bud Light still ranks higher than Modelo — the new number one selling beer in the United States. Modelo ranks at 17 with only 40 percent of those surveyed enjoying the beer.
Despite seeing a decline in sales, Bud Light’s sister brand, Budweiser, still ranked amongst Americans’ top ten favorite beers at number nine.
Since Bud Light’s partnership with Mulvaney in April, the beer’s parent company has lost more than $27 billion in market value. Just before the Independence day holiday, Bud Light sales shrunk by 27.9 percent — making it the second worst sales week since the controversy started.
Prior to the holiday, Mulvaney took to Instagram to officially sever ties with the beer giant.
“For a company to hire a trans person and then not publicly stand by them is worse than not hiring a trans person at all because it gives customers permission to be as transphobic and hateful as they want,” Mulvaney said in an Instagram post uploaded Thursday. “It has serious and grave consequences for the rest of our community, and we’re customers too.”
Two of the beer giant’s marketing executives have taken a leave of absence, and there are calls for Bud Light’s parent company CEO, Brendan Whitworth, to resign.