HSBC has downgraded Anheuser-Busch InBev stock to hold amid a “crisis” following Bud Light’s marketing campaign featuring transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney.
Carlos Laboy, managing director at HSBC’s global beverage sector, told CNBC that there are “deeper problems than ABI admits” after the social media partnership with Mulvaney in April.
“Is ABI’s leadership getting the brand culture transformation right? It’s mixed,” Laboy wrote Wednesday in a note.
“At Ambev, we think the answer is ‘yes;’ in the US, we think it’s ‘no.’ The way this Bud Light crisis came about a month ago, management’s response to it and the loss of unprecedented volume and brand relevance raises many questions,” Laboy continued.
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