According to media reports, the marketing manager who handled a collaboration between Bud Light and a transgender influencer has taken a leave of absence as the situation escalated into calls for boycotts from some angry customers.
According to sources from Beer Business Daily and Ad Age, Todd Allen, who was most recently the global vice president of Budweiser, would take Alissa Heinerscheid’s place as vice president of marketing for Bud Light.
On Saturday, a representative for Bud Light’s parent company, Anheuser-Busch InBev, said that Allen, as vice president of Bud Light, will report directly to Benoit Garbe, U.S. chief marketing officer, without explicitly confirming the leave of absence.
The organization also made streamlining adjustments better to connect its most senior marketers to its brand-related activities.
On April 1, news of the collaboration between the blue-emblazoned beer company and Dylan Mulvaney, who has more than 10.8 million social media followers, went viral. Mulvaney then uploaded a video to Instagram under the hashtag #budlightpartner in which she can be seen opening a can of Bud Light.
As the nation diversifies, businesses have increased their attempts to draw clients and employees across ethnic, cultural, and other boundaries.
To increase returns, their shareholders have often pressured them to broaden their appeal.
A statement from Bud Light earlier this month stated: “Anheuser-Busch works with hundreds of influencers across our brands as one of many ways to authentically connect with audiences across various demographics.”
Musician Kid Rock shared a video of himself shooting Bud Light cans with a rifle, but the Bud Light-Mulvaney collaboration instantly drew a barrage of criticism from people who said they were upset about the world getting “woke.”
Since Mulvaney’s April 1 video of herself sipping Bud Light, the stock of Anheuser-Busch InBev traded in the US is down 1.8%.
Nevertheless, the stock has outperformed the whole U.S. stock market, as measured by the S&P 500, by 9.1% this year.
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