Bud Light executive talked updating ‘fratty’ image ahead of transgender partnership revelation
Luke Gentile
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The woman behind Bud Light’s marketing said she wanted to update the company’s “fratty” image and reboot its “out of touch” humor with a push for inclusivity days before Bud Light’s partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney went viral.
“I’m a businesswoman. I had a really clear job to do when I took over Bud Light,” Bud Light Vice President of Marketing Alissa Heinerscheid said in a late March episode of the Make Yourself at Home podcast.
MEET DYLAN MULVANEY, THE MAN WHO BECAME A MILLIONAIRE BY IDENTIFYING AS A WOMAN
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“It was this brand is in decline. 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.”
Heinerscheid, the first woman to take the helm of Bud Light’s brand in its 40-year history, had a “super clear mandate” to “evolve and elevate” the brand, she said.
The executive’s comments have gone viral in the wake of Bud Light’s and its parent company’s partnership with Mulvaney.
Social media buzzed on April 1 when the face of arguably the most famous transgender figure appeared on a can of Bud Light.
Dressed like Audrey Hepburn from Breakfast at Tiffany’s, wearing a black dress, black gloves, an updo hairstyle, and a necklace, Mulvaney posted a promotion video carrying five Bud Light cans.
“This month, I celebrated my ‘365 Days of Womanhood,’ and Bud Light sent me possibly the best gift ever … a can with my face on it,” Mulvaney said.
Conservative backlash to the content creator’s partnership with Anheuser-Busch was fast and furious, with many on the Right calling for a boycott of the beverage brand.
Part of evolving and elevating means bringing greater inclusivity into the Bud Light brand, Heinerscheid said.
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“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,” she added.
“Representation is sort of at the heart of evolution,” she added. “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 we had another approach.”