Bud Light executives still may not have learned their lesson after losing billions over their ill-advised partnership with a transgender activist, but it looks like college students just might.
“Shark Tank” star Kevin O’Leary appeared on “Fox & Friends” on Monday and said he intends to cover the Bud Light fiasco in his business school classes.
The investor said that Bud Light’s losses have been so massive that it was previously “impossible to even dream” that such a fall could occur.
“This is an extraordinary case, and one I’ll be teaching in business schools across America this fall,” O’Leary told the hosts.
“Beer is essentially the same. What differentiates it is brand. … You have to ask yourself on a campaign that really brings you into a discussion around gender identity, ‘Is that the right thing for my beer brand?’” O’Leary said.
He went on to answer his own question: “Well, apparently not. … To lose 25 percent market share has never been achieved, and it’s impossible to even dream it.”
“[A] widely held view amongst my CEOs is that if you get a bad social media story, it’s going to go away in 24 to 48 hours. But that didn’t happen here. We’re still talking about this situation months later, and they continue to lose share.”
“You’ve really got to understand who your constituency is. What they did there was very damaging,” O’Leary concluded.
This is an extraordinary case that I’ll be teaching in business schools across America this fall. To lose 25% of the market share has never been achieved.
We’re still talking about this situation months later, and they continue to lose share! pic.twitter.com/P4pDSN1lta
— Kevin O’Leary aka Mr. Wonderful (@kevinolearytv) July 31, 2023
Bud Light became the target of a major boycott after briefly partnering with transgender social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
Back in April, Mulvaney posted a video showing off a specially made can of beer with his face on it that the brand had sent to him for a promotion.
The subsequent backlash caused huge losses in market share and sales and dethroned Bud Light as the top-selling beer in America, sending it tumbling to No. 4 — all in a matter of three short months.
The disaster cost two executives their jobs, and last month parent company Anheuser-Busch InBev laid off hundreds of marketing personnel. Bud Light has lost so much business that a bottle-making contractor was even forced to close two plants.
Distributors are saying that they don’t expect sales of Bud Light to ever recover.
And, still digging its own grave, the company has made it clear that it will continue proudly supporting the LGBT agenda.
Bud Light has literally become a case study in falling from grace. With its troubles now serving as a lesson for business students, it seems as if there is no coming back from this impressive collapse.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
