Several reports say Bud Light, once the most popular beer in the US, is now selling less than water in some warehouses in the light of the Dylan Mulvaney sponsorship a few months ago.
Glenn Miller's Beer & Soda Warehouse manager Andy Wagner told the New York Times that a 30-pack Miller Lite was selling for $24.99 while the same amount of cans of Bud Light only cost $8.99 after rebate.
"At this point, it's cheaper than some of the cases of water we're selling in the back," he said. "It's just not moving like it used to."
He added that it was not because people were not drinking beer but because they "just stopped buying Bud Light" after its parent company Anheuser-Busch broke the "bar rules," meaning there should be no political or religious agenda when it comes to beers and liquors.
The LGBT+ community also withdrew its support for Bud Light after Mulvaney issued a statement last week criticizing the brand for its lack of support following the backlash she received.
"I was waiting for the brand to reach out to me, but they never did," she said in a video. "For a company to hire a trans person and then not publicly stand by them is worse in my opinion than not hiring a trans person at all, because it gives customers permission to be as transphobic and hateful as they want."
Desperation and More Criticism
Out of apparent desperation, Bud Light released a new ad featuring American football player Travis Kelce ahead of July 4. The brand released the 15-second ad on YouTube featuring several men, including Kelce, grunting as they sat down before one cracked open a Bud Light can.
The ad received overwhelmingly negative comments.
"[Anheuser-Busch] is sure [sic] desperate to come back to who were their loyal customers," one YouTube commenter wrote beneath the latest ad. "Nice try but no dice."
"Drank bud light for 15 years. Will never drink one again," commented another.
Meanwhile, podcaster Joe Rogan called Mulvaney "mentally ill" and an "attention whore" in response to her apparent disappointment with Anheuser-Busch.
In an episode of his podcast "The Joe Rogan Experience", he and rapper-actor Ice Cube tackled the Bud Light controversy.
"The only time [capital] respects opinions is when people boycott s*** and it works like this Bud Light thing, and now people are like, 'Don't do that again,'" he said.
Ex-Executive Calls for Anheuser-Busch CEO's Resignation
Additionally, former Anheuser-Busch President Anson Frericks told Fox Business its current CEO, Brendan Whitworth, to step down before the brand plummeted further for apparently not addressing the problem between the brand and its consumers.
"This chasm that we're seeing between Bud Light and its consumers is only going to intensify because every time you come out with one of these weak statements or some of these just platitudes," he said. "[U]ntil you address the problem, I don't see consumers coming back and coming back to this brand."
Frericks projected Bud Light's sales to decrease more in the coming months, which would trigger more job cuts.
The Ardagh Group, the global bottling company with a contract with Anheuser-Busch, announced they would be closing their plants in North Carolina and Louisiana this month, WRAL reported. The closure would put over 600 employees without a job.
Related Article: Dylan Mulvaney Slams Bud Light for Not Standing By Her: 'Worse Than Not Hiring a Trans'
