It’s ‘too early’ to assess any potential Bud Light backlash, Anheuser-Busch CEO says
Business,LGBTQ Issues,Anheuser-Busch,Michel Doukeris
Anheuser-Busch InBev CEO Michel Doukeris addressed the Bud Light controversy in the company’s earnings call Thursday, saying it’s “too early to have a full view” of the impact of sponsoring an Instagram post by transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
“The Bud Light volume decline in the US over the first three weeks of April, as publicly reported, would represent around 1% of our overall global volumes for that period,” Doukeris said on the call. He focused attention on the company’s global reach, saying that Bud Light is just one beer within its portfolio and it’s not changing the company’s full-year outlook.
Doukeris acknowledged that the controversy has “impacted our people and especially our frontline workers,” including truckers, sales representatives and servers. In recent weeks, several Anheuser-Busch facilities have been threatened, including a bomb threat at a brewery in Southern California.
He also reiterated that the Mulvaney post wasn’t an ad campaign, and blasted the “misinformation” surrounding the sponsored post. Last week, A-B met with distributors to help them “dispel potential retailer misconception” about the Mulvaney ad.
A single can with Mulvaney’s face was given to her and was not for sale to the general public and not part of a broad campaign.
