Americans aren’t drinking anymore. Alcohol giants are scrambling to manage the fallout.
Cold beer on Friday night? Maybe non -alcohol.
Only 54% of drinking Americans consume alcohol Today, according to the latest survey from Gallup, the lowest rate since the survey starts in 1939. Even drinks are less than about half.
The US is drinking less and cultural associations have changed around alcohol consumption. The number of Americans who see the drink as bad for their health Increased every year According to Gallup, since 2016.
These changes damage the country’s largest alcohol producers, and according to several experts, forcing them to find ways to adapt to things that may be the first stages of a tobacco -like sea change for alcohol.
Coors-Macer Molson Coors’ (TAP) in his latest call for earnings, an analyst buzzed to ask: Can consumer behavior get worse than healing? Or did the distributor see any rise sign?
“In a sincere way,” CEO Gavin Hattersley said, “We have not seen any improvement in general consumer trust or behavior.”
When the country’s drinking giants published their latest earnings, they reported slows down in volume growth throughout the board of directors. Among the biggest names in the industry, Molson Coors and Corona Distributor Consteller Brands (STZ) received the most difficult hits and recorded volume decreases 7% and 3.3% respectively.
Anheuser-Busch (BUD) and Sam Adams Parent Boston Beer Company (Sam), beer volume decrease, respectively with 1.9% and 0.8%, respectively.
“Industry,” said Bottle Raiders Marketing Vice President Amanda Paul-Garnier, “He has never encountered pressure as much as today.”
In the 1960s, smoking was deeply buried in American life.
Cigarette -selling ads were regularly placed in commercial breaks on TV. Restaurants, aircraft and even hospitals It was full of smoke. Almost half of the country were regular smoking.
Everything has changed in January 1964 that the surgeon General Luther Terry published a report that would shift the Americans’ tobacco habits almost overnight – first direct connection Between smoking and cancer.
It turned out to be a turning point for big tobacco.
The alcohol industry now has to combat the same health awareness that multiplies tobacco. In January, former US surgeon Vivek Murthy issued a report that called for measures, including warning labels in alcoholic beverage containers, such as alcoholic beverage containers, which connects alcohol consumption to the risk of cancer and adorns each cigarette sold in the USA.
In the report, consuming a beverage per day, alcohol -related cancer risk of 19% of women and 11.4% for men found. Having two drinks per day increases these figures to 21.8% and 13.1%, respectively.
According to Peter Monti, a professor who studied alcohol use and addiction at the University of Brown, the people had never appreciated this connection before, but it was possible to change.
“We really reversed attitudes, beliefs and behaviors in the way I think we can do for alcohol about tobacco.” He said. Fireplace. Monti, moderate drinking, Yahoo Finance “now more popular than ever,” he said.
Cigarettes are sold in the manhattan kiosk. (Mary Salen through Getty Images) ·Mary Salen through Getty Images
Culture may be already moving.
Paul-Garnier told Yahoo Finance, reflecting the results of the Gallup survey “a change in society for some time”.
According to Gallup, alcohol consumption has fallen from 2022 to 67% of Americans since 2022.
And the tendency is not limited to any demography.
18-34-year-old young adult crowd only 1 of the crowd only 1 in 2023 reported that they had drink alcohol from 59%. Consumption levels for both 35-54 years of age and 55 plus cohort have fell 56%, 10 and 5 points, respectively in the last two years. The decline also applies to all income levels.
“All signs show that alcohol follows a similar orbit-like orbit.” He said.
And among the drinks, their frequency falls. Twenty years ago, the survey participants who consumed alcohol had an average of 5.1 beverages in seven days before the poll. Now, this figure is slightly more than half in 2.8 beverage.
Anheuser-Busch CEO Michel Doekeris, the company’s second quarter of earnings in the call for earnings “consumers” continues to be social, enjoying their moments, “he said. But now, “under the control of all consumption”.
All this forced the largest alcohol distributors to adapt to the largest alcohol distributors, similar to what cigarette giants such as Philip Morris (PM) focused on smokeless nicotine products such as Zyn.
In places where alcohol brand leaders may have purchased six packs of beer, consumers are increasingly likely to reach low or non -ABV options. Paul-Garnier told Yahoo Finance, Molson Coors, Boston Beer and Anheuser-Busch’s “beyond beer-and other products such as” and hemp derivative drinks, such as cannabis-derivative drinks pushed the biggest distributors “Boston Bear”.
Anheuser-Busch reported revenue from a 33%increase from the non-alcoholic beer portfolio led by Corona Cero, while “mega brands such as Corona, Michelob Ultra and Budweiser have only increased by 5.6%.
Corona’s US distributor, Corona, said that Corona non -alcoholic bid to investors is now the second highest share in the non -alcoholic beer category.
Evidence, Anheuser-Busch, CEO Doekeris told investors, saying that “non-alcohol beer is an important opportunity to improve the category and to enable increasing volume growth”.
Beer cases were stacked on 8 November 2018 at a Milwaukee Liquor store. (AP Photo/Ivan Moreno, File) ·Associated Press
The founder partner and President James Koch said that Boston Beer said to investors “operates in a challenging and unpredictable macroeconomic environment”, perhaps the most prominent numbers. The producer’s Beyond Bea Bea Portfolio, with brands such as Seltzers, now constitutes 85% of the company’s volume and performs better than beer, wine and souls.
“To be honest, yes, three years ago, we probably didn’t look at anything except alcohol.” He said. “Now, our innovation team is starting to go to opportunities.”
Jake Conley is a last -minute news reporter covering US stocks for Yahoo Finance. Follow him on x at @byjakeconley or send E -mail from this address. jake.conley@yahoinc.com.
Brooke Dipalma is a senior reporter for Yahoo Finance. It @Broochedipaling or send him e -mail bdipalma@yahoofinance.com.
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