TheQuartering [7/3/2023]
A glass bottling company impacted by Bud Light’s botched promotion with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney will close down two of its locations, laying off more than 600 employees as the beer brand continues to grapple with staggering financial losses and declining sales.
The Ardagh Group, a global glass producer that contracts with the Anheuser-Busch company, announced it will be closing its plants in North Carolina and Louisiana in July, putting roughly 645 employees out of a job, WRAL reported.
The bottling company did not reveal the reason for the move, but an investigation by WRALreportedly found that the plants are shuttering because of tanking Bud Light sales, as retailers, distributors, bars and contracted companies feel the wrath of nationwide boycotts over the controversial Bud Light partnership that celebrated Mulvaney’s “365 Days of Girlhood.”
Workers at both bottling plants have reportedly noticed decreased production after Mulvaney’s video announcing the collaboration on social media gained public attention in April, WRAL reported.
A machine repair mechanic told the outlet that the drop in demand forced the Louisiana and North Carolina plants to put some of their machines offline, which he attributed to “the Bud Light situation.”
In an internal Ardagh Group memo obtained by WRAL, executives said they planned to shut down the two plants “due to slow sales with Anheuser-InBev.”
Longtime employees told the outlet that they were not surprised by the move, considering that a large part of their business at those plants was producing bottles for Budweiser and Bud Light.
Employees at the Wilson, South Carolina, plant reportedly said their manager confirmed to them that they were shutting its doors because of the Bud Light boycott.
“Because of Budweiser no longer selling the bottle, they no longer needed our product,” David Williams, a machine repair mechanic, told WRAL.
Bud Light sales have slumped since the beermaker gifted Mulvaney a special can in April to celebrate a full year of “girlhood.”