Bud Light vice president ‘takes leave of absence’ following trans partnership backlash
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A Bud Light marketing executive has reportedly taken a leave of absence in the wake of a backlash against a partnership with a transgender social media influencer.
Alissa Heinerscheid, vice president of marketing for the popular American beer brand, was being replaced by another senior executive, Todd Allen, AdAge reported.
The decision was made by the brewing giant Anheuser-Busch, which owns Bud Light.
It came after Bud Light launched a marketing partnership with Dylan Mulvaney, who garnered millions of followers on social media documenting their transition into a transgender woman.
On April 1, Dylan’s Instagram feed showed them drinking out of special Bud Light cans with their own face depicted on them.
In a competition linked to the annual “March Madness” college basketball tournament, Dylan offered Bud Light drinkers a chance to win $15,000.
Dylan used the hashtag “#budlightpartner” and said: “Bud Light sent me possibly the best gift ever - a can with my face on it.”
In a separate video, which was viewed more than six million times, Dylan was shown in a bath with trays of Bud Light cans.
Speaking on a podcast days earlier, Ms Heinerscheid had called Bud Light a “brand in decline” and said there was a need to “evolve and elevate this incredibly iconic brand”.
She said: “What does evolve and elevate mean? It means inclusivity. It means shifting the tone.
“We had this hangover, I mean, Bud Light had been kind of fratty, kind of out-of-touch humour, and it was really important we had another approach.”
It led to a backlash in which the musician Kid Rock, the former husband of Pamela Anderson, shot up cases of Bud Light with an AR-15 and posted the video online.
In the days that followed Anheuser-Busch's value plummeted by billions of dollars.
Its chief executive, Brendan Whitworth, a former US Marine and CIA officer, responded with an open letter saying the brewer was "part of the fabric of this country" and "never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people."
The company also launched an advert featuring a Clydesdale horse galloping west across America, and people raising the US flag, hand on heart.
A spokesman for the company said several Anheuser-Busch facilities were the subject of threats last week in the wake of the controversy.
