NEW YORK (AP) – The marketing executive who oversaw a partnership between Bud Light and a transgender influencer is on a leave of absence after it snowballed into calls for boycotts from some angry fans. customer, according to media reports.
Alissa Heinerscheid, Bud Light’s vice president of marketing, will be replaced by Todd Allen, most recently Budweiser’s global vice president, according to reports from Beer Business Daily and Ad Age.
A spokesman for Bud Light’s parent company, Anheuser-Busch InBev, on Saturday did not directly confirm the leave of absence but said that Allen as vice president of Bud Light will report directly to Benoit Garbe, US chief marketing officer. The company is also making streamlining changes so that its top marketers are more closely connected to all of its brand activities.
The collaboration between the blue-emblazoned beer brand and Dylan Mulvaney, who has more than 10.8 million followers on social media, hit the internet on April 1. That’s when Mulvaney posted a video on Instagram showing himself opening a can of Bud Light, one using the hashtag #budlightpartner.
Companies are expanding efforts to attract customers and employees across racial, cultural and other lines as the country continues to diversify. In many cases, their own shareholders push them to be more inclusive in the hope of better returns.
Earlier this monthBud Light said, “Anheuser-Busch works with hundreds of influencers across our brands as one of the many ways to truly connect with audiences across diverse demographics.”
But the Bud Light-Mulvaney partnership quickly brought an onslaught of criticism from people who said they were angry about the world being “woke.” Musician Kid Rock posted a video of himself shooting Bud Light cans with a rifle.
U.S.-traded Anheuser-Busch InBev stock has fallen 1.8% since the April 1 video of Mulvaney showing himself sipping Bud Light. But the stock is still up 9.1% for the year to date, outperforming the broad US stock market, as measured by the S&P 500.
