Bud Light Sales Plummet For Fifth Straight Week As Customers React Against Mulvaney Partnership

Sales for Bud Light continue to plummet more than one month after the beer brand’s partnership with self-identified transgender social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney.

Retail data from Bump Williams Consulting and NielsenIQ indicate that sales for the brew declined 23.6% in the week ended May 6 relative to the same period last year, a slightly worse outcome than the 23.3% decline seen for the week ended April 29.

Other brands marketed by Anheuser-Busch, the multinational conglomerate which owns Bud Light, have also experienced massive declines during the weeks ended April 29 and May 6: Budweiser sales have respectively fallen 11.4% and 9.7%, Michelob Ultra sales have fallen 4.3% and 2.9%, and Natural Light sales have fallen 5.2% and 2.5%.

Bump Williams, the chief executive of the consulting firm, said in an interview with the New York Post, which exclusively obtained the data, that the company is “running out of time to fix the problem as the summer selling season unofficially started last weekend and Memorial Day is in two weeks.” Anheuser-Busch met with distributors last week to discuss strategies for responding to the backlash, which may include a redesign of Bud Light and Budweiser aluminum bottles.

Williams remarked that weekly declines for Bud Light have “started to settle” in the negative 20% range and said that the typical Bud Light drinker is still “waiting for a genuine and sincere apology” from Anheuser-Busch, as well as a “crystal clear communication on exactly what happened.”

The continued woes for Anheuser-Busch brands occur after the firm made several attempts to remedy relationships with consumers. Executives have downplayed the extent of the partnership and even hired veteran Republican lobbyists in efforts to win back conservatives who once consumed the beer.

The fallout against Bud Light and other Anheuser-Busch brands appears to have been a windfall for competitors: sales of Pabst Blue Ribbon increased 21.6% year-over-year in the week ended May 6, a slight improvement from the 18.9% increase in the week ended April 29. Miller High Life saw sales rise 10.4% in the week ended May 6 and 8.3% in the week ended April 29.

The attempts to back away from Mulvaney have also provoked a response from the opposite end of the political spectrum as leftists demand that Anheuser-Busch “stand in solidarity with Dylan and the trans community” or face a second boycott.

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Anheuser-Busch may soon not be alone in experiencing boycotts from beer enthusiasts: Social media users criticized a recent expletive-filled advertisement from Miller Lite that blasted the beverage industry’s past marketing campaigns which revolved around objectifying bikini-clad models, instead promising to donate fertilizer so that female brewers could grow hops. A spokesperson for Molson Coors, the firm which owns Miller Lite, told media outlets that customers should “appreciate the humor” of the advertisement and insisted that nothing in the campaign should be controversial.

Alissa Heinerscheid, the vice president of marketing at Bud Light who oversaw the Mulvaney campaign, took a leave of absence after footage of her criticizing the “fratty” image of the brand circulated online. Elizabeth Hitch, the senior marketing director for Miller Lite, likewise appears to have assumed a prominent role in creating her company’s advertisement.

Ted Cruz, In Quest To Free Mark Swidan, Sees No ‘Great Power’ In China

The world can see China is not a “great power” as the U.S. Congress unites in demanding freedom for Mark Swidan, an American who has been “unjustly detained” for more than a decade, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) declared on Tuesday.

Cruz spoke exclusively with The Daily Wire days after the Democrat-controlled Senate passed by unanimous consent his resolution calling for the immediate release of Swidan, a move which followed the GOP-led House unanimously approving its own resolution making the same demand.

Such a “powerful” display of unanimity demonstrates a “degree of focus and visibility” that is sure to be noticed by Beijing, according to Cruz, who noted that the Chinese Communist Party is “highly sensitive” to international pressure.

“The Chinese dictatorship does not like the world to realize that they are oppressive despots,” Cruz said. “Great powers do not hold hostages and China is not behaving like the great power it claims it wants to be.”

Chinese authorities arrested Swidan, a Houston businessman who is now in his 40s, in 2012 while he was on a business trip. Swidan was convicted in 2019 after being accused of taking part in a criminal drug conspiracy and given a delayed death sentence.

A Chinese court rejected Swidan’s appeal and upheld his death penalty with a two-year suspended death sentence, the State Department announced last month.

President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken “continue to remain personally focused on the release of Mark Swidan and other U.S. nationals wrongfully detained or held hostage across the world,” State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said in a statement.

Cruz’s resolution, which was co-sponsored by Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), warned Swidan’s health has deteriorated amid “inhumane” conditions, a lack of adequate medical care, and efforts to prevent family from contacting him. The resolution also made note of a 2020 United Nations working group report that determined Swidan was being arbitrarily detained and should be released.

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“Time is of the essence. It is now or never, I believe,” Cruz said on Tuesday.

The senator divulged that he has been in contact with Swidan’s mother, Katherine, noting she “desperately” wants to see her son come home. To that end, in addition to his resolution, Cruz said he has been “leaning on” the State Department to do more and met with China’s ambassador to push for Swidan’s release.

The State Department says Biden raised the issue of “wrongfully detained U.S. nationals” in a November meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Indonesia, and U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns reportedly met with some of them, including Swidan, in recent weeks.

That’s not enough for Cruz, who said there are a number of “tools” that can be employed, such as exerting economic and diplomatic pressure to the point that China decides it is “not worth the hassle to keep Mark Swidan as a hostage.” Cruz, who said he plans to keep using his “leverage” in the Senate, also posited that the president could make a huge difference with one small suggestion.

“As far as I know, Biden has never said the name Mark Swidan. That needs to change,” Cruz said. “The president needs to stand up and use the bully pulpit of the White House to call for his release.”