NEW YORK (AP) — The marketing executive who oversaw a partnership between Bud Light and a transgender influencer is taking a leave of absence after it snowballed into boycott calls from some angry customers, reports say of the media
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 would not directly confirm the leave, but said Allen as vice president of Bud Light will report directly to Benoit Garbe, director of U.S. marketing. The company also made streamlined changes so that its top sellers are more connected to all of its brand activities.
The partnership between the blue beer brand and Dylan Mulvaney, who has more than 10.8 million social media followers, hit the internet on April 1st. That’s when Mulvaney posted a video on Instagram showing himself opening a can of Bud Light, one with the hashtag #budlightpartner.
Companies have expanded efforts to attract customers and employees across racial, cultural and other lines as the country continues to diversify. In many cases, their own shareholders have pushed them to be more inclusive in the hope of improving returns.
Earlier this month, Bud Light said, “Anheuser-Busch works with hundreds of influencers across our brands as one of many ways to authentically connect with audiences across different demographics.”
But the Bud Light-Mulvaney partnership quickly drew an onslaught of criticism from people who said they were angry that the world was “woke.” Musician Kid Rock posted a video of himself shooting Bud Light cans with a rifle.
U.S.-listed shares of Anheuser-Busch InBev have fallen 1.8% since the April 1 video of Mulvaney sipping Bud Light. But the stock is still up 9.1% for the year, outperforming the broader U.S. stock market as measured by the S&P 500.
