Modelo Mocked After Bud Light Boycotters Miss One Major Point

Boycotters of Bud Light have been mocked for celebrating the beer brand being overtaken by Mexican rival Modelo as both are owned globally by the same company.

Statistics provided to Newsweek by Constellation Brands, the beer's U.S. distributor, showed Modelo Especial drew $36 million more in sales than Bud Light in the four weeks to May 28, dethroning the latter as America's top-selling beer. One Twitter user argued it was like "boycotting the Big Mac by eating a Quarter Pounder instead."

Bud Light has faced a backlash and boycott after it sent a commemorative can to transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney in early April to commemorate her first year of transitioning to a woman.

Anheuser-Busch, the brand's parent company, was accused of alienating its traditional customer base with the partnership, while some in the LGBTQ+ community have also slammed the company for not defending its ties with Mulvaney.

Since the calls for a boycott were raised over two months ago, Bud Light has seen a rapid drop-off in domestic sales and revenue remains consistently below what it was the same time last year.

Modelo was acquired by Constellation Brands for the U.S. market in 2013 from Anheuser-Busch due to an anti-trust lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice to limit its dominance of the domestic beer market, but in all other markets is owned by the Belgium-headquartered brewery giant Anheuser-Busch InBev.

However, the two companies have conflicted over use of the brand in the U.S. market: In March, a New York jury sided with Constellation over an alleged violation of its distribution agreement in a case brought by Anheuser-Busch South America for selling hard seltzers under the Modelo and Corona names that would compete with its own in the U.S.

Modelo Especial store sales were $333 million in the four weeks to May 28—a 15.6 percent increase compared to the same period last year—while Bud Light took in $297 million, a 22.8 percent fall, according to Circana/IRI data figures.

Bill Newlands, Constellation Brands CEO, said the jump had occurred "quicker than we had anticipated."

Modelo Especial sales revenues soared 12.2 percent off the back of a 9.3 percent bump in volumes in the week to June 3, Nielsen IQ industry statistics shown to Newsweek by Bump Williams Consulting revealed, while at the same time Bud Light's revenues were down 24.4 percent compared to the same week a year ago.

Bud Light remained America's best-selling beer in the year-to-date, but had fallen off its top spot recently.

While this was celebrated by those who had called for a boycott on social media, others have since ridiculed the apparent swap-out for still benefiting Anheuser-Busch.

"Modelo, of course, is also owned by Anheuser-Busch-InBev, so this is really all just pageantry," Sean Kelly wrote on Twitter. "It's like telling McDonald's you're boycotting the Big Mac by eating a Quarter Pounder instead."

"Congratulations to the makers of Modelo Especial... (checks notes)... Anheuser-Busch InBev," Jesse Spector tweeted.

"They are both owned by the same company," another wrote. "People who are 'boycotting' are literally still giving their dollars to Anheuser-Busch because they're all idiots."

But the complex business arrangements employed to get around the Obama-era anti-trust suit may not be as straightforward.

As Constellation Brands stated when the distribution deal was agreed in 2013, Modelo's Mexican operations in Piedras Negras are owned by Crown Imports, a "fully owned entity of Constellation" which provides the U.S. distributor "with independent brewing operations" and "Modelo's full profit stream from all U.S. sales."

Constellation said that the transaction ensured "independence of supply for Crown and provides Constellation with complete control of the production of the Modelo brands for marketing and distribution in the U.S."

Newsweek approached Anheuser-Busch via email for comment on Friday.