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Fact check: The Bud Light partnership with Dylan Mulvaney was not a financial success for the company.
1. Summary of the results
The statement about Bud Light's partnership with Dylan Mulvaney being financially unsuccessful is strongly supported by multiple data points:
- Immediate impact (April-May 2023):
Sales dropped 23% in the week ending April 29, 2023 [1]
Further declined to 28.4% in the week ending May 13, extending a previous 27.7% decline [2]
- Long-term impact (2023-2024):
Sales remained down 30% in volume compared to previous year [3]
Bud Light lost its 20-year status as top-selling beer to Modelo Especial [4]
Recent data from Q1 2024 shows U.S. sales still down 9.1%, with retailer sales down 13.7% [5]
**2. Missing context/alternative viewpoints**
Several important contextual elements are missing from the original statement:
- **Global Performance**: While U.S. sales declined, AB InBev's global revenue actually rose by 2.6% [5], suggesting the impact was primarily limited to the U.S. market
- **Market Adaptation**: Beer Business Daily publisher Harry Schuhmacher suggests these lost consumers are "lost forever" [3], indicating a permanent shift in consumer behavior rather than a temporary boycott
- **Broader Financial Impact**:
AB InBev's stock price fell from $66.57 to around $54.46 by May 2023 [6]
- The situation was serious enough for Wall Street analysts to label it a "crisis" and downgrade the company's stock [1]
3. Potential misinformation/bias in the original statement
The original statement oversimplifies what is actually a complex business situation:
- Timeline Consideration: The statement doesn't acknowledge that this wasn't just a short-term impact but a sustained decline continuing into 2024, with consumers having "found new light beer brands to purchase" [5]
- Stakeholder Impact: The statement doesn't mention that distributors considered distancing themselves from the brand [1], indicating broader business relationship impacts beyond direct sales
- Political Context: The source notes significant backlash specifically from conservative figures and consumers [7], suggesting this was as much a cultural/political issue as a business one
The Harvard Business Review's analysis [6] provides perhaps the most comprehensive view, showing both immediate impacts and sustained decline through Q4 2023, making it clear this was more than just a temporary setback for the brand.