Doritos Spain has parted ways with a transgender influencer it had hired for an online advertisement due to resurfaced social media posts the influencer had made.
Controversy erupted online on Tuesday after it was discovered that Doritos Spain had featured Samantha Hudson, a transgender social media star, in a video titled “Crunch Talks.” In the wake of the video, several posts Hudson had made in the 2010s had resurfaced in the public eye, including one about Hudson wanting to do “thuggish things” to a minor, according to a report.
“We recently created a content series with Samantha Hudson, a local influencer,” a statement from Doritos Spain said that PepsiCo shared with the Washington Examiner. “After the campaign started, we were made aware of Samantha’s deleted Tweets from around 2015. We have ended the relationship and stopped all related campaign activity due to the comments. We strongly condemn words or actions that promote violence or sexism of any kind.”
Other controversial statements Hudson had made on social media included a video about wanting to destroy the nuclear family, as well as releasing a song criticizing the Catholic church. Hudson had also once made a post about hating “women who have been victims of sexual abuse,” the report stated.
PepsiCo, which owns the Doritos brand, confirmed to the Washington Examiner that Hudson’s hiring was “a one-off activation” and was not part of any wider ambassador program.
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The “Crunch Talks” video featuring Hudson prompted some social media users to call for a boycott of Doritos, eliciting comparisons to the financial fallout that Bud Light went through last year. The beer brand partnered with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney in late March, with the brand undergoing financial losses for the remainder of the year.
In the wake of its partnership with Mulvaney, Bud Light’s owner, Anheuser-Busch, has sought to rebuild its reputation in the public eye, including partnering with the Ultimate Fighting Championship and releasing a Super Bowl commercial last month featuring UFC President Dana White, football legend Peyton Manning, and musician Post Malone.