Bud Light confirms ‘leave of absence’ for marketing VP behind Dylan Mulvaney controversy
April 22, 2023 | Vivek Saxena

Anheuser-Busch, the parent company of Bud Light, has reportedly switched up Bud Light’s marketing team in the wake of the Dylan Mulvaney controversy.

“Alissa Heinerscheid, marketing VP for the brand since June 2022, has taken a leave of absence, the brewer confirmed, and will be replaced by Todd Allen, who was most recently global marketing VP for Budweiser,” AdAge magazine reported.

While no reason was offered for the abrupt switch, AdAge noted that, according to a statement from an Anheuser-Busch distributor out of Kansas, Heinerscheid’s decision to involve the company with Mulvaney “circumvented the proper approval channels.”

Heinerscheid’s ouster follows a recent interview she did with the “Make Yourself At Home” podcast in which she touted her efforts at making Bud Light’s marketing more “inclusive” and, ultimately, leftist.
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Bye, Felicia!

Another Anheuser-Busch marketing executive has taken a leave of absence amid backlash over Bud Light’s creative collaboration with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.

Daniel Blake, who oversees marketing for Anheuser-Busch’s mainstream brands, has stepped away from the job, according to the Wall Street Journal. Blake joins Bud Light vice president of marketing Alissa Heinerscheid, who generated backlash for deriding Bud Light’s traditional customer base in a podcast interview that resurfaced amid the Mulvaney controversy.

“Given the circumstances, Alissa has decided to take a leave of absence which we support,” an AB spokeswoman told the publication. “Daniel has also decided to take a leave of absence.”

Blake also handled a lot of marketing for Budweiser and BudLight, the Journal reported, and had worked at AB for nearly nine years. While Blake’s replacement hasn’t been revealed yet, Bud Light said Friday that Todd Allen, formerly global vice president of Budweiser, would fill Heinerscheid’s role.

Go woke, get paid vaca.

Is this a great country, or what....

One can only wonder how much AB will pay her to settle.

Life is good.

I hope they pay her a ton and add to the pain of such a dumb-@ss business decision. Publicly-owned, for-profit companies should focus decisions on being profitable.....period! If they want to delve into social justice, form a non-profit and have at it.

I think the deposed marketing person did more to harm her cause than promote it. Can't buy advertising that effective. Never cared much for Bud anyway- - more of a Coors man.

According to relevant trade rags, both Coors Lite and Miller Lite sales are up in correlation to Bud Lite's decline.

Yep.

• Reality

Sales data from NielsenIQ and Bump Williams Consulting indicates that dollar sales have fallen by 17% while volume dropped by 21% for the week ending in April 15. For context, the week ending in April 8, a week after the Bud Light/Mulvaney partnership went live, saw a drop of 6% in sales dollars and an 11% drop in volume.

Insights Express, a newsletter featuring beer-centered information, described the numbers as “staggering.”

“These numbers are staggering,” they said in their April 23 newsletter. “Right now this is an extremely difficult scenario for Anheuser Busch, the Bud Light brand and for AB distributors.”

The newsletter goes on to explain that the upset consumers are taking their beer business elsewhere. Last week, Bud Light lost 6.7% of market share. On the other hand, Coors Light and Miller Lite are up 18%, making them “big beneficiaries” of the controversy.