WASHINGTON (TND) — Alissa Heinerscheid, the vice president of marketing for Bud Light, has reportedly taken a leave of absence following a fierce outpouring of backlash her beer brand recently experienced over its partnership with a transgender influencer.
Ad Age, among the first to report on Heinerscheid's leave, says that she will be replaced by Todd Allen for the time being. Allen was reportedly most recently a global vice president for Budweiser.
Bud Light has also reportedly hired consultants who have experience within conservative circles of Washington D.C. to advise the beer brand as it attempts to move forward.
The marketing executive's leave comes after criticism snowballed into nationwide calls for boycotts of theAnheuser-Busch beer brand. Those boycotts reportedly enjoyed support from a majority of Americans.
Bud Light, along withAnheuser-Busch, became the center of national controversy after the brand partnered withtransgender activist Dylan Mulvaney.
Mulvaney's partnership with Bud Light consisted of the social media personality sharing with her nearly 2 million followers that the beer company was celebrating her first anniversary of transitioning genders by creating a beer can with her face on it. It was apparently part of Bud Light's larger Pride campaign "celebrat[ing] everyone's identity."
The transgender activist and social media personality also shared a few other social media posts promoting Bud Light. One was for March Madness, and another featured her soaking in a bathtub while drinking the beer.
Conservative backlash towards the partnership was fierce. Country music star and rapper Kid Rock shared a video on Instagram of him shooting multiple cases of Bud Light. Country singer Travis Tritt also announced he would be removing all Anheuser-Busch products from his upcoming tour in apparent outrage over the brand's partnership with Mulvaney.
Fellow country singer John Rich, of the duo "Big & Rich," claimed that no patrons of his downtown Nashville bar would be able to purchase Bud Light anymore.Country music singer Brantley Gilbert later joined in when, during a performance in Alabama, a member of his crowd threw him a can of Bud Light. He grabbed the can, yelled "f*** that," and slammed the beer to the ground.
Heinerscheid was then the direct target of criticism herself after critics learned she oversaw the partnership withMulvaney and some comments she made about the beer brand resurfaced. That backlash led to the vice president of Bud Light's marketing team deleting several of her social media accounts.
Bud Light's vice president of marketing claimed she was attempting to move away from what she called the brand's "kind of... fratty, kind of out-of-touch humor" by "shifting the tone" towards "inclusivity."
It means having a campaign that's truly inclusive and feels lighter, and brighter, and different, and appeals to women and to men," Heinerscheid during a recent episode of the "Make Yourself at Home" podcast. "And representation is sort of at the heart of evolution -- you got to see people who reflect you in the work."Following the outcry, Anheuser-Busch defended the partnership with Mulvaney as one of the many ways the beer company attempts to "authentically connect" with "various demographics" of potential customers.
Anheuser-Busch works with hundreds of influencers across our brands as one of many ways to authentically connect with audiences across various demographics," a spokesperson for Anheuser-Busch told Fox News. "From time to time we produce unique commemorative cans for fans and for brand influencers, like Dylan Mulvaney. This commemorative can was a gift to celebrate a personal milestone and is not for sale to the general public.The National Desk has reached out to Anheuser-Busch for comment, but has yet to hear back. If a response is received, it will be added to this article.
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