Anheuser-Busch has officially given up on winning back its customer base.
The beer giant announced Wednesday that it has laid off almost two percent of its U.S. workforce, eliminating 360 jobs, the Hill reported.
Bud Light’s U.S. sales were down by 26.5 percent in the month ending July 15, the Hill reported.
Ever since April Fool’s Day — the day transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney posted a video of him posed with a Bud Light can featuring his face — the beer giant has lost hand over fist in profits.
“Consumers have made a choice,” said an executive at a Texas-based beer distributor told the New York Post. “They have left [Bud Light] and that’s how it’s going to be. I don’t envision a big percentage of them coming back.”
For months, the beer giant has pulled every trick in the book in an attempt to lure beer drinkers back. AB-Inbev ran a rebate for its products ahead of the Fourth of July and Memorial Day but failed to see a positive impact on sales.
“There is an increasing feeling that this [Bud Light] decline rate could last for a while and the distributors are worried about losing those drinkers to other similar brands,” David Steinmann, executive editor of Beer Marketer’s Insights, told the Post.
Last month, Modelo Espresso claimed the title of top-selling beer in America, Breitbart News reported.
Now, the brewery is looking to roll out its own craft distillery now part of Anheuser’s “Beyond Beer.”
According to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, spirits overtook beer in its market share. Beer was valued at 41.9 percent and hard liquor was 42.1 percent.
In 2019, Ab-Inbev bought Cutwater Spirits, so it is now a part of Anheuser’s “Beyond Beer.”
“There are so many different options for coming-of-age drinkers today,” the beer executive said.