Bud Light boycott over trans activist Dylan Mulvaney pact ‘has legs’ as sales outlook thrown into doubt

The controversy over Bud Light’s partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney looks like it has staying power — raising the risk that boycotts will further cripple sales of the nation’s biggest beer brand, according to industry experts.

It’s “way too early” to know whether the controversy will🤪 ultimately hurt the bre❀wery’s bottom line, said Evercore ISI analyst Robert Ottenstein.

Nevertheless, there is plenty of anecdotal evidence showing its potent𓆏ial to wreak havoc.

Eleven days after Anheuser-Busch delivered custom-made cans with Mulvaney’s mug on them to the influencer, Kid Rock used Bud Light cans for rifle practice.

Squabbles have broken out at bars and distributors are canceling even⛦ts featuring the iconic Clydesdale hoꦯrses.

“This boycott seems to have more legs than most,” Justin Kendall, editor of beer industry trade publication 📖Brewbound, told The Post.

“It started out as a conversati♕on on 🍸social media and has breached into mainstream media.”

It will be another week before Bud Light sales data at grocery and convenience stores is available but industry experts say its sales have been declin🐻ing for years. 

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Sales of Bud Light — whose share of the US beer market is the nation’s biggest at 10.6% — were down 0.4% to $974 million this year through March 26 compared to a year earlier, according to Circana, which tracks millions of consumer products across 500,000 stores in 20 countries. 

By contrast, sales of Bud Light’s closest competitor,ღ Modelo Especial, were up 11.1% to $706 million over the same period.

“Bud Light is the best-selling beer in the countr⛎y,” Kendall said, but it remains to be seen whether the drinkers who say they are never going to have another Bud actually follow through ไon the threat, he added.

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Fanning the flames were remarks by Anheuser-Busch’s president of marketing, Alissa Heinerscheid, who said she hoped to update the “fratty” and “out of touch” humor of the beer company to appeal to younger c💧ons📖umers.

“ꦓShe didn’t need to go that far and trash the prior campaigns,” said branding expert Mic🉐hael Stone, chairman of Beanstalk Group, a New York-based branding firm.

“She could have said we are moving on to reach the demographic we want to reach and ಞto communicate a different message.”

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Heinerscheid went on to declare that “this brand is in decline, it’s been in a decline for a really long time, and if we do not attract young drinkers to come and drink this brand, there will be no future for Bud Light,” according to a March 30 interview with the podcast   

The backlash is having a chilling effect in Middle America, where Anheu𒅌ser-Busch distributors are feeling the heat.

Wil Fische꧑r Companies canceled an event in Springfield, Mo., where the iconic Budweiser Clydesdale horses were supposed to make an appearance, citing safety concerns for their employees, according to local reports. 

Anheuser-Busch has remained silent about the Mulvaney flap and its social media has been temporarily susp🉐ended. 

The company “knew there would be backlash and they were stepping in an area where there 🔯is a great political divide i𒁏n America and among their own customers,” Stone said.

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“They did a ton of research [likely showing that] they’d be supported by some and offend others.”

A spokesperson issued a statement to media outlets saying Anheuser-Busch “wor♕ks with hundreds of influencers across our brands 🍸as one of many ways to authentically connect with audiences across various demographics.”

It also said the cans that were given to Mulvaney were a “gift to celebrate a personal milestone 🍬and is not for sale to the gen𒁏eral public.”

The milestone is Mulvaney’s first anniversary of transitioning to a woman.

Last week, restaurateur Guy Cummins, who owns Smokin’ This and That BBQ in Florence, Ky., posted a Facebook message that he’d no longer be serving Budweiser beer🔯 in his restaurant because of the alliance with Mulvaney.

The business owner said Anheuser-Busch✅ had “a lack of communication with their real-time plain folk customers.”

The post was taken down — — after Cummins learned that the Mulvaney cans were commemorative and not available for sale, according to a .

Cummins said he became c🎃oncerned after he witnessed heated exchanges between customers who were ordering Bud Light at the bar and those who heckled them for doiꦺng so.

“Boycott Bud Light” searches spiked 810% last week, acc🔯ording to a♒ , which showed the most interest in the boycott in 10 red states, including Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota and West Virginia. 

Meanwhile, NYC grocers say they haven’t noticed any change in sales of Bu🦹d Light beer.

“Anheuser-Busch reps were🌼 in our office last week and they didn’t say anything about the boycott,” said Gristedes and D’Agostino’s president Joe Parisi.