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   >There are growing calls from UFC supporters to boycott the sport after   
   the   
   >brand announced a new major sponsorship deal with Bud Light.   
   >   
      
   Rightist socialist pedophile boycott of Bud Lite ineffective.  Time for   
   suicide?   
      
   Bud Light owner AB InBev beats forecasts in quarter dominated by boycott   
   Published Thu, Aug 3 2023   
      
      
       AB InBev’s core profit rose 5% year on year, well above expectations   
   despite a boycott that led to a sharp fall in sales of Bud Light beer.   
      
      
      
   , the world’s biggest brewer, on Thursday smashed profit expectations   
   during a quarter that saw a social media-driven boycott of its bestselling   
   Bud Light beer in the U.S.   
      
   The Belgium-based Budweiser owner said its second-quarter revenue rose by   
   7.2% globally, as price hikes offset a 1.4% fall in volumes. The company   
   said organic growth in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and   
   amortization (EBITDA) was 5%, above a consensus forecast of 0.4%.   
      
   AB InBev also reiterated its full-year and medium-term profit outlook.   
   Last month, the company announced hundreds of job cuts impacting various   
   areas of the business.   
      
      
      
   The Bud Light boycott was a response led by high-profile online   
   personalities to the brand’s brief product placement with transgender   
   influencer Dylan Mulvaney, who was sent a bottle of the beer to promote in   
   a video at the start of April.   
      
   The partnership sparked one of the most talked-about marketing furors in   
   recent years, with Bud Light in May losing its spot as the top-selling   
   beer in the United States to Constellation Brands’ Modelo, as sales fell   
   25%. AB InBev’s U.S. revenues were down 10.5% in the second quarter,   
   according to its results, as core profit fell 28.2%.   
      
   The company then faced criticism for failing to support Mulvaney in the   
   wake of the controversy, which attracted political attention and led to   
   the reported leave of absence of the marketing executive who oversaw the   
   partnership.   
      
   Zak Stambor, senior analyst at Insider Intelligence, said AB InBev   
   “managed to alienate both conservatives and progressives in one fell   
   swoop” and noted the importance of marketing to a brand which is “not a   
   markedly different product from other macrobrewed light lagers.”   
      
   AB InBev CEO Michel Doukeris on the company’s quarterly earnings call told   
   analysts the decline in sales has reached “stabilization with signals of   
   improvement.”   
      
   He addressed the company’s response to the backlash, although he never   
   specifically called it a “boycott,” referring instead to the “Bud Light   
   situation.”   
      
   “In the U.S., we are listening and actively engaging with our consumers,”   
   said Doukeris. “They want to enjoy their beer without a debate, they want   
   us to focus and concentrate platforms that all consumers love.”   
      
   The company plans to take “different responses in different regions” but   
   remains confident in Bud Light’s brand recovery.   
      
   In its earnings statement, AB InBev said research conducted on its behalf   
   through a third-party firm showed 80% of 170,000 consumers surveyed were   
   “favorable or neutral” toward the Bud Light brand.   
      
      
      
   The Thursday earnings highlight that the Bud Light declines meant AB InBev   
   underperformed the industry in sales to retailers. In revenue terms, the   
   drop was partially offset by the double-digit growth of its “mainstream   
   portfolio” in South Africa and Colombia.   
      
   China was another area of strength, with regional volumes up by 11% in the   
   second quarter.   
      
   Analysts at Royal Bank of Canada said they were “pleasantly surprised” by   
   the results, but forecast an organic volume decline of 1.1% for the year,   
   incorporating an assumption of no recovery in Bud Light.   
      
      
      
   https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/03/bud-light-owner-ab-inbev-beats-forecasts-   
   despite-boycott.html   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)