Bud Light is still feeling the effects of the boycott that followed its association with a transgender influencer.
The beer brand, which used to top the sales charts, has slipped to the third best-selling beer, as Michelob Ultra has surpassed it to claim the number two spot. Modelo Especial, which overtook Bud Light when the boycotts began, remains the best-selling beer in the U.S.
While it’s a shocking slip for the brand, it’s a clear sign of the power of Leonard Leo, a right-wing power broker that many Americans have never heard of.
Tax filings obtained by The Guardian show a group linked to Leo helped bankroll the furor over Bud Light’s ad with Dylan Mulvaney. That group, Concord Fund, reportedly gave $350,000 to Consumers’ Research, which played a central role in the boycott, launching a text alert service letting people know if a product was “woke” or not.
Leo is co-chairman of the Federalist Society, a conservative activism group that is credited with advising then-President Donald Trump on his Supreme Court appointments, as well as helping to guide the confirmations of the court’s three other conservative justices: Clarence Thomas, John Roberts and Samuel Alito.
Bud Light represented 6.5% of beer dollar sales in U.S. stores in the four weeks ended July 6, compared with 7.3% for Michelob Ultra and 9.7% for Modelo, according to The Wall Street Journal. In February 2023, the brand had a better than 10% of the total beer sales in U.S. retail stores.
The sales drop comes amid an industry-wide slowdown, as younger consumers lean away from alcohol and embrace both legalized marijuana and non-alcoholic beers. The upside for AB-InBev, though, is that it also owns Michelob Ultra, so even with Bud Light’s sales drop, it can still claim two of the three best-selling beer slots.