Anheuser-Busch brand Bud Light is now selling 24-can packs of beer for $19.98, but is also offering a $20 mail-in rebate on the same cases, meaning the beverage powerhouse is now paying consumers $0.02 to buy the product marred by an advertising campaign with male-to-female transgender person Dylan Mulvaney.
Dozens of posts across social media show advertisements placed around Bud Light in stores, inviting mockery from conservative social media users. The advertisements invite would-be consumers to enjoy a $10 or $20 rebate on the alcohol, but the price of the package seems to be $19.98. Without accounting for taxes, this means consumers will earn two pennies per every 24-pack of Bud Light they consume.
“The Bud Light rebate is real, this beer is effectively free to drink and still nobody wants it,” wrote on Twitter user. Another added, “Things can’t be going great if they’re basically giving it away.”
The bud light rebate is real, this beer is effectively free to drink and still nobody wants it. Now if you drink it you are seen as a gullible and naive NPC. pic.twitter.com/vYsf5s6ubd
— 🐾 InfoSec Coydog 🐾 (@NativeIndianDog) May 16, 2023
I've been sober for almost a decade, so I'm not sure on this, but ain't a case like $20 most places?
Things can't be going great if they're basically giving it away… pic.twitter.com/aeCgHjlnEe
— Ed Latimore (@EdLatimore) May 13, 2023
Others reported seeing lower rebates which still raise serious questions about the brand’s health.
One user reported Bud Light 24-pack on sale for $18.49 with a $10 rebate, leaving consumers with a real price of only $8.49. A second reported the same $10 rebate, bringing their local store’s price down to $11.99.
Yet another user reported a $15 rebate on Bud Light priced at 18.49, bringing the real cost for a 24-pack down to a paltry $3.49.
Anheuser-Busch must be having a big sales slump.
With a mail in rebate, you can get 24 cans of Bud
or Bud Light for $8.50.
😳😳😳#Budlight #budlightmarketinggeniuses pic.twitter.com/0oHcPha1SU— Daniel Sunden aka Softie Cat (@SundenDaniel) May 9, 2023
Stopped by my local Kroger tonight and they had a $10 rebate on cases of Bud Light and no one will still even touch it. 😎 pic.twitter.com/K1iP5lDI5F
— Scott Burns (@SeminoleScott) May 12, 2023
At Meijer Stores in Michigan today: $15 rebate. 24 cans for $3.49. Things are not going well for @budlight. pic.twitter.com/ELvNjlTNGC
— MarciJoy (@msmarcijoy) May 16, 2023
Worse for Anheuser-Busch, a recent report highlighted by Valiant News revealed that the bleeding from the Mulvaney promotion may not be limited to Bud Light.
That reported revealed that while Bud Light sales are down up to 21.4% across the nation, volumes for all Anheuser-Busch brands were down 12%:
Budweiser was down 11.5%, Natural Light was down 6% and Busch was down 5.3% for the month of April. Meanwhile competing beers were reaping massive sales gains: Coors Light was up 10.9%, Miller Light was up 14.7%, Coors was up 20.5% and Yeungling – America’s oldest brewery – was up 14.7%.
The massive corporation’s leadership has attempted to shift the blame to “misinformation” about the nature of the promotion – which the brand insists was not a full ad campaign, but rather a simple social media promotion – spread by those participating in the Bud Light boycott.
