More than 600 employees will be losing their jobs this month due in part to the backlash surrounding Bud Light, according to an internal message revealed by WRAL News. Two glass plants that make bottles for the beer giant are shutting down in mid-July.
Bud Light sales fell in May and into June after a nationwide boycott over the brand’s partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. The ripple effect forced a glass plant in Wilson, North Carolina, to cut down bottle production.
Now, the plant’s owner, Ardagh Group, is closing that plant and another in Louisiana, laying off 625 employees. A memo from the Wilson plant manager said the closing was due to slow sales with Anheuser-Busch Inbev, Bud Light’s parent company, WRAL reported. Workers at the Wilson plant said the manager told employees during a recent meeting the boycott was forcing the shutdown.
However, some employees don’t blame the Bud Light boycott. They say the glass packaging industry itself is having problems, citing a drop in shipments and revenue that started in February before the beer controversy sparked in April.
Back then, the media predicted that Bud Light would bounce back from the boycott, but those reports were wrong.
Last week, SAN reported that Bud Light sales were at an all time low, down 28% year-over-year. That’s when the Anheuser-Busch Inbev CEO said a sales drop would directly impact frontline workers.
Now, Ardagh Group, one of the largest glass producers in the world, says it will be closing more plants in the future.
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In a statement, Bud Light doubled down on its support of the LGBTQ+ community. But the company is expected to spend a record amount of money in marketing this summer to help quiet the boycott and boost sales.
