Bud Light made its brand radioactive to beer drinkers by going woke.
The company was forced to come clean about the disaster it created.
And Bud Light made one surprising announcement that confirmed going woke was a disaster.
Go woke, go broke
Executives at Anheuser-Busch, Bud Light’s parent company, made one of the worst decisions in corporate history by partnering with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
The fierce backlash against the woke partnership sent Bud Light sales into a tailspin.
The light beer was dethroned by the Mexican lager Modelo Especial as the best-selling beer in the country after more than two decades on top.
Anheuser-Busch executives completely botched the response to the controversy.
They tried to wait out the backlash hoping it would go away after a couple of news cycles.
After discovering the boycott wasn’t going anywhere, they refused to issue an apology for insulting the beer’s core customer base with the woke partnership.
Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth tried to paint a rosy picture publicly by claiming that the boycott against Bud Light isn’t doing major damage to the company’s bottom line.
The brewing giant made one big announcement that confirms that the Bud Light boycott is doing lasting damage to the company.
Workers pay for the price for unrepentant woke executives
Anheuser-Busch is planning on laying off 400 corporate and marketing jobs at major offices across the country, including St. Louis, the company’s corporate headquarters.
Front-line workers in warehouses and breweries will be spared from any cuts.
The company told The Wall Street Journal that the cuts will impact “less than 2%” of its workforce.
Anheuser-Busch has nearly 20,000 workers in the US.
The company’s embattled CEO said the layoffs were about setting up the brewer for future success.
“While we never take these decisions lightly, we want to ensure that our organization continues to be set for future long-term success,” Whitworth said in a written statement. “These corporate structure changes will enable our teams to focus on what we do best—brewing great beer for everyone.”
The announcement comes as the company prepares to release its second-quarter earnings report to investors.
Beer drinkers are giving Bud Light the cold shoulder at bars, restaurants, and retailers across the country.
Anheuser-Busch employees are paying the price for Whitworth’s refusal to apologize.
The brainchild of the disastrous decision to partner with Mulvaney was already sent packing by the company, former marketing vice president Alissa Heinerscheid.
Now Whitworth could be the next Anheuser-Busch employee in the hot seat as sales continue to tumble.
He’s faced a growing chorus of calls to resign, or be fired, as the boycott shows no signs of slowing down.
Sales of Bud Light continue to plummet despite a new marketing push and a variety of other gimmicks designed to win back angry beer drinkers.
Anheuser-Busch is learning the old saying “go woke, go broke” the hard way.
