BUD PLIGHT: Anheuser-Busch’s other brands also facing drop in sales

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It’s not just Bud Light feeling the heat.

As the beer brand continues its spiraling free fall that has customers avoiding the signature blue cans like the plague, that contagiousness is spilling over into Anheuser-Busch’s other brands.

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Anheuser-Busch, Bud Light’s parent company, also houses Budweiser, Stella Artois, Michelob Ultra and Hoegaarden, just to name a few.

Retail sales of Bud Light in the U.S. were down 23.4% year over year in the week of April 29 — declining even more from the week before when sales fell 21.4%, according to Bump Williams Consulting and NielsenIQ data obtained by the New York Post.

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That same week, Budweiser took a sales hit of 11.4% while Michelob Ultra, the third-best-selling beer in the U.S. behind Bud Light and Modelo Especial, was down 4.4%.

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Anheuser-Busch’s smaller U.S. brands also took a hit; the Natural Light brand saw a 5.2% drop and Busch Light’s sales fell 1.8%.

“It’s not just a Bud Light issue,” chief executive Bump Williams told the Post. “It’s an Anheuser-Busch portfolio problem now.”

Bud Light and Budweiser are the only Top 10 U.S. beers whose sales have dropped this year, with declines of 3% and 0.4%, respectively.

On April 1, transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney announced her partnership with Bud Light, which almost immediately kick-started the brand’s woes.

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“If Bud Light doesn’t fix its trend by the end of this month, it will continue to lose market share because it will lose Memorial Day. That kicks off the summer season,” Williams told the paper.

“There has to be a sense of urgency for InBev (Belgium-based giant that bought out Anheuser-Busch) to correct these trends.”

Instead, drinkers are turning to other beers like Coors Light and Miller Light, both of which saw their sales increase by more than 20% sales year over year in the week ended April 29, according to the data.

Pabst Blue Ribbon and Keystone Light were also up 18.9% and 15%, respectively, over the same period.

Meanwhile, Pennsylvania brewer Yuengling has launched limited-edition cans to support vets in what is being perceived as a savvy marketing move that could appeal to former Bud Light customers.

America’s oldest brewery announced the release of the patriotic can that “help raise awareness and support services for America’s veterans,” The Mercury reported.

The cans feature a unique desert camouflage print and the logo of its partner, military nonprofit Team Red, White & Blue.