Good music outdoors on a hot night may go nicely with a cold beer, unless of course that beer is a Bud Light.
That's what OutKick founder Clay Travis discovered over the weekend when conducting an experiment on whether Nashville music fans would put the Anheuser-Busch controversy behind them and one of the company's signature drinks in hand.
Travis shared videos to Twitter Monday detailing his "weekend experiment," in which he offered passersby free beer at a concert in the Nashville area.
"Pick which beer you want," was the only prompt. Inside the cooler: a variety of beers including Bud Light.
According to Travis, "No one would take the Bud Light all night long. Big issue going forward for Bud Light is many don’t even want to be seen with product. They just pick another brand."
Rather than tacitly absolve Anheuser-Busch for having partnered with transvestic activist Dylan Mulvaney to celebrate his "365 Days of Girlhood," concert-goers reportedly opted for beers such as Yuengling.
TheBlaze previously reported that Yuengling struck a contrast with Bud Light's woke marketing in April with a straightforward ad that featured a picture of Yuengling beer and an American flag with the caption, "Yuengling, The Oldest Brewery In America. Independently Owned and Family Operated since 1829 because we make good beer."
Travis' first video, taken at 6:45 p.m., shows a cooler full of beer. His second video, reportedly taken at 10:15 p.m., shows a cooler emptied of all but Bud Light cans.
"I’m not a marketing expert, but the only beer left at the West Fest ... Bud Light," said Travis. "Not ideal. Not good."
\u201cWeekend experiment. Beers in cooler at Nashville area event. Pick which beer you want. No one would take the Bud Light all night long. Big issue going forward for Bud Light is many don\u2019t even want to be seen with product. They just pick another brand.\u201d
— Clay Travis (@Clay Travis) 1683560764
In a follow-up tweet, Travis noted, "Overall consumption of Bud Light is now down 26%. That’s an unmitigated disaster for the brand. And many are now avoiding the beer to avoid being mocked for drinking the beer. There’s no quick fix here, brand is slaughtered in red state beer drinking communities. Bet there is hardly any at SEC tailgates this fall."
The results of Travis' experiment appear to replicate that seen in the wild.
Last week, viral footage taken at Boston's Fenway Park showed that sports fans did their best to avoid at least one Bud Light concession stand.
@luistejadabostonrealtorFenway Park Bud light stand Ghost Town! #budlight #fenwaypark #redsox #massrealestate #realtor #bienesraices #jesuslovesyou #forsalebyowner #sellersagent #jesus
In the video, a bystander can be heard remarking, "Guys, this is so funny and bizarre." As he pans to the customer-less Bud Light stand, he adds, "That is every single Bud Light stand here at Fenway Park in Boston ... holy crap, they're in trouble."
While Bud Light was left in Travis' cooler, Michelob Ultra, another Anheuser-Busch beer, was snatched up. This trend may similarly change, beer industry expert Bump Williams told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
"What’s happening now is that anybody that is a Bud Light drinker and switches to Michelob Ultra because they don’t want to be seen holding a Bud Light, someone down the bar is going to say, 'Hey, buddy, that’s an Anheuser-Busch product you’re holding.'"
TheBlaze indicated earlier this month that Bud Light has seen sales plunge 21% compared to the same week in 2022.
Beer Business Daily described the drop as a "shocking deterioration" of Bud Light's market share. "We've never seen such a dramatic shift in national share in such a short period of time," the newsletter said.
The number of beer cases sold has plummeted 26%.
Boycotts appear to have cost the beer's parent company, Anheuser-Busch, roughly $5 billion in losses.
Anhuser-Busch has since blamed a "third party ad agency" for its partnership with Mulaney, telling distributors that it has fired the marketing firm responsible, reported Fox News Digital.
Last week, Anheuser-Busch CEO Michel Doukeris tried to downplay the company's foray into transgender propaganda as constituting "one can, one influencer, one post and not a campaign."
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