It started back in the late 80's and Auggie Bush III warned his distributor owners. I worked for a Budweiser distributor and saw a tape of Auggies speech at their convention around 1989. He talked about their dependence on working people making good wages if they were going to drink premium beers.
Demand for cheaper beers was increasing and all the major brewers complied. Budweiser expanded their Bush line out west. Miller Brewing Co. came out with Genuine Draft and turned Miller Highlife into a lower end beer as well as coming out with Milwaukees Best. Coors began producing the Keystone beers.
The big brewers kept their brewerys running at capacity by producing these cheaper beers in large quantities but we beer guys hated it. All of a sudden we were working harder to produce the same sales numbers.
Those "drink responsibly" and moderation ads the brewerys ran were always bullshit. We always knew we made our living off the guys that pounded down a couple of cases a week. And they usually drove. The big bosses always knew that. Those ads were just to cover their asses.
Then in the early 90's came another masterstroke by the brewers. They started mass producing higher alchohol cheap beers! Yeah, lets just get the poorest alchoholics drunker for less! Without fail, you see a dishevled drunk shuffling down the street with a half-rack under his arm, it's one of those cheap ice beers. I think they will determine eventually that that has contributed to alchoholism in this country. I know that wouldn't have done me and my buddies any good when we first started drinking.
A lot of other things contributed to Anheuser Bushs' problems but those were the start.