(Reuters) – Constellation Brands’ Modelo Especial was the top-selling beer brand in the United States for a second consecutive month in June, after first dethroning Anheuser-Busch InBev’s Bud Light in May.
Bud Light, which held the top spot as the most-sold beer in 2022 and in the first four months of this year, has seen sales drop after a backlash from conservatives over a social media promotion with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
Several U.S. retailers have faced pushback from conservatives over the sale of LGBTQ+ merchandise. Target, which has sold Pride-themed merchandise in June for years, was forced to remove some of it following confrontations between customers and employees.
Sales of Bud Light and Budweiser dropped 28% and 11.7%, respectively, for the four weeks ended July 1 from a year earlier, while Modelo Especial sales rose 8.5%, according to consulting company Bump Williams, which sources data from NielsenIQ.
Modelo Especial was the top-selling beer brand in June, with an 8.7% share of overall beer sales through retail stores for the period, while Bud Light came in second with a 7% share.
AB InBev’s CEO Michel Doukeris had said in May that it was too early to have a full view of the impact of the backlash against Pride-linked promotions.
Companies like Target are now facing criticism from gay rights groups for insufficient support for the community. In June, New York Attorney General Letitia James had also called the company’s move “wrong” and urged the retailer to reverse its decision.
Even workers at dozens of U.S. Starbucks locations held strikes in June after the union representing the coffee chain’s baristas alleged that managers at dozens of Starbucks outlets had prevented employees from putting up Pride Month flags and decorations, or had removed them.
(Reporting by Ananya Mariam Rajesh in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)
