In 2023, Anheuser-Busch InBev (NYSE: BUD) – the company behind Bud Light – suffered significant stock market damage due to a boycott spawned by an ill-advised marketing campaign.
Indeed, the boycott saw BUD shares drop from approximately $66 in late March to about $52 in November – a 21% decline in just over 6 months.
The seeds of renewal, however, were sown for the company by the October earnings report which showed that, while the sales of the crucial Budweiser business were still dwindling in North America, international growth managed to compensate for them.
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BUD stock price chart
BUD stock saw a substantial rise in November but has mostly been trading sideways since even entering a slight decline in January followed by a period of significant volatility.
Anheuser-Busch is, ultimately, up 13.78% since October 2023 signaling the boycott disaster has ended in earnest, but the 52-week chart – accounting for the entire tumultuous period – demonstrates the extent of the damage the company suffered in the stock market as, in the time frame, BUD is 8.70% in the red.
The company’s performance has also been somewhat mixed in 2024 as, year-to-date (YTD), BUD experienced significant volatility and is, by press time, 5.40% in the red.
The fall can, to a great extent, be attributed to a one-day drop on March 13 caused by the announcement made by Altria Group (NYSE: MO) – a major shareholder – revealing the plan to sell approximately 35 million BUD shares.
Despite this, Anheuser-Busch is 1.01% in the green on the 30-day chart but fell 0.10% during the latest full trading day – March 28.
Other boycott targets fail to recover
While BUD stock is apparently well on its way to recovery with the more recent slumps being caused more by regular stock market setbacks than popular outrage, other prominent companies that also faced a boycott in 2023 have fared significantly worse.
Perhaps the most stark example of this is VF Corp (NYSE: VFC), the parent company of The North Face which was targeted after an ad campaign that ran during the 2023 Pride Month.
Additionally, unlike Anheuser-Busch, VFC failed to ride the tide presented by a strong earnings report in mid-November and, despite temporarily regaining ground in its immediate aftermath, remains 7.53% down on the 6-month chart, and 31.97% in the red in the last 52 weeks.
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