(OutKick) The fallout from Bud Light’s disastrous partnership with Dylan Mulvaney continues.
The tone deaf decision to work with the transgender activist has been an abject disaster for the beer giant.
From a public relations standpoint, there’s been immense blowback. Country stars have lined up to criticize Bud Light, and competitors have taken full advantage of the unforced error as well.
While the company’s stock price has rebounded a bit recently, at one point parent company Anheuser-Busch had lost over $6 billion in market cap.
It’s a near certainty that the decision to work with Mulvaney did not go as expected.
After the controversy, videos surfaced of Bud Light’s VP of marketing admitting she wanted to change the company’s advertising strategy.
Instead of “fratty,” “out of touch” branding, VP Alissa Heinerscheid would make the company more “inclusive.”
Apparently the lack of awareness required to green light this partnership was part of a strategy, not a one off mistake.
But after the Mulvaney disaster, that incomprehensible strategy has apparently been put on indefinite ice.
On Friday afternoon, reports broke that Heinerscheid was taking a “leave of absence” and being replaced by another Budweiser executive.
Well who could have predicted this?!
LANDOVER, MD – OCTOBER 06: A fan holds up a can of Bud Light during a game between the New England Patriots and Washington Redskins at FedExField on October 6, 2019 in Landover, Maryland. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)
Bud Light’s Self-Inflicted Wounds
According to Beer Business Daily and Ad Age, Heinerscheid will be replaced by Todd Allen, a former Budweiser global marketing VP.
Ad Age reported that the company had issued a statement saying the moves were made “so that our most senior marketers are more closely connected to every aspect of our brand’s activities.”
Essentially, a non-apology like their original statement.
Sounds like code for Heinerscheid’s decision to use Mulvaney had been a spectacular disaster.
