Bud Light dethroned as America’s top selling beer by Modelo Especial after backlash

Bud Light was knocked off its perch as the top-selling beer in the U.S. after a boycott over the brand’s relationship with a transgender influencer.

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Modelo Especial led the market in May, grabbing 8.4% of retail sales, according to The New York Times. The Mexican beer, made by Constellation Brands, topped retail beer sales in the four weeks ending June 3, according to the newspaper, which cited Nielsen IQ data analyzed by the consulting firm Bump Williams. Dollar sales for Bud Light fell 24.4%, while Modelo’s grew by 12.2%, according to CNN.

Over the four-week period ending on June 3, sales of Bud Light garnered a 7.3% market share, the Times reported.

The brand’s decline followed a boycott against the beer that began after Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender influencer, posted a video on Instagram on April 1 promoting a Bud Light contest, the Times reported. Bud Light’s share of retail sales has dropped about three percentage points since the boycott began.

Shares of Anheuser-Busch, the beer’s parent company, have fallen nearly 15% since the video was aired, CNBC reported. The personalized Bud Light can sparked anti-LGBTQ+ outrage. The beer has also faced backlash from Mulvaney’s fans, who believe Bud Light did not do enough to support her, the AP reported.

Since last year, Bud Light sales have fallen 24.6%, while Modelo’s sales have risen by 10.2%, CNBC reported.

Bud Light had been the nation’s top-selling beer since 2001, according to The Associated Press. Dave Williams, Bump Williams’ vice president of analytics and insights, told the news organization that Bud Light could still retain that crown this year.

Williams said that Bud Light’s year-to-date market share of 9% is still higher than Modelo’s, at 8%, the AP reported.

Anheuser-Busch has not responded to the Times’ request for comment.

In April, Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth said in a statement that “We never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people.”

“We are in the business of bringing people together over a beer,” Whitworth said.

“Bud Light’s missteps felt like a betrayal to both its liberal and conservative customers, and that trust is going to take months, if not years, to rebuild,” Daniel Korschun, an associate professor of marketing at Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business, told the Times.

Williams told the newspaper that Bud Light has faced “tough competition” over the past few years.

“I can’t recall any other brand surpassing Bud Light in recent years, though brands such as Modelo Especial and Michelob Ultra have certainly been on an upward trajectory doing their best to narrow the gap between themselves and Bud Light,” Williams told the Times in an email.