Most Viewed | Mexican beer dethrones Bud Light as best-selling beer in US
The best-selling beer in the United States is no longer made in the United States. She’s Mexican. Modelo Especial just dethroned Bud Light, which had held the throne for over two decades.
In May, Mexican beer produced by Constellation Brands accounted for 8.4% of all retail beer sales in the United States, while Bud Light occupied only 7.3% of the market, thus falling to second place in the ranking.
The dollar sales trend for both beers has been quite the opposite over the past four weeks: while Bud Light is down 24.4% year-over-year, Modelo grew by 12.2%.
The loss of Bud Light’s throne is the latest chapter in the nightmare that the beer has been experiencing in recent months. The brand’s sales have plummeted since April after transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney posted on Instagram an image of a personalized can of Bud Light the brand had sent her as a gift. This fact caused great controversy among the most conservative public in the United States, which began boycott campaign against Bud Light.
We published this story on Yahoo en Español on June 14, 2023. We are showing it again to our users since it appeared among the most viewed and commented our website throughout the year.
Despite this, Anheuser-Busch’s beer continues to be this year’s best-selling beer. Although some distributors told The Wall Street Journal they don’t think Bud Light will ever reclaim its throne.
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Modelo consolidates outside the Latin American public
Bud Light surpassed Budweiser as the nation’s best-selling beer in 2001, according to Benj Steinman, editor of Beer Marketer’s Insights, a company that tracks the beer industry. Bud Light sales have been declining in the United States in recent years as consumers switched to imported Mexican beer, new seltzers, wine and spirits.
In contrast, Modelo and Michelob Ultra, a low-calorie beer made by Anheuser-Busch, are gaining popularity. At one point, these two beers were on track to surpass Bud Light in sales, but the boycott seemed at least a year away from this change.
Consulting firm Bump Williams explained that several factors contributed to Modelo becoming the best-selling beer (at least in May), including strong support from retailers, excellent advertising, attractive packaging and The “momentum effect” from Cinco de Mayo for summer.
Greg Gallagher, vice president of brand marketing for Constellation, told CNN that Modelo has “been incredibly successful” in recent years and is looking to replicate its dominance among Latino consumers in other demographics. “Our growth is based on retaining this consumer base, as well as attracting non-Hispanic customers, and we have been incredibly successful.”
In the United States, Modelo is sold by Constellation Brands, which acquired the brand in 2013 from Anheuser-Busch after US regulators required Anheuser-Busch to sell US rights to Modelo Especial and Corona in order to gain approval for its acquisition from the Mexican manufacturer . Models group.
According to Constellation, Modelo was not among the top 10 beer brands in the United States. Now the company claims that it is a brand leader in California, as well as in such metropolitan areas as Chicago, Dallas and Baltimore..
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