Robert Ottenstein, an analyst for investment banking advisory firm Evercore, predicted that the backlash against Bud Light and other brands owned by Anheuser-Busch may have peaked.

Bud Light garnered widespread controversy among conservatives after the brand nodded toward Dylan Mulvaney, a self-described transgender social media influencer, by sending him a beer can bearing his likeness. Market data obtained by the New York Post indicate that sales for Bud Light declined 23.6% in the week ended May 6 in comparison to the same period last year, a slightly more severe outcome than the 23.3% decline witnessed for the week ended April 29.

Other brands controlled by Anheuser-Busch have also taken blows: Budweiser sales have declined 11.4% and 9.7% for the weeks ended April 29 and May 6, Michelob Ultra sales have declined 4.3% and 2.9%, and Natural Light sales have declined 5.2% and 2.5%.

Ottenstein said in a research note shared with Yahoo Finance that a “second week of flattish trends strengthens the possibility that tracked channels have reached a point of stabilization” at significantly lower sales levels. Headwinds for Anheuser-Busch could alternatively be on the mend since some brands “improved sequentially, which is a positive sign that trends impacting the rest of the portfolio may be starting to reverse,” or could indicate that “overall industry strength positively impacted the data” since Molson Coors brands also saw improvements.

The research note from Evercore comes after investment bank HSBC downgraded Anheuser-Busch stock due to the controversy.

“The way this Bud Light crisis came about a month ago, management’s response to it and the loss of unprecedented volume and brand relevance raises many questions,” said Carlos Laboy, HSBC’s managing director for the global beverage sector. “If Budweiser and Bud Light are iconic American ideas that have long brought consumers together, why did these marketers fail to invite new consumers without alienating the core base of the firm’s largest brand?”

Alissa Heinerscheid, the vice president of marketing at Bud Light who oversaw the Mulvaney partnership, took a leave of absence after footage of her criticizing the “fratty” image of the brand circulated online. Daniel Blake, who leads marketing for Anheuser-Busch’s mainstream brands, was also placed on leave over the incident.

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Executives for Anheuser-Busch have downplayed the extent of the partnership and hired veteran Republican lobbyists in efforts to win back conservatives who once consumed the brew. One unnamed executive informed the New York Post that the company will produce a camouflage Bud Light can as part of an initiative that offers educational scholarships to family members of fallen American military service members and first responders, while Budweiser shared images of a limited edition beer can featuring patterns inspired by Harley-Davidson.

Anheuser-Busch nevertheless appears to have offended those on both ends of the political spectrum: beyond the conservative backlash, leftists and owners of gay bars across the country threatened to launch additional boycotts after the firm backed away from Mulvaney.

An increasingly large majority of Americans say that inflation continues to strain their household budgets, a revelation that comes even as President Joe Biden and senior White House officials insist that the nation is “making progress” as inflation has decreased in recent months.

Some 61% of respondents to an April 2023 survey released by Gallup this week concurred that “recent price increases” have caused “financial hardship” for themselves and their households. The share of respondents answering in the affirmative continued to rise from 56% in August 2022, 49% in January 2022, and 45% in November 2021.

Roughly 15% of respondents in April 2023 additionally said that the hardship from elevated inflation has been “severe” and affects their ability to maintain a consistent standard of living. “As has been the case for the past two years, lower-income Americans report greater hardship from inflation than those in higher income brackets,” Gallup noted.

Another survey from Gallup showed that the “high cost of living” is the “most important financial problem” facing the plurality of American families: 35% referenced inflation, 11% referenced costs for owning or renting a home, 9% referenced excess debt, and 7% referenced low wages.

The surveys were conducted as headline inflation fell below 5% last month, marking a continued decline from the inflation rates exceeding 9% last summer. Price increases for food, shelter, and other central components of household budgets, on the other hand, still remain well above the 5% overall level.

The latest inflation data comes as officials at the Federal Reserve increased the target federal funds rate in an effort to slow price level increases, a policy regime that raises the cost of borrowing funds for consumers and businesses, thereby lowering inflation but dampening overall economic activity. Federal Reserve policymakers introduced a quarter-point rate hike earlier this month, continuing a slowdown from previous rate hikes and reflecting caution as the financial sector reels from the collapse of three medium-sized banks.

President Joe Biden has meanwhile faced criticism for repeated assertions that his policies, such as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act, are responsible for the somewhat less severe headline inflation levels. Rates charted last month are still between three and four times higher than those seen before he assumed office in January 2021, as well as more than double the 2% benchmark that the Federal Reserve has maintained for decades.

“We are making progress in the fight against inflation,” he commented in one statement released last month. “The fight against inflation isn’t over, and every day my administration is working to give families more breathing room.”

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White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre issued similar remarks last week and contended that House Republicans, who have refused to endorse an increase in the debt ceiling until meaningful federal budget reforms are enacted, could induce the “single biggest threat to our economy” if the nation defaults on obligations without an amendment to the debt limit.

Jean-Pierre has also claimed that Americans are saving money on gasoline under the administration’s energy policies, which broadly center on discouraging fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas while mandating a transition toward renewable power sources. Prices at the pump, as with overall inflation, have declined from last summer but remain considerably higher from the start of the commander-in-chief’s inauguration.