The parent company of Bud Light is selling off several beer brands as the transgender public relations catastrophe drags on.
On Tuesday, Tilray Brands, a cannabis company, said it had reached an agreement with Anheuser-Busch InBev to purchase eight craft beer and beverage brands, including Shock Top, Blue Point, Breckenridge Brewery, Redhook Brewery, and HiBall Energy.
The eight brands represent less than 1% of the company's craft beer assets and represent the company's “less stellar-performing assets,” according to Benj Steinman, editor of Beer Marketer’s Insights.
Anheuser-Busch reported a drop of 10% in sales in the U.S. in the second quarter and attributed much of that to a steep drop in Bud Light sales after conservatives declared a boycott against the brand. Sales to U.S. retailers dropped by 14% in the second quarter, while U.S. sales to wholesalers fell by 15%.
The PR nightmare began when transgender TikTok influencer Dylan Mulvaney posted on Instagram about a partnership with Bud Light to publicize its March Madness marketing campaign. Critics lambasted the beer brand, and the furor increased when comments from a marketing executive mocking the brand's traditional fan base resurfaced on social media.
Mulvaney has since accused the company of abandoning the influencer while critics attacked the marketing campaign. Anheuser-Busch has fired some marketing executives and also initiated layoffs of corporate employees in the U.S.
While executives at the company have said it is confident sales will recover eventually, some distributors have been quoted as saying the brand will not recover from the boycott.
Bud Light has also lost the title of the best-selling beer in the U.S. after reigning for over two decades.
Here's more about the decline in Bud Light sales:
Bud Light boycott weighs on AB InBev U.S. resultwww.youtube.com
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