Hollis Johnson/Business Insider
MillerCoors' CEO slammed Bud Light in response to the beer brand's Super Bowl commercials.
- Bud Light ran a series of ads slamming Coors Light and Miller Lite for using corn syrup during the Super Bowl on Sunday.
- "Bud Light is starting this fight for one simple reason. They are scared," MillerCoors CEO Gavin Hattersley said in a note to distributors about the commercials.
- In 2018, sales of Bud Light, Miller Lite, and Coors Light all declined, with Bud Light seeing the biggest drop.
MillerCoors' CEO slammed Bud Light in response to the beer brand's Super Bowl commercials.
On Sunday, Bud Light ran a series of ads bashing Coors Light and Miller Lite for using corn syrup to make their light beers.
"Bud Light is starting this fight for one simple reason. They are scared," MillerCoors CEO Gavin Hattersley said in a note to distributors on Sunday, as quoted in Behind Beer, a blog owned by the beer giant.
"Coors Light and Miller Lite are making inroads and Bud Light doesn't have an answer," Hattersley continued. "We're getting under the competition's skin, and we're ready to take more of their market share too."
Despite retaining its spot as the top-selling beer in the US, Bud Light sales dropped by 5.5% in 2018, Brewbound reports, citing IRI data. Coors Light sales fell by 3.9%, while Miller Lite sales dropped by 1.3%.
"Bud Light's Super Bowl commercials are only meant to point out a key difference in Bud Light from some other light beers," Anheuser-Busch InBev said in a statement to Business Insider. "This effort is to provide consumers transparency and elevate the beer category."
Americans are increasingly ditching some of the biggest brands in beer in favor of wine, spirits, and marijuana.
Millennials, especially, are more likely to prefer spirits and wine than older generations. And, when they do drink beer, they are drinking more craft beer - meaning that mega brands like Bud Light and Coors Light are being hit especially hard.
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