Bud Light & Budweiser Continue To Struggle As Dylan Mulvaney Ad Disaster Nears Three-Year Mark

Ahead of next week's three-year anniversary of Anheuser-Busch's most epic marketing ad blunder ever, the Bud Light backlash remains intact and should serve as a case study for generations in how far-left wokeism in corporate America can destroy decades of brand-building overnight.

What began as a viral TikTok promotion featuring Dylan Mulvaney, a man pretending to be a woman, has since become one of the clearest examples of self-inflicted brand suicide in recent consumer history. The latest beer trends from Goldman suggest the brand has yet to fully recover nearly three years later. 

In the latest beer trends report, a team of Goldman analysts led by senior consumer analyst Bonnie Herzog tapped its beer distributor contacts, representing around 60 distributors - or roughly 170,000 retail outlets and about 28% of total U.S. outlets that sell alcohol - and found continued dismal Bud Light consumption trends among Americans.

"Bud Light's performance continues to level off, even with additional resources being put behind the brand," Herzog wrote in the note published to clients on Tuesday morning.

Herzog continued, "In terms of specific brands, a distributor noted Michelob Ultra is growing, while Bud Light and Budweiser are struggling."

To be fair, beer trends have been declining overall in recent years as consumers shift away from alcohol, either due to health trends or because some are gravitating toward marijuana.

The good news for the industry is that 54% of beer distributors expect "a stronger summer selling season," according to Herzog, who added that volumes are expected to decline by about 1% this year, while noting that Constellation Brands is set to be the "clear outperformer."

Herzog reiterated a "Buy" rating on Constellation Brands. More details are available in the full Goldman note for professional subscribers.

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