We could say it's been a busy week for Bud Light and its parent company Anheuser-Busch, but more accurately, it's been a busy few months for the flailing company. To recap, Bud Light did a promotional campaign with trans activist Dylan Mulvaney and got thoroughly wrecked for it with boycotts. Not only did Bud Light take hits in sales, but it's also no longer the number one beer in America. Modelo Especial is. The company can't even give Bud Light away. This entire saga also hurt itself with the LGBTQ+ community by not standing more so with Mulvaney, though it's not like the company stood by its customer base either.
The executive who looks to have been in charge of the decision to honor Mulvaney, Bud Light Marketing Vice President Alissa Heinerscheid, took a leave of absence and has reportedly been fired, according to the Daily Caller. The same goes for Group Vice President for Marketing Daniel Blake. Anheuser-Busch provided a non-answer to the Caller after publication and looks to be keeping very tight-lipped about the firings.
Heinerscheid just a few months ago claimed that she wanted to market the "declining" brand to "young people," and that the customer base had been "fratty and out of touch." The brand has only done more "declining," thanks to her.
Alissa Heinerscheid, Bud Light’s VP of Marketing, doubles down on her extreme woke strategy to promote the “declining” American beer brand to “young people”, while smearing her former customers as “fratty and out of touch”.
— Old Row (@OldRowOfficial) April 9, 2023
How’s that working out for you, lady? @budlight pic.twitter.com/zNYKbMnZnu
It's also particularly rich of Heinerscheid to condemn a brand as "fratty and out of touch," given that another report from the Daily Caller reveals through obtained photos "Heinerscheid and others drinking and holding condoms up to their mouths."
The photos came from the "Isis Senior Reverse Initiation Scavenger Hunt" album, referring to Harvard's ISIS Club, which the Harvard Crimson described in a 2005 article as a "haven of inebriated ditzes." Reporting from the New York Post mentions the group was founded to create a "safe social space for women" to socialize on campus.
Such details call to mind how, according to a former employee, the marketing ploy could have been a "strategic" attempt to gain a new customer following, as Matt covered earlier this month. It also makes so much more sense too.
In covering the reported firings, I expressed plenty of skepticism that this showed Anheuser-Busch might be learning a valuable lesson here. After all, it's still partnering with LGBTQ+ causes and sponsoring Pride parades, as it did with the particularly vulgar one in Toronto last weekend.
"Bud Light" was once again trending on Wednesday, and this time, because Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth wouldn't commit to not partnering with Mulvaney again during a particularly pathetic media hit on that day's episode of "CBS Mornings," which NewsBuster transcribed.
When asked, "How and why did it go so off the rails?" co-host Gayle King added, "Because that certainly wasn't your intention when you did one can to one person." Given what former employees, such as those above, have said, however, perhaps King shouldn't be so sure.
Whitworth began his response by acknowledging, "Yeah, it's been a challenging few weeks, and I think the conversation surrounding Bud Light has moved away from beer, and the conversation has become divisive," adding, "There's been impact on the business." That was pretty much the only thing he said that didn't set off the BS meters, as he also claimed, "Bud Light really doesn't belong there."
When asked by King about his "intention," Whitworth spewed just a whole lot of nothingness as he kept talking about "impact."
"But for us, you know, as we look to, kind of, the future and look to moving forward, we have to understand the impact that it's had, and like I said, you know, that impact has taken place. But it's the impact on our employees, the impact on our consumers, and as well the impact on our partners, and I think one thing I'd love to make extremely clear is that impact is my responsibility. And as the CEO, everything we do here I'm accountable for," Whitworth offered.
Co-host Tony Dokoupil, who, of course, had to throw Republicans under the bus for their "political agenda," asked, "Knowing what you know now, if you could go back, would you send this can to this one person again?"
As agenda-driven as the question may have been, it's still an important one, especially since Whitworth, again not properly answering, didn't rule it out.
"There's a big social conversation taking place right now, and big brands are right in the middle of it, and it's not just our industry or Bud Light. It's happening in retail, it's happening in fast food," Whitworth offered. "And so for us, what we need to understand is – deeply understand and appreciate – is the consumer and what they want, what they care about, and what they expect from big brands," he said.
Also, during the media hit, co-host Vladimir Duthiers brought up Whitworth's career in the CIA. When claiming he loves the job and the company, the embattled CEO tried to offer "it's really to me one degree of separation away from the United States -- the American flag," mentioning even further how similar he believes it is to the CIA. "And so, even though I'm not serving the country anymore, I still feel like I have an opportunity to support the country, and that's exactly what Anheuser-Busch gives us the opportunity to do."
Reporting from the Daily Mail noted how Whitworth's media hit was mocked on social media. People definitely expressed themselves in the replies to a tweet from the morning show's Twitter account.
Never forget pic.twitter.com/U1ujWeRsh5
— $8 Bartemy (@BartemyS) June 29, 2023
The @AnheuserBusch CEO seems to miss the mark every time...
— José 🇺🇸 Alberto (@BadBrownBadger) June 28, 2023
Sadly CEO Brendan Whitworth avoid answering questions. Maybe he should run for public office 😅
— Beth Grant-DeRoos (@BethGrantDeRoos) June 28, 2023
Hey @AnheuserBusch: how many of your (former) customers watched this show? I’d say not many. Why don’t you ask to appear on @ClayTravis & @BuckSexton’s radio show to discuss this disaster. Also address #alissaheinerscheid’s comments about @budlight drinkers.
— Bill Smith (@BillSmith445) June 28, 2023
I was thinking of coming back to Bud, but after this interview, I see his loyalty is to the .01%. You fool, this was your chance to win back the majority. Im never coming back. You're weak and scared!
— Chad Bordelon (@ChadBordelon8) June 28, 2023
The responses are not only less than surprising given how the company has acted thus far but also when it comes to previous statements from Whitworth.
"We never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people. We are in the business of bringing people together over a beer," a statement from April read in part.
— Anheuser-Busch (@AnheuserBusch) April 14, 2023
Earlier this month, he released another statement about their marketing endeavors, claiming "we hear you" to their "valued costumers," before going forward to claim "[a]s we move forward, we will focus on what we do best -- brewing great beer and earning our place in moments that matter to you."
Who is this going to help the brand with? People see right through it. Plus, as mentioned, Bud Light managed to irk the LGBTQ+ movement as well, as a line of gay bars in Chicago stopped selling the product, and its perfect Corporate Equality Index (CEI) score from the Human Rights Campaign came under threat, with those standards becoming increasingly extreme.
If the trend of Bud Light's declining sales is any indication, it's not going to help with anyone.
While answering another question from Dokoupil, Whitworth revealed Anhueser-Busch is "actually increasing the investment on Bud Light three times this year as we move forward." The company sure is looking to try to do what it can in other ways, though. In light of the 4th of July holiday, the brand is once more giving away the beer for free, with a $15 rebate on purchases up to $15. Something tells us it's not going to work out for them, even with a giveaway.
