Main to remember
- Young American adults consume less alcohol than previous generations, and the leaders of the drinking company have different ideas on what stimulates change.
- Many young people hold back due to economic pressure, said Lawson Whiting, CEO of Brown-Forman, during an event this week.
- New attitudes towards alcohol can play a more important role, said Bill Shufelt, CEO of the non -alcoholic beer company, Athletic Brewery.
Drink on the rocks?
Young American adults consume less alcohol than previous generations, and the managers of the drinking company have different ideas on what motivates it: difficult but temporary economic conditions or a more durable cultural change. Anyway, they say, the industry finds changes in purchasing behavior.
A Gallup survey published last year, for example, reported a greater probability that young adults note the health risks associated with alcohol – and drink less. The perceptions of the Americans with regard to alcohol have changed more significantly than the industry does not realize it, said Bill Shufelt, CEO of the Brewery Athletic Brewery of the non -alcoholic beer company, at a UBS conference this week in Manhattan.
Almost half of the Americans indicated on the surveys they wanted to drink less, said Shufelt, and that desire is particularly largely held among millennials and generation Z, which, according to him, is better-Trained on health problems And have more alcohol -free options to choose.
Half of the millennials and 60% of generation Z refrained from drinking for a week or more over a period of six months in 2024, according to surveys carried out by Global Insights and Data Company IWSR.
“These are probably large and large generational winds in perception which, I think, are only in the very first rounds,” said Shufelt. “This message has not yet managed to go up the chain.”
Morgan Stanley analysts earlier this month lowered Brown-Forman actions (BF.A; Bf.b),, Which makes Jack DanielsSaying in a note that “we do not expect the category of American minds to return to its historical growth rate of 4% + in the midst of the structural pressure of demographics (Gen Z drinking less), health / well-being / moderation trends (including the impact of GLP-1) and cannabis.”
For some young Americans, it can be more money
Some of the reasons for changing tastes can be more transient, Shufelt said, citing economic pressure and the rise in alcohol prices. He said that inherited alcohol companies can still reach people, and alcohol – “a 5,000 -year -old trend” – is not about to become out of words.
Alcohol spending fell among young Americans, said Lawson Whiting, CEO of Brown-Forman, at the UBS event. Health problems are not the main reason why this demographic group retains, he said.
“If you are 21, 22, 23 years old and you just get out of the university or anything, your pocket book is serious pressure,” said Whiting. Many consumers, he said, are concerned about costs and have bought smaller amounts of alcohol to save.
Michel Doukeris, CEO of Anheuser-Busch Inbev (BUD), the company behind Budweiser and Michelob Ultra, said that change could be an anomaly caused by COVID-19. He said that his 22 -year -old daughter had attended a part of the university on Zoom and, therefore, asked her for a lead on how to manage his Happy Hour for the first work.
“Covid was a very disruptive event that caught a generation between 17 and 18 years old who is today (from) the legal age of alcohol, but they are not everyone,” said Doukeris at the UBS event. While people are approaching their mid -twenties, he said: “We see a normalization of certain behaviors”.