Some Bud Light products are being offered for free with a promotional rebate as sales numbers continue to plunge following the company’s controversial Dylan Mulvaney advertising campaign.
A new Memorial Day weekend promotion offers a rebate in the amount “equivalent to the purchase price of one (1) 15-pack or larger, up to $15” of various Bud Light products with different terms and conditions in certain states.
Online postings have shown that many of the products are $15 or less, meaning the rebate makes them free to the customer with the exception of sales tax or any state restrictions.
One Wisconsin resident, pointing out that the state home to the Milwaukee Brewers and Green Bay Packers (and 7 of the top 10 drunkest cities in America, headed by Green Bay) is “known for drinking a lot of beer,” posted images of display stands at separate stores advertising the free beer.
Displays seen in two different stores in Wisconsin, a state known for drinking a lot of beer: pic.twitter.com/x3vMD4Tp1r
— Haz (@Michael_Haz) May 24, 2023
Bud Light Offering Their Beer For Free
The Bud Light free beer promotion comes as sales continue to remain remarkably flat, consistently being down in the minus 24-26% range for several weeks.
In fact, Beer Business Daily editor and publisher Harry Schuhmacher reports that nobody in the business expected the backlash from the Dylan Mulvaney promotion to have been sustained this long.
“Nobody imagined it would go on this long,” Schuhmacher told NBC News. “It seems random — it struck a nerve. I’ve never seen anything to compare it to, in all of the [consumer packaged goods] industry. It’s a real shock.”
Bud Light is getting REKT:
“Nobody imagined it would go on this long. It seems random, it struck a nerve. I’ve never seen anything to compare it to, in all of the industry. It’s a real shock.’” pic.twitter.com/r9TX1gMBkP
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) May 24, 2023
Mulvaney, a transgender TikTok sensation, took part in a Bud Light pitch in a pair of videos back in late March and early April.
The videos received significant pushback from the public and consumers have since voiced their displeasure with the company transitioning to a woke sales pitch by taking their hard-earned dollars elsewhere.
Seeing as how they apparently can’t give Bud Light away for free, I guess the next step will be to pay people to take it away? https://t.co/YtV383dUZM
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) May 24, 2023
RELATED: Bud Light Partners With TikTok Trans Activist for New Ad Campaign
Bud Light Being Forced to Buy Their Own Beer Back
The Bud Light free beer promotion comes, perhaps not coincidentally, as reports have surfaced that they are offering to buy back their products from vendors should they hit the expiration date.
“The brewer recently told its wholesalers that it would buy back unsold cases of beer that have gone past their expiration date,” the Wall Street Journal reported.
“Bud Light has reportedly told wholesalers that it will buy back unsold cases of beer that are past their expiration dates as sales of the Anheuser-Busch-owned brand have lagged…”https://t.co/2Kze6pFjdK
— MAGA – American Pitbull (@MelissaRNMBA) May 22, 2023
At least they’re handling that aspect of the debacle properly.
Bump Williams, the founder of a consulting firm that specializes in the alcoholic beverage industry, states that the plunge in Bud Light’s sales is hitting beer distributors especially hard, “costing them millions of dollars every day.”
BREAKING: Bud Light boycott is not slowing down as sales worsened for the sixth consecutive week for the beer giant.
Bud Light sales were down 24.6% for the week ending on May 13th when compared to the year prior.
Coors must be happy about the Bud Light catastrophe considering… pic.twitter.com/tYzdVIOkrU
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) May 22, 2023
Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth issued a statement as backlash was growing over the ad campaign, saying the company never intended to divide Americans by partnering with Mulvaney.
Williams meanwhile, notes that Bud Light, despite the latest sales numbers, is still the bestselling beer in America “by far.”
But he says if the trend isn’t reversed soon their status at the top is at risk.
“Bud Light is in serious trouble this year,” he warned.
Sheer brutality. Conservatives finally pull off a massively successful boycott. I’ve never seen it happen and didn’t think it would work. Shout out to Matt Walsh and others who made it happen. https://t.co/0UMNRh8HMD
— Cernovich (@Cernovich) May 2, 2023
Anheuser-Busch InBev CEO Michel Doukeris hinted that the backlash is due to misinformation about the partnership with Mulvaney.
“We need to clarify the facts that this was one can, one influencer, one post, and not a campaign,” he said.
One post was all it took to completely misread your consumer base and turn them off by having trans activists forced upon them. Mulvaney is an attention seeker. Did they not think he’d flaunt his personalized can?
We hope it was worth it.
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