Bud Light brewer is still struggling to sell the beer in North America over trans promotion backlash - eviltoast

Anheuser-Busch Inbev said Tuesday that revenue growth in most of its global regions was offset by a drop in North American sales, in a sign of continuing fallout from a promotion with a transgender influencer that cost it sales.

The world’s largest brewer and parent company of Bud Light said adjusted earnings for the latest quarter rose 4.1% to $5.4 billion on revenues that climbed 5% to $15.6 billion.

Revenue in the United States for the July-September period, however, tumbled 13.5%. AB InBev, based in Leuven, Belgium, noted that sales to retailers were down “primarily due to the volume decline of Bud Light.”

Bud Light sales plunged amid a conservative backlash after the brand sent a commemorative can to transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney in early April.

  • MeanEYE@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    As someone who lives in Europe who never tried USA made beer, are they really that bad? Can you compare to anything from Europe?

    • DBT@artemis.camp
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      1 year ago

      It’s bad to beer snobs/craft bros, but to most normal people it’s refreshing when served cold. Not much flavor going on with BL, but most people who drink it aren’t looking for pumpkin spice or hops or whatever in their beverage - they just want a cold beer that’s smooth and refreshing.

      • MeanEYE@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I can see how that would be a thing. My father likes drinking some local beer that is basically equal to drainage water. On the other hand I like German or Czech lager, depending on the mood. He usually doesn’t touch my beer saying it’s too expensive for his taste. Not sure how 1$ for good 0.5l beer is too expensive for 0.7$ garbage but am not going to argue with him. He actually prefers beer that I drink and enjoys it when he runs out of bad stuff. It’s just that he keeps buying that garbage.

        • Rentlar@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Sometimes you just want the drunk more than the drink, so you don’t care if it tastes anywhere between piss and a Sharpie.

      • ManosTheHandsOfFate@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I’m not too picky with beer and am happy to try anything, from crappy macros to the local brew pub’s experiment with jalapenos. For me, these macro lagers serve the same function as soda but aren’t as sweet. They’re just something to wash down pizza or Chinese food while I’m watching a movie. Yes, there are “craft” sodas that cost a lot of money but Shasta is cheaper and gets the job done.

    • LucasWaffyWaf@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Craft brews here can be bloody amazing. The big name mass produced domestics tend to be watery, with little pleasantness to the flavor. Some are God awful, but most are the beer equivalent of a plain potato chip. Pleasant enough in the moment, but you’ll forget about it not long after.

        • norbert@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          Stella or Heine are both flavorful, wonderful drinks compared to Bud Light, that’s how bad it is.

        • LucasWaffyWaf@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Edit: Leaving the message up, but Stella is NOT Mexican. No friggen clue where I got that from o.o

          Funny you mention a Dutch and Mexican brew, but basically lol. I find Heineken better tasting than Bud, Miller, Coors, what have ya, but it’s not a huuuge bump in quality. Plus Heineken in my area isn’t that much cheaper than the much better tasting, much more varied craft brews I can find locally.

    • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Bud light is awful. It’s watered down and barely has a flavor. American beer is not bad in general anymore, but it definitely used to be. This is one of the beers from the hayday of shitty American beer.

    • QuinceDaPence@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Bud Light was already a joke for being bad.

      American Light Macro-Lagers are popular because they’re cheap. But if you want to try one I’d recommend Coors Light over Bud Light. Also the US is hotter and a light beer is best when you’ve been out in 100°F heat for a while.

      But if you want something better there are tons of other breweries all around the country. You’d probably have a hard time getting anything from the smaller ones in europe but you can probably get something from one of the larger ones like Shiner.

      • loobkoob@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        Bud Light was already a joke for being bad.

        Yep. GTA 4 came out in 2008 - 15 years ago - and features the beer brand “Pißwasser”, which is clearly mocking Budweiser’s name and branding - particularly Bud Light’s. It’s been a joke for a long time.

      • SleepyWheel@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        Also the US is hotter and a light beer is best when you’ve been out in 100°F heat for a while.

        Hmm, Greece, Italy and Spain would like a word with Minnesota, Wyoming and Maine. And let’s not even mention Alaska

          • SleepyWheel@sh.itjust.works
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            1 year ago

            Yep UK’s certainly not sweltering, although we have gone over 100f on five occasions, all in the last 3 years (and all in the south east of England which is our warmest region)

            • QuinceDaPence@kbin.social
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              1 year ago

              What’s the humidity been on those occasions? I assume being an island it’s somewhat humid but since the water around y’all is probably colder than the Gulf of Mexico I’d think that would mitigate it some.

              • SleepyWheel@sh.itjust.works
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                1 year ago

                I couldn’t say scientifically but it’s generally not felt that humid. We do get what we call ‘muggy’ days where you can feel a storm brewing, but often the hottest days are drier.

                I’ve experienced real heat and humidity in Northern Australia and we never get those levels in the uk.

    • ikidd@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      American/Canadian lagers are basically fizzy rice water with a little bit of alcohol in them. It’s not beer as a European would know it. I’ve had and made plenty of lagers, lager can be tasty, bodied and still refreshing. The only thing these have going for them is the latter.

      • MeanEYE@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        So accent is not to drink pure water, but have something going on and ability to get pissed?

        • ikidd@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Pretty much. And they’re drinking “light” beer because they’re already fat bastards. They’d be better off with a sodastream and some gin if they want to get refreshed, drunk and skinny.

      • Rentlar@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Yep. Even some local lagers have been disappointing to me… your standard options are way better in Europe than anywhere here vis-a-vis. Just like Canadian healthcare, us Canucks can say at least we’re slightly better with our beers than the US.

        Don’t count on my word for taste of beer though, stuff enough hops in it and I’m a happy camper…

    • SeaJ@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      The macro brewed stuff is about as bad as any other macro brew like Carlsberg or Stella Artois. There are tons of good locally/regionally brewed beer though which comes in any manner of styles.

    • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      If I had to choose between Bud and Stella I would be torn because I’m not sure which one is worse 🤔