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A former Anheuser-Busch (AB) executive says the firm is ‘wrong’ to think that the controversy surrounding Dylan Mulvaney’s paid partnership with Bud Light will go away because conservative customers won’t forget the fiasco.
Anson Frericks claimed that counting on people to forget about the incident which sparked widespread fury on April 1 is the ‘wrong bet to make’.
He appeared on Fox & Friends Weekend on Fox News Sunday to discuss reports that Bud Light’s marketing vice president Alissa Heinerscheid has taken a leave of absence following the incident.
She is being replaced by Budweiser global marketing vice president Todd Allen, according to AdAge.
It comes after worldwide calls for a boycott of Bud Light after transgender influencer Mulvaney promoted American’s best selling beers to her 11 million followers on social media in a series of partnered posts.
Former Anheuser-Busch executive Anson Frericks says the firm is ‘wrong’ to think that the controversy surrounding Dylan Mulvaney’s paid partnership with Bud Light will go away
Frericks (right) appeared on Fox & Friends Weekend on Fox News Sunday to discuss the incident
Bud Light’s marketing vice president Alissa Heinerscheid has reportedly taken a leave of absence following the controversy
Frericks, who worked for AB for over a decade, believes the traditionally ‘apolitical brand’ became embroiled in controversy when investors began pushing them to be accountable to ‘all these so-called stakeholders, political organizations, activist organizations.’
‘That’s the bet they’re making. I think that’s the wrong bet to make. And I think now is the time to go back, and, for companies like Anheuser-Busch to say that, hey, moving forward for brands like Bud Light, we’re not going to be political,’ he told co-host Will Cain.
‘We’re not going to get involved in the environmental social governance movement, because that’s not what the customer wants.’
He added: ‘There’s a more fundamental problem that’s going on right now where Anheuser-Busch has to choose who it’s going to be accountable to… Will it be its shareholders?
‘Or its so-called stakeholders? Let me explain. Historically, Anheuser-Busch has been accountable to its shareholders, which are people like firefighters, doctors, lawyers that invested in companies like Anheuser-Busch via 401(k)s or their pension plans.
‘Over the last couple of years, there’s been organizations like BlackRock, State Street and Vanguard that have pushed this new model of stakeholder capitalism, asking companies like Anheuser-Busch to be accountable to all these so-called stakeholders, political organizations, activist organizations.
‘And they do that by implementing ESG or environmental social governance policies in corporations that ask them to get involved in these controversial issues. But unfortunately, when you try to be everything to everyone, you end up being accountable to no one.’
Heinerscheid is being replaced by Budweiser global marketing vice president Todd Allen, according to AdAge
Dylan Mulvaney’s April 1 Instagram post included her drinking a beer with her face printed on the can and lying in a bathtub knocking back Bud Light
And Frericks urged the company to think about what their loyal consumers historically want.
He said: ‘What the customer wants with Bud Light is they want to have things that bring us together. They want humor. They want the “Dilly Dilly” guys. They want football.
‘They want the things that bind us together as co-equal citizens here, not necessarily having Bud Light get involved in political controversies that tear us apart. Heck, this is one of the most apolitical brands out there, shared by Democrats and Republicans alike.’
Mulvaney’s controversial posts showed the influencer sitting in a bathtub and swigging from custom Bud Light cans sporting her face.
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It sparked widespread fury with several celebrities swearing off the beer in protest.
The partnership drew intense backlash from some quarters, with musician Kid Rock posting a video of himself shooting at cases of Bud Light, and country singers John Rich and Travis Tritt dropping ties with the brand.
But media personalities like Joe Rogan and Howard Stern defended Bud Light’s decision.
Aside from an initial terse statement, Bud Light’s parent company Anheuser-Busch remained silent for two weeks after the controversy emerged on April 1, with the brand’s social media accounts falling dormant as conservatives howled over the Mulvaney partnership.
As the polarization spilled into barrooms, with patrons trading insults and recriminations over each others’ beer choices, a handful of bar owners said they would stop selling Bud Light, at least temporarily, simply to prevent fights.
AB CEO Brendan Whitworth finally broke the company’s silence on April 14 in a public statement cryptically titled ‘Our Responsibility To America.’
‘We never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people. We are in the business of bringing people together over a beer,’ said Whitworth in the statement, which did not directly address the Mulvaney partnership.
The posts, which were never shared by Bud Light or its parent company Anheuser-Busch’s (AB) social media profiles, sparked widespread fury with several celebrities swearing off the beer in protest.
Behind the scenes at AB, ‘no one at a senior level’ was aware of the partnership that has now dominated headlines for weeks, and the decision to include Mulvaney in the campaign was taken by a ‘low-level marketing staffer,’ two sources close to the situation told The Daily Wire.
That claim came despite the attention on Bud Light’s VP of marketing, Heinerscheid, for her remarks in an interview days before the Mulvaney partnership, saying she wanted to trade the brand’s ‘fratty’ reputation for ‘inclusivity’.
But according to an insider cited by the Daily Wire, the partnership was undertaken by ‘some low-level marketing staffer who helps manage the hundreds of influencer engagements they do.
‘It was a mistake,’ the person added.
Amid the backlash, AB’s market capitalization has dropped nearly $6billion in the past 10 days, a decline of nearly 5 percent, and the company continues to remain silent save for a short statement confirming the partnership.
The disastrous marketing campaign came just days after Bud Light’s vice president said she wanted to trade the brand’s ‘fratty’ reputation for ‘inclusivity’.
Bud Light VP Alissa Heinerscheid told the Make Yourself at Home podcast on March 30 that she was convinced Bud Light must incorporate ‘inclusivity, it means shifting the tone, it means having a campaign that’s truly inclusive, and feels lighter and brighter and different, and appeals to women and to men’
Bud Light sparked backlash after it partnered with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. She was spotted out in Los Angeles on Friday
Heinerscheid spoke on a business podcast on March 30 to claim that the AB beer had been ‘in decline for a really long time’ – despite it being America’s number one brew with a market share of more than 13 per cent.
The Harvard graduate declared it essential to attract more female and younger drinkers because otherwise ‘there will be no future for Bud Light.’
Although Heinerscheid says the Bud Light brand is on the wane, it remains the flagship beer of AB.
Heinerscheid previously worked in AB marketing before moving to take the helm as Bud Light’s vice president in July last year.
Her LinkedIn profile proudly states that she is the ‘first female to lead the largest beer brand in the industry.’
She told the Make Yourself at Home podcast that she was convinced Bud Light must incorporate ‘inclusivity, it means shifting the tone, it means having a campaign that’s truly inclusive, and feels lighter and brighter and different, and appeals to women and to men.’
Mulvaney’s paid partnership with Nike promoting the brand’s sports bra and leggings also caused widespread controversy.
She posed in a series of photos and videos in the work out gear and furious feminists slammed the decision by Nike to give the coveted sponsorships for a prominent women’s line to a transgender woman.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk
