Ex-Anheuser-Busch Exec Explains Why Bud Light Boycott Is Working

A former Anheuser-Busch executive said the company "did not understand their customer base" when addressing the ongoing Bud Light boycott in an interview with Newsweek.

Anson Frericks, former president of operations for Anheuser-Busch, said the company did not understand "where their customer base is, in terms of what messaging they want to see from Bud Light."

A conservative-backed boycott against the company, and specifically its Bud Light brand, was launched in April after Bud Light partnered with transgender influencer and activist Dylan Mulvaney on a sponsored video and sent her a can of Bud Light with her face printed on the label to congratulate her one-year anniversary of transitioning.

Anheuser-Busch has seen a continuous decline in beer sales, despite its attempts to revitalize marketing campaigns and offer promotions and discounts for Bud Light. The brand was recently dethroned as the country’s top-selling beer, with Modelo snagging the No. 1 spot.

The success of the Bud Light boycott can be attributed to two reasons: the availability of similar products and perceived impact, Frericks told Newsweek.

"Boycotts typically work when there are, one, easily accessible products, similar to another company. So, beer is one of the more monetized products out there, the only thing that differentiates Bud Light, Coors Light, and Miller Lite, is the brand," Frericks told Newsweek. "Everywhere you have Bud Light, you also have Miller Lite and Coors Light...it's incredibly easy for consumers to switch. There's no real switching cost that's out there."

He compared the boycott of Bud Light to that of the NFL when calls to boycott the football league were voiced after some players kneeled during the national anthem, but said "there’s no other alternative to the NFL."

"Secondarily, consumers feel that they will keep the boycott going when they feel like they're having an impact," Frericks told the news outlet. "So every single week, this news cycle continues to kick off where you're seeing the effects of this boycott, with sales being down 25 percent, 28 percent, 30 percent, every single week. So, therefore it gives consumers the ability to say like, 'Wow, I'm really having an impact.'"

Despite the company’s attempts to lure customers back by lowering the price of beer, Frericks said he’s “not surprised” that sales have continued to decline.

"Bud Light now just becomes the whole topic of the party and just becomes a political statement if you have Bud Light that a lot of people just don't want to engage with when you're just trying to have a nice time out,” Frericks said.