New York (CNN) Anheuser-Busch has put two executives in charge of sponsoring Bud Light over two Instagram posts from a transgender woman on vacation, according to the Wall Street Journal and other media reports.
Ad Age was the first to report that Alissa Heinerscheid, Bud Light’s vice president of marketing, has been placed on leave. Todd Allen, most recently Budweiser’s vice president of global marketing, is slated to succeed him. Daniel Blake, Anheuser-Busch’s vice president in charge of marketing for mainstream brands, has also been placed on leave, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Anheuser-Busch did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment.
The executive shakeup comes after Bud Light saw support from trans activists and backlash from conservative media for its collaboration with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, who has 1.8 million followers on Instagram and 10.8 million on TikTok. The beer maker sponsored two of Mulvaney’s Instagram posts and sent him a can of beer with his face on it.
“Anheuser-Busch works with hundreds of influencers across our brands as one of many ways to truly connect with audiences across different demographics,” the manufacturing giant told CNN last week. “From time to time we create unique commemorative cans for fans and for brand influencers, like Dylan Mulvaney.
A few days after the post was published, musician Kid Rock posted a video on Instagram of himself shooting cases of Bud Light, and conservatives called for a boycott of the company.
The online backlash culminated in physical danger when Anheuser-Busch facilities received threats. The Los Angeles police department told CNN last week that it responded to a bomb threat and conducted a sweep of an Anheuser-Busch brewery in the Van Nuys neighborhood.
Heinerscheid said in a recent interview on the Make Yourself at Home podcast that Bud Light needs to attract younger drinkers to ensure the company’s future, with a way to improve its -inclusivity. The company has a history of attracting LGBTQ+ drinkers, releasing beer in rainbow bottles for Pride Month and partnering with LGBTQ+ support organizations.
Heinerscheid was appointed to the position of vice president of marketing in June 2022, becoming the first woman in the brand’s 40-year history to occupy that role.
The backlash against Bud Light and Mulvaney comes against a backdrop of legislation targeting transgender people and the growth of anti-trans rhetoric among conservative politicians.
The House on Thursday passed a GOP-led bill that would ban transgender athletes from women’s and girls’ sports at federally funded schools and educational institutions. The bill is not expected to pass the Democratic-controlled Senate.
Pushes for other anti-trans measures have increased in Republican-led states, such as bans on gender-affirming health care for transgender youth in Idaho and Indiana.
More broadly, a record 417 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced in state legislatures this year, according to American Civil Liberties Union data as of April 3. That’s more than double the number of such bills which was introduced in 2022.
It remains unclear whether Anheuser-Busch will see a bump in its bottom line from the controversy, with experts expecting no major damage — but the company will have to answer questions about the matter if it reported first-quarter earnings on May 4.
