UFC President Dana White responds to Bud Light being made the official UFC beer after the beer giant faced intense backlash following its partnership with trans activist Dylan Mulvaney on Hannity.
Anheuser-Busch InBev’s top U.S. marketing executive will leave the company, several months after the Bud Light brand’s controversial partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney sparked a boycott that continues to hit sales.
AB announced Wednesday that Benoit Garbe, the brewing giant’s U.S. marketing chief, will step down at the end of the year “to begin a new chapter in his career” and that Chief Commercial Officer Kyle Norrington will take over all aspects of marketing. including “brand plans and portfolio strategy.”
Bud Light cans are seen at a store in Montreal, Canada on June 16, 2023. The U.S. marketing chief of Bud Light parent company Aheuser-Busch InBev will depart at the end of the year after months of backlash over marketing decisions about the bra (Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images / Getty Images)
“This week we announced important changes to our U.S. leadership team that will reduce layers within our organization and better enable our top sales leaders to advance our business and legacy,” Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth said in a statement Explanation. “These leadership changes will accelerate our return to growth as we can continue to focus on what we do best: brewing great beer for everyone and holding our own at moments that matter.”
According to Garbe’s bio on the AB website, he served as a “strategic advisor” at the company for a decade, and his LinkedIn profile shows that he took on the role of chief marketing officer in September 2021.
UFC’s DANA WHITE says partnership with BUD LIGHT wasn’t “driven by money.”
Bud Light sales began declining in the U.S. in April, not long after the brand created custom beer cans and sent them to Mulvaney to celebrate her “365 days of girlhood.” That move and comments from then-Bud Light marketing vice president Alissa Heinerscheid — who said she wanted to update the “fratty” and “out of touch” brand — led to calls from conservative influencers and celebrities to avoid the brand, and taken to boycott.
Bud Light has faced intense criticism from longtime customers over a spring campaign featuring transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney. (Instagram/Fox News/Fox News)
Last month, AB InBev reported a stunning 13.5% decline in U.S. sales in the third quarter as Bud Light sales continued to suffer in the country. However, the company is committed to restoring the brand’s image and seems optimistic about winning back former customers.
During last month’s earnings call, CEO Michel Doukeris told investors that internal surveys show that 40% of Bud Light drinkers who have abandoned the brand say they would consider returning to it.
| ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BUD | ANHEUSER-BUSCH INC | 61.11 | -0.08 | -0.13% |
Anheuser-Busch InBev SA
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Singer-songwriter Kid Rock, who famously shot up cases of Bud Light with a semi-automatic rifle shortly after the boycott began, told FOX News’ Sean Hannity this week that he’s willing to “give up” the thing for the sake of it. of workers whose livelihoods are being affected by the ongoing backlash against the brand.
Kid Rock is ready to put the Bud Light backlash behind him for the benefit of workers who had nothing to do with AB executives’ controversial actions. (Getty Images/Getty Images)
“As a conservative and, most importantly, a patriot, I don’t want to be in the party of canceled cultures and boycotts that ultimately hurt working-class people who don’t have dogs, especially in this fight,” Rock said. “As a God-fearing man, as a Christian, I must believe in forgiveness. You made a mistake, it’s true. Do you want to hold their head underwater and drown them and destroy other people’s jobs? I don’t want to do that.”
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Still, he added, “I hope at the same time – I’m not their biggest, I don’t want to be their biggest cheerleader – that I want them to show me something to get me back.”