Bud Light Poll Reveals Depth Of Dylan Mulvaney Partnership Backlash

The negative impact of the Dylan Mulvaney-Bud Light partnership boycott may be serious but not as bad as it initially appeared, a poll suggests.

A survey conducted by Redfield & Wilton Strategies on behalf of Newsweek has found that the overwhelming majority of individuals who were buying Bud Light before the controversy would continue to do so. However, it found that 12 percent of Bud Light drinkers would no longer continue to buy it, which, if translated to lost sales, would imply a serious hit to the company's revenue.

Bud Light faced calls for a boycott after sending a personalized can to Mulvaney, a transgender influencer who has promoted the beer to their millions of social media followers, to celebrate "day 365 of womanhood."

The partnership drew condemnation from some conservative celebrities and politicians, including musician Kid Rock, who shot cases of Bud Light in a viral video. In Missouri, a Republican state senator posted a video of himself smashing a can with a baseball bat outside the state Capitol building. Country music star Travis Tritt vowed to take Bud Light off his tour rider.

The controversy also caught the attention of the White House, which condemned bomb threats against several of Bud Light's parent company, Anheuser-Busch's factories.

Alissa Heinerscheid, the marketing vice president who was behind the Bud Light ad campaign with Mulvaney, has taken a "leave of absence." Daniel Blake, the vice president overseeing marketing across its mainstream brands was also taking a leave of absence, according to Anheuser-Busch.

Bud Light has seen a 17 percent decline in sales revenue since the controversy began. The volume of sales declined 11 percent in the first week of the controversy, ending April 8, and 21 percent in the week ending April 15, according to figures from NielsenIQ and Bump Williams Consulting, originally cited by trade newsletter Beer Marketer's Insights.

The online poll for Newsweek was conducted on April 24, 2023, and had a sample size of 1,500 adults in the United States over the age of 18 with a 2.53 percent margin of error.

Participants were asked: "Bud Light recently hired Dylan Mulvaney, a prominent transgender person, to advertise its brand. To what extent, if at all, do you support or oppose this decision?"

Thirty-five percent of the participants said they "strongly support" the decision while 25 percent said they neither support nor oppose it and 18 percent said they support it. Fifteen percent of respondents said they strongly oppose, while 4 percent said they oppose and 3 percent said they don't know.

Participants were also asked if they like to drink beer, to which 60 percent of all those surveyed said yes.

Of this group, as a follow-up question, they were asked: "Did you buy Bud Light before Dylan Mulvaney was hired to advertise the beer brand?"

Eighty-one percent of this group said yes while 19 percent said no. Eighty-eight percent of those who said yes said they would still buy Bud Light following the brand's decision to partner with Dylan Mulvaney, and 12 percent said no.

These results were heavily skewed by political affiliation. Twenty-two percent of Biden supporters said they would continue to drink it, but only 4 percent of Trump supporters said they would.

There were also notable differences by age. Bud Light tends to be most popular with drinkers aged 18-29, research by Statista suggests. The polling for Newsweek shows that 10 percent of Bud Light drinkers aged 18-24 would no longer buy it. Those aged 45-45 were most likely to no longer buy it, at 26 percent.

In addition to this, more men than women strongly supported the hiring of Mulvaney, at 41 percent compared with 28 percent, respectively. However, more men said they would not be buying the beer following the controversy, at 14 percent compared with 9 percent.

An earlier Rasmussen Reports poll of 1,000 adults, carried out on April 12-16, found that 54 percent supported the boycott, while 30 percent were opposed. It did not survey Bud Light drinkers specifically. Fifty-two percent said that major corporations give too much attention to transgender issues.

Newsweek reached out to Anheuser-Busch via email for comment.

Update 4/26/23, 10:30 a.m. ET: This article and its headline were updated with additional information.