The Bud Light marketing executive whose team oversaw its disastrous partnership with trans activist Dylan Mulvaney has taken a leave of absence, according to a report on Friday.
Alissa Heinerscheid was hired to overhaul Bud Light’s marketing in June 2022 with the vision of freshening up its image.
But that took a disastrous turn on April 1 when the partnership with Mulvaney was announced, sparking a boycott and knocking $6 billion from the company’s value.
Heinerscheid is being replaced by the vice president of global marketing for Budweiser, Todd Allen, according to Ad Age.
DailyMail.com has approached Bud Light for comment.
Alissa Heinerscheid, the brand’s vice president of marketing, has taken a leave of absence, according to a report on Friday
The 26-yea-old transgender activist announced the partnership in a now viral post included the hashtag ‘#budlightpartner’, and a caption that touted the cans as her ‘most prized possession’
Heinerscheid’s team was responsible for Bud Light’s widely-lauded Super Bowl ad featuring Miles Teller and his wife Keleigh Sperry, and ‘the Bud Light Carry’ ad, which shows a woman carrying a round of beers to a table of friends without spilling a drop.
Those ads were part of Heinerscheid’s vision to make the brand more female friendly – something she has described as a ‘passion point’.
But that vision was swiftly cut down on April 3 with the brand’s partnership with Dylan Mulvaney, a controversial trans activist with a mass following on social media, which proved to be a step too far for Bud Light’s loyal customers.
Kid Rock was among the first to criticize the partnership and lead a boycott, with other conservative consumers, distributors and suppliers following suit.
Heinerscheid has not commented on the scandal.
A graduate of Wharton business school, she has been hailed in interviews as the first woman to ‘lead’ Bud Light in its 41-year history.
On March 30, in an interview with the Make Yourself at Home podcast, she told of her strategy to ditch Bud Light’s ‘fratty’ reputation and embrace inclusivity to attract a young generation of drinkers.
‘I’m a businesswoman. I had a really clear job to do when I took over Bud Light, and it was this brand is in decline,’ she said.
‘It’s been in decline for a really long time. And if we do not attract young drinkers to come and drink this brand, there will be no future for Bud Light.
‘So I had this super clear mandate. It’s like we need to evolve and elevate this incredibly iconic brand.
‘What does evolve and elevate mean? It means 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.
During a podcast appearance last month, days before the Mulvaney partnership was announced, Heinerscheid said Bud Light was on the wane when she took the helm last summer, but planned to right the ship in the coming months
‘And representation. Is it sort of the heart of evolution? You’ve got to see people who reflect you in the work.
‘And we had this hangover. I mean, Bud Light had been kind of a brand of fratty, kind of out of touch humor, and it was really important that we had another approach,’ she said.
In an earlier interview with Forbes, she gave the same mandate.
‘As the first woman to lead the biggest beer brand in the world, it’s an amazing opportunity to really evolve and elevate Bud Light, this brand I love.
‘This campaign is meant to feel different, to be lighter and brighter, with a confidence and magnetism, and it’s really critical to depict real people and real places,’ she said.
‘What I need to do to help this brand to evolve… this is my passion point.’
Since taking the gig in July, Heinerscheid has already rolled out several adverts as part of a push to empower women – one of which features a dancing Miles Teller and his wife
This desire was felt in a February commercial titled ‘The Bud Light Carry,’ which saw a female protagonist, after buying her friends a round of beer, successfully bring the glasses to her friends without spilling a drop
Prior to her current role, Heinerscheid worked as an associate brand manager for Listerine, and afterwards headed Bud Light’s parent Anheuser-Busch’s inhouse agency for seven months.
During that time, the marketing specialist claims to have created the firm’s current ‘internal influencer agency’, an approach that Bud Light now appears to be favoring with its decision to market through figures like Mulvaney.
In an interview with New York PR publication Provoke Media last year, Heinerscheid hailed companies like Nike for inclusive, ‘culturally relevant campaigns’ featuring black athletes, while also praising former employer General Mills for its more ‘wholesome and genuine’ approach to ads.
‘I have always been impressed with how culturally relevant and impactful the marketing is for Nike,’ she told the outlet in November after being named on of its 25 American Innovators of the year.
‘Also, as a parent,’ she added, ‘there is just something so wholesome and genuine about what General Mills does.’
That said, despite being a proponent of progressive ideals, the New Yorker is a registered Republican, according to public records updated in 2016, and has a family with three young children.
She married her husband Henry Charles Heinerscheid, a consultant in Boston with Tapestry Networks, in 2011.
She had spent five years working with him after graduating Harvard, where she studied English.
Their wedding was announced by the New York Times in May 2011.
She married her husband Henry Charles Heinerscheid, a consultant in Boston with Tapestry Networks, in 2011, after working with him as a senior associate for five years. She left to pursue a master’s in marketing later that year
She then enrolled in a marketing Master’s program at $60,000-per-year Wharton, finishing in 2013.
She has held roles at Cheerio’s, Listerine, and Anheuser-Busch in the time since.
Mulvaney – a transgender woman who during the pandemic became known on TikTok for her ‘days of girlhood’ series – has more than 10.8million followers on the platform.
The Mulvaney controversy began on April 3 when Bud Light sent her custom-made cans featuring her face. The gift served as the start of the since-confirmed partnership between the parties, further confirmed by an ensuing post from Mulvaney, in which she appeared to her followers naked in a bathtub drinking a Bud Light beer.
In the turmoil that ensued, Bud Light’s parent company, Anheuser-Busch, issued a statement saying it supported the brand’s decision to work with Mulvaney, whose videos follow her journey.
‘Anheuser-Busch works with hundreds of influencers across our brands as one of many ways to authentically connect with audiences across various demographics,’ the rep said.
It added: ‘From time to time, we produce unique commemorative cans for fans and for brand influencers, like Mulvaney. This commemorative can was a gift to celebrate a personal milestone and is not for sale to the general public.’
Their doubling down only enraged angered customers more.
Onlookers are now criticizing the maneuver as a shameless publicity grab, amid the recent trend of companies going ‘woke’ to better their bottom lines.
Analysts said the decision to pair Bud Light with a transgender activist was a strange marketing idea.
‘I simply don’t understand why they hired the person who was doing the marketing,’ said Ted Jenkin, CEO of Oxygen Financial, which he founded to offer financial services to business owners and high net worth individuals across America.
He told Fox News Digital: ‘I mean, if your target customer is Kid Rock, and then all of a sudden you decide to go to RuPaul, that just doesn’t make any sense at all.’
Anheuser-Busch is led by US CEO Brendan Whitworth, a former Marine lieutenant, CIA officer, and Harvard Business School graduate, who joined A-B in 2014
Whitworth issued this public statement two weeks into the controversy
Brendan Whitworth, the CEO, said: ‘We never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people.
‘We are in the business of bringing people together over a beer.’
Whitworth, a former Marine lieutenant, CIA officer, and Harvard Business School graduate, did not directly address the Mulvaney partnership or issue an apology.
Instead, he signaled a desire to move away from divisive subjects, saying: ‘I am responsible for ensuring every consumer feels proud of the beer we brew.’
He continued: ‘My time serving this country taught me the importance of accountability and the values upon which America was founded: freedom, hard work and respect for one another. As CEO of Anheuser-Busch, I am focused on building and protecting our remarkable history and heritage.
‘I care deeply about this country, this company, our brands and our partners. I spend much of my time traveling across America, listening to and learning from our customers, distributors and others.
‘Moving forward, I will continue to work tirelessly to bring great beers to consumers across our nation.’
Until then, Anheuser-Busch’s only comment on the matter had been a single statement confirming the Bud Light cans showing Mulvaney’s face were a personal gift to the influencer, and not for sale to the public.
‘Anheuser-Busch works with hundreds of influencers across our brands as one of many ways to authentically connect with audiences across various demographics,’ the statement last week said.
‘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.’
