Experts are weighing in on why they believe that Bud Light lost out to Modelo Especial as America’s most popular beer last month, and it’s not just because of its Dylan Mulvaney partnership.
Modelo Especial has increased sales by $333 million since 2022, according to behavior analytics firm Circana in data cited by CBS. Bud Light, in comparison, sold $297 million worth of Bud Light for the “four weeks ending May 28,” according to the same report.
A professor said that at its core, Bud Light’s alleged market loss to Modelo is a story about broken trust.
“Bud Light’s missteps felt like a betrayal to both its liberal and conservative customers, and that trust is going to take months, if not years, to rebuild,” Daniel Korschun, an associate professor of marketing at Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business, told The New York Times.
Others are pointing out to changing tastes, as younger generations “are now more inclined to seek out imports, even if the price point is higher,” according to Beer Business Daily editor Harry Schuhmacher.
Even if general interest in Bud Light has fallen in the past decade, the months since the beer giant partnered with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney in an online influencer campaign have been an especially difficult period for Bud Light.
Even as general interest in Bud Light has fallen in the past decade, the beer giant’s partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney has also generated significant backlash. (Instagram)
“If you project the pre-boycott sales trends into the future, Modelo was going to hit No. 1 status in the U.S. within a few years anyway,” Barry reportedly told NBC News.
Responding to a request for comment from Fox News Digital, an Anheuser-Busch spokesperson said that over the year, Bud Light still remains on top.
“For the year, Bud Light remains the #1 brand in the US nationally in volume and dollar sales,” the spokesperson wrote.
