Bud Light parent company Anheuser-Busch announced it will be slashing 2 percent off its employment roster, or nearly 400 positions, in an attempt to “simplify and reduce layers within its organization.”
“Today we took the very difficult but necessary decision to eliminate a number of positions across our corporate organization," Anheuser-Busch chief executive Brendan Whitworth noted in a written statement. "While we never take these decisions lightly, we want to ensure that our organization continues to be set for future long-term success."
Whitworth elaborated that frontline workers including “brewery and warehouse staff, drivers, and field sales, among others" would not be in the crosshairs. Instead, the restructuring will ostensibly focus on U.S.-based corporate staff instead, particularly in their New York, Los Angeles, and St. Louis offices, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The brand ignited a massive public backlash in April when its marketing department sent customized beer cans to Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender TikTok influencer, as part of a social-media ad campaign. The partnership quickly proved financially catastrophic as consumers ditched the company in droves.
In April, Bud Light sales dropped 21.4 percent, while parent brand Budweiser lost 11.5 percent. Meanwhile, its major rival, Coors Light, experienced a 10.9 percent sales boost for the month. Even gay bars in cities across the country reportedly contributed to Bud Light's losses, as the bars removed Anheuser-Busch products to protest the company's tepid response to the blowback.
The trend continued throughout June as Bud Light's share of American retail-store sales slipped to 7.3 percent while competitor Modelo became the country's most popular beer, grabbing 8.4 percent of consumer dollars. The brand continued to shed customers into the heart of the summer and Independence Day, a crucial period for beer sales.
Bud Light purchases slumped 27.9 percent compared to a year ago in the week ending June 24, data from NielsenIQ and Bump Williams Consulting revealed. The decline slightly improved from the 28.5 percent historic decrease the beer company suffered the prior week.
"The Fourth of July is the biggest beer holiday in terms of retail sales and an opportunity to move a lot of volume," Dave Williams, vice president of Bump Williams Consulting, an alcohol beverage research company, told the New York Post at the time. "And there has been no notable signs where the course has changed for Bud Light."
"Our year is screwed," one Anheuser-Busch distributor who doesn't carry Modelo told the Wall Street Journal following the news.
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