EXCLUSIVE: Anti-woke 'patriotic' marketplace reveals it has DOUBLED its number of users since the Bud Light boycott over Dylan Mulvaney began
- PublicSq tries to match conservative shoppers with likeminded businesses
- It says it has almost doubled the number of users, to one million, since April 1
- That coincides with trans controversy sparked boycott of Bud Light
An 'anti-woke' online marketplace says it has nearly doubled its number of users since consumers started to boycott Bud Light for its promotional tie-in with transgender social medial star.
On Tuesday it emerged that sales of Bud Light had continued to fall, as PublicSq, which markets itself as a patriotic, America-first alternative to Amazon, said its engagement had soared.
It recorded slightly more than one million active consumers on May 31, according to data submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, compared with about 560,000 on March 31.
The Bud Light boycott began in early April.
Michael Seifert, founder and chief executive of PublicSq, said: 'The past few months have shown that tens of millions of Americans are eager for companies that share their values.
'PublicSq connects freedom-loving Americans with businesses that respect them.'
Conservative online marketplace PublicSq saw its user base double in size since the start of April, when the Bud Light boycott began
Public Square, founded by Michael Seifert (right), launched nationwide in July. It counts Donald Trump Jr. (left) as an investor and adviser
The San-Diego company launched nationwide seven months ago and now hosts more than 55,000 'patriotic' vendors.
And it has drawn in conservative heavyweights like Donald Trump Jr., who is an investor and an adviser, and former Arizona Senate candidate Blake Masters.
Their aim is to build a 'parallel economy' where consumers do not have to buy anything from vendors whose political values don't align with their own.
'Connecting freedom-loving Americans with the businesses that share their values,' it says on its website.
It comes as leading conservative voices have stepped up their 'war on woke,' condemning investment firms who promise to include environmental, social and governance factors when they make decisions, for example.
Against that background, brewer Anheuser-Busch stumbled into controversy when it partnered with Dylan Mulvaney.
She posted a video on April 1 of herself cracking open a Bud Light on her Instagram page.
In it she showed off a can customized with an image of her face - one of many corporate freebies she promotes to her millions of followers.
The beer company saw the sale starting to steeply decline in early April after Mulvaney, 26, appeared on a beer can to celebrate her '365th day of girlhood'
The company's sales dropped 23.9 percent for the weekend ending on May 27 compared to the same time last year. However, the company has seen a small rebound compared to last week - where the drop was 25.7 percent
Bud Light was accused of alienating its traditional customer base by partnering with Mulvaney, which led many conservatives - including Kid Rock - to boycott the brand
Three days after Mulvaney's post, Kid Rock posted a video of himself shooting cases of Bud Light, and country music stars John Rich and Travis Tritt publicly denounced the brand.
Within weeks, two marketing executives at Anheuser-Busch took a leave of absence. It's unclear whether they have returned to work yet.
A boycott of the beer has eaten heavily into sales.
Sales of the beer dropped 23.9 percent for the week ending May 27 compared to the same time last year - though that was a slight improvement from last week when sales were down 25.7 percent.
Bud Light also lost nearly 28 percent in year-on-year volume for the week ending May 27.
