Anheuser-Busch InBev’s chief executive on Thursday tried to minimize the controversy over Bud Light as the company reiterated its financial guidance for the year.
CEO Michel Doukeris told analysts that “everything we should do should be about beer” and that “beer itself should not be the focus of the debate” following the uproar over a Bud Light social-media campaign featuring trans activist and actress Dylan Mulvaney.
Although Doukeris didn’t quantify the decline in Bud Light sales, he also didn’t dispute numbers from the trade publication Beer Business Daily, which reported that sales, outside bars and restaurants, were down 26% in the week ending April 22.
It’s too early to understand how long the effect on sales might last, Doukeris said, adding that there has been spillover to some other brands. The company will focus its marketing on sports and music, he said.
“We need to continue to clarify the facts — that was one can, one post, one influencer, and not a campaign,” said Doukeris. He said that the company will triple the planned investment around Bud Light over the summer and that it was offering more support to frontline workers such as wholesalers.
One analyst on the call estimated the cost to Anheuser-Busch InBev would be about $500 million. Doukeris didn’t endorse that number, however, and suggested the company was cutting costs outside the United States.
The Mulvaney controversy occurred after the end of the first quarter, when the company posted growth in its underlying profit to $1.31 billion from $1.2 billion, with revenue up 12% to $7.7 billion and organic volume growth of 0.9%.
The company still says earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization will grow between 4% and 8% this year, with revenue ahead of Ebitda on a combination of volume and price.
Anheuser-Busch InBev’s
BUD,
U.S.-listed shares rose 2% in early trading Thursday and have gained 8% this year.
