Target has recovered on sales and traffic after its 2025 boycott, while Bud Light has not recovered from its 2023 boycott. Target's comparable sales rose 5.6% in the first quarter and 3.8% in the second quarter of fiscal 2026 after four straight declines. Evercore ISI estimates Bud Light will sell 12.7 million U.S. barrels in 2026, down 19.6% from 2024.
How do the Target and Bud Light boycotts compare?
The Target and Bud Light boycotts differ in trigger, business result and whether organizers consider the campaign over. The table sets them side by side using the figures in Everything-PR's two case studies, each of which names its sources.
| Measure | Target (2025) | Bud Light (2023) |
|---|
| Trigger | Scaled back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in January 2025, per The Guardian | Dylan Mulvaney posted a video with a personalized Bud Light can on April 1, 2023, per NBC News |
| First sales hit | Comparable sales down 2.6% in fiscal 2025, net sales down 1.7% to $104.8 billion, per Axios on March 3, 2026 | U.S. revenue down 10.5% and shipments down 15% in the second quarter of 2023, per Brewbound |
| Latest result | Comparable sales up 5.6% in the first quarter and 3.8% in the second quarter of fiscal 2026, per Target's May 20 and August 19, 2026 releases | Estimated 12.7 million U.S. barrels in 2026, down 19.6% from 2024, per Evercore ISI as reported by the Financial Times |
| Traffic or rank | Comparable traffic up 3.6% in the second quarter, per Target | Michelob Ultra passed Bud Light in U.S. volume in September 2025, per Beer Marketer's Insights |
| Company response | Michael Fiddelke succeeded Brian Cornell as chief executive on February 1, 2026 | Media spending fell 14% to about $44 million from January to July 2026, while Michelob Ultra's rose 38% to about $114 million, per the Financial Times |
| Organizer position | Pastor Jamal Bryant ended his Target Fast on March 11, 2026, and Nekima Levy Armstrong said the boycott would continue | Not tracked in the sources used |
| Verdict | Sales and traffic recovered, and organizers dispute that the boycott is over | Not recovered |
What counts as recovery after a boycott?
Recovery after a boycott can be measured by comparable sales, traffic or volume, market rank and the organizers' own position, and these four measures can disagree. Target shows the split: traffic grew while organizers said their campaign continued.
Target's second-quarter earnings per share of $4.11 included about $1.65 per share from $994 million of tariff refunds, according to Target's August 19, 2026 release. Comparable sales exclude that refund, so they give a cleaner read on customer demand.
Bud Light shows a different problem, which is that the rank depends on the measure. Beer Marketer's Insights reported Michelob Ultra ahead of Bud Light in volume in September 2025, with 8.5% of U.S. beer volume against 8.46%. On dollars, Constellation Brands says Modelo Especial stayed the top brand, while Fox Business reported Circana data placing Michelob Ultra first for a 52-week window. The providers, windows and channels differ, so any claim of a No. 1 needs the measure named.
How quickly did each company respond?
Anheuser-Busch's chief executive issued the company's first public statement on April 14, 2023, 13 days after the April 1 post, according to NBC News. The boycott hardened during those 13 days with no company counter-narrative.
Target answered with a leadership change and direct talks with an organizer. Fiddelke took over on February 1, 2026 and told employees the company had "real work to do" to earn back trust. He later met Bryant, and Bryant announced the end of the Target Fast on March 11, 2026, as reported by Bloomberg. Everything-PR's Target boycott case study covers the sequence in full.
Which other boycotts has Everything-PR covered?
Everything-PR has also covered a Malaysian consumer boycott of the grooming brand Kahf and an Armenian diaspora boycott tied to Turkish Airlines. Kahf deleted a football meme and apologized after Malaysians called for a boycott, and the Kahf apology timeline follows the sequence and the celebrity reactions.
In June 2011, Kobe Bryant signed an endorsement deal with Turkish Airlines. The Armenian-American community's response is the case Everything-PR uses as its example of diaspora-driven boycott communications, in Kobe Bryant and Turkish Airlines.
What should a brand publish after a boycott?
A brand should publish a short scorecard that lists each demand, its status and the date of the last update. This is Everything-PR's recommendation from the Target case, because a scorecard gives reporters, organizers and employees one source to check.
The two cases point to three practices. A brand should name the group that left, because a brand that cannot name which group left cannot design a way back. A brand should respond within days, since the 13 days Anheuser-Busch took to issue its first statement, per NBC News, left the story to the critics. And a brand should track demand recovery and trust recovery separately, because Target's traffic rose while an organizer group said the campaign continued.
A boycott ends when the group that started it says so, and a sales report does not say that for them. For the response steps that apply before and after a boycott, see Everything-PR's crisis communications coverage and the Bud Light recovery data.
How is this scorecard updated?
Everything-PR will update this scorecard after Target reports third-quarter results, which an earnings calendar lists for November 18, 2026, and when new Bud Light volume data is published. Figures are current as of October 17, 2026 and come from the two linked case studies, so this page adds the comparison and does not add new reporting.
