This is 100% a self-inflicted wound
Shoppers at Costco have noticed an asterisk on the price tag for Bud Light beer across the beverage aisle. Experienced Kirkland members have seen the sign before and call it the “death star.” It could be an indication that one of the largest retailers in the country may be considering not restocking the troubled beer brand.
Here’s a closer look.
Casual shoppers would barely notice a small asterisk on a price display above a shelf. These days most of the attention is on the price. However, Kirkland members believe the asterisk has special significance for Costco’s supply chain decisions. The asterisk is often associated with items that are being discontinued.
These items are usually marked down to get rid of supply on the shelves. It’s a subtle sign to Costco employees not to restock an item after the inventory is depleted. Devoted shoppers look for the asterisk to spot deals and have even nicknamed it the “death star” on the Facebook page Costco Fans.
Now the star is being spotted over cans of Bud Light. “Is it just me…Or am I the only one who noticed that Costco has applied their infamous ‘Star of Death’ on Bud Light being sold!” said one Twitter user.
Why would they keep it on the shelf if it fails to sell? Why would they restock something that with poor sales? Something that will sit so long it “goes skunk”? Something like beer depends on volume sales. Without volume, it goes goodbye. Why would they stock something consumers do not really want?
A former Anheuser-Busch exec has become one of the Bud Light maker’s fiercest critics
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Meanwhile, former Anheuser-Busch sales and distribution president Anson Frericks, a vocal critic of corporate ESG, or environmental, social, and governance policies, is now calling for Whitworth to resign. (snip)
Frericks’ comments added to the barrage of criticism he’s leveled at the beer brand since April. Frericks wrote an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, opining the brand was focused on “stakeholder capitalism,” which he wrote “prioritizes broad social issues over shareholder value.” He’s made appearances on Fox News, and he recently wrote a column for the Daily Mail, in which he called for Whitworth to step down.
Frericks was president of sales and distribution at Anheuser-Busch from October 2021 until he left the company in April 2022 after nearly 11 years there. He is now the president of Strive Asset Management. Strive is an anti-ESG investing firm whose stated mission is “to restore the voices of everyday citizens in the American economy by leading companies to focus on excellence over politics.”
Again, the problem is not Bud Light’s support of LGBT: it started with the one can for a wackjob denigrating real women, then the comments of the idiot marketing head who denigrated the core base of Bud Light. Then Bud’s wishy washy yammerings which pissed of the LGBT folks, not they were probably buying a lot of Bud Light. And Bud’s continued failure to address this, stupid ads, they just kept digging their own grave. Seriously, Alissa Heinerscheid and the marketing department for Bud Light deserve an award for how much they’ve killed a brand.
