Bud Light sales have gone from bad to worse as the Dylan Mulvaney controversy continues to draw headlines, new figures show, leaving the brand with the task of mending fences with distributors and finding a way forward.

New: Dylan Mulvaney breaks silence on Bud Light uproar

Sales volume for Bud Light tumbled by 21% in the week ended April 15, according to Bump Williams Consulting figures cited by Beer Marketer’s Insights.

Also read: Bud Light's marketing leadership undergoes shakeup

Still worse for Bud Light, its volume was absorbed almost entirely by rivals Coors Light (up 10.6%) and Miller Lite (up 11.5%) over the period. Coors Lite and Miller Lite’s dollar sales soared 17.6% for the week while Bud Light’s fell by 17%, Beer Marketer’s Insights reported. These figures followed an 11% Bud Light volume decline for the week ended April 8, the first week following the protests to the trans influencer’s Instagram post showing her face on a can of Bud Light. 

“The last two weeks have been a roller coaster for them, and the volume declines they are looking at caused them to panic. There is definitely a feel of panic within the organization,” said a person familiar with Anheuser-Busch InBev who asked not to be identified. 

That person said they expected new creative within the next few weeks that constitutes Bud Light’s response to the controversy: “Their wholesale system and most of their senior management has been demanding that there is a response to the issue.” 

The worsening sales figures underscore the business disaster that led to a leadership shakeup at Bud Light and parent Anheuser-Busch InBev. On Friday, the brewer confirmed that Alissa Heinerscheid, marketing VP of Bud Light, had taken a leave of absence and was replaced by Todd Allen, who had been global marketing VP for Budweiser. Daniel Blake, group VP of marketing for mainstream brands, has also taken a leave of absence from the company, according to the brewer. The brewer did not respond to a question about whether a replacement for Blake had been named. 

A Wall Street Journal report today indicated the leaves were involuntary. Asked about the report, the company stated that Heinerscheid “decided” to take a leave “which we support.” The company did not provide further details, citing employee safety and privacy issues.

While acknowledging Heinerscheid’s departure on April 21, AB InBev made a point to say it would also streamline marketing functions so as to make senior leaders “more closely connected to every aspect of our brand’s activities.” That move appears to lend support to what some AB InBev distributors had said—that the custom can that was given to Mulvaney and became the subject of her social media post had circumvented proper approval channels.

An appalling message

Some observers were critical of the company for seemingly bowing to hateful criticism, and risking the support of Gen Z consumers by failing to stand behind a diverse influencer.

“Bud Light’s website says, ‘We carefully brew our beer to be perfect for anywhere there's fun, because when there’s fun, there’s a Bud Light there.’ You don’t get much more of a blanket ‘We’re for everyone’ brand statement than that, and when AB does what it just did, it couldn't be saying more clearly, ‘no, we’re not for everyone,’” said Cindy Gallop, a gender equality advocate, consultant and CEO of IfWeRanTheWorld. “That is not the message that says to Gen Z, ‘This is the brand for us!’”

Removing Heinerscheid from the Bud Light business “sends a truly appalling message to women at AB,” Gallop added. “Bud Light had a huge opportunity under the brilliant leadership of Alissa: to capture the massively under-leveraged market that is that extremely substantial proportion of everyone that isn’t [a] white male."

The Wall Street Journal reported that some company insiders felt Heinerscheid hadn't been properly supported. 

“There’s a huge amount of money to be made out of taking women seriously—both in terms of whom you market to, and whom you hire to do your marketing,” Gallop said. “This wrongheaded step is a tremendous setback for AB when it comes to making colossal amounts of money out of the millions of drinkers they were perfectly primed to tap, whom they've now failed.”

Distributors losing confidence

The sales drop has put AB InBev in a difficult spot with its distributors who were unhappy with the trajectory of the business a year ago as Bud Light sought a new agency. Executives were hopeful that Bud Light could turn the corner behind new work from Anomaly that launched early this year.

“The numbers for Bud Light are so abysmal and have been for such a long time, that distributors just keep losing confidence that AB either knows what to do, or cares,” said one agency veteran, who asked not to be identified. “All the signals from AB have been ‘[Michelob] Ultra’s the favored brand, seltzers are the fun thing we need to pay attention to, oh, and we’ll get around to Bud Light when we can.’ Distributors pick up on this stuff early on; they are the canary in the coal mine.”