Anson Frericks, the former president of Anheuser Busch Sales & Distribution Company, openly called for the alcohol behemoth’s chief executive to step down in the wake of its financially devastating partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
“We just had 600 workers that one of the Anheuser suppliers . . . just laid off,” the former executive told FOX Business Network on Monday. “Unfortunately, there’s gonna be more workers laid off [unless] we can find the CEO who is going to successfully and confidently address the situation.”
Frericks pulled no punches when placing the blame squarely on U.S. CEO Brendan Whitworth.
“Whitworth has had three chances to come and clearly articulate that this campaign was not in the best interest of Anheuser-Busch shareholders,” Frericks said.
“The shareholders of Anheuser-Busch are those firefighters, doctors, police officers, et cetera, and to make sure that their retirement accounts and 401k accounts are done well, companies develop great products and services, period. Not necessarily to get involved in a lot of different political issues or social issues that are being pushed like Blackrock, State Street, Vanguard.”
“And this CEO has been unable to clearly serve the shareholders and unless he does that, we’re going to have to unfortunately find another CEO who can.”
In early April, Bud Light sent Mulvaney special cans of beer featuring the influencer’s face. Alissa Heinerscheid, Bud Light’s recent marketing manager, envisioned the initiative as a means of rejuvenating the brand by “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. And representation is sort of at the heart of evolution.”
However, the promotion failed spectacularly and led to months of declining sales. By the final week of April, in-store sales of Bud Light had plummeted by 26 percent.
By the second week of May, Beer Business Daily, a trade publication, found that the volume of light beer had slipped by 28.4 percent, up from 27.7 percent the week prior.
“This could be a promotional summer the likes we haven’t seen since after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, where there was so much beer inventory backed up in the trade that it initiated the price war of all price wars,” the industry outlet told FOX Business Network.
“[L]arge price wars are often sparked by external events — in that case, Hurricane Katrina, and in this case Hurricane Mulvaney.”
“The only difference this time is the external event is only negatively affecting one brewer,” the outlet added.