Bud Light can't seem to catch a break from its formerly loyal consumer base, leading to a nearly 30% year-over-year drop in sales.
But now the community it attempted to reach out to, when it hired transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney as a spokesperson, seems to be turning on the beer brand as well.
DON'T MISS: Bud Light Loses Its Top-Selling Crown as Boycott Drags Sales Down
The Saloon, a long-standing gay bar in downtown Minneapolis, is boycotting the brand and no longer selling the low-cost beer.
"I'm so protective of doing business with people who have integrity and don't get into an anti-queer agenda," The Saloon owner John Moore said, according to the Hastings Tribune, while also commenting that Anheuser Busch InBev (BUDFF) -- Bud Light's parent company -- had the opportunity to support the LGBTQ community but instead abandoned that direction.
In an attempt to tamp down the outcry, Anheuser-Busch released a statement on Friday, April 14th saying that the company “never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people.”
But the company hasn't completely abandoned the community.
Last month AB InBev announced that they were extending their partnership with the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce and donating $200,000 to the organization.
But that move was just a blip on the radar compared to the firestorm the company created when it hired and then disavowed Mulvaney after receiving intense social media backlash from its right-wing-leaning customer base.
AB InBev CEO Michel Doukeris has gone on the offensive in recent weeks with a plan to have the brand back up and running strong by the summer.
"We have significantly increased our investment behind the brand in the U.S., including tripling our media spend over the summer," Doukeris said on the company's most recent earnings call.
