Anheuser-Busch US Marketing Chief Resigns Following Disastrous Dylan Mulvaney-Bud Light Campaign
A top marketing executive is leaving Anheuser-Busch as the brewer continues to deal with the fallout of Bud Light’s partnership with transgender social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
AB InBev, Bud Light’s parent company, has reported two straight quarters of declining revenue since Mulvaney announced his collaboration with Bud Light, sparking a boycott.
Third-quarter revenue for the company fell by 13.5 percent in the U.S. That topped the 10.5 percent decline it suffered in the second quarter.
The company attributed the losses to Bud Light’s “volume decline,” which has also seen the brand dethroned as America’s top-selling beer.
AB InBev’s market cap was $132 billion on March 31, the day before Mulvaney showed his social media followers that Bud Light had printed his face on a can of beer to help him celebrate a year of “girlhood.”
By June, the company’s market cap had dropped to about $107 billion. It has since recovered to $121.5 billion.
On Thursday, AB InBev announced that its U.S. chief marketing officer is on the way out the door, according to CBS News.
Benoit Garbe, who joined the company in 2021, will resign at the end of the year “in order to embark on a new chapter in his career,” AB InBev stated.
CEO Brendan Whitworth said in his own statement that the shakeup will “accelerate our return to growth as we continue to focus on what we do best — brewing great beer for everyone and earning our place in moments that matter.”
Garbe is not the only executive to leave AB InBev in the wake of the Mulvaney fiasco.
Lauren Denowitz, AB InBev’s former global entertainment head, announced last month that she is no longer with the company, citing the unprecedented “brand crisis” ignited by the ill-advised partnership.
Daniel Blake, group vice president for marketing, and Alissa Heinerscheid, vice president of Bud Light marketing, are also out after initially being placed on leave as the backlash against the company intensified.
Garbe’s exit from AB InBev was announced the same day podcaster Steven Crowder said he had obtained a financial disclosure showing that Mulvaney was paid $185,000 to promote Bud Light.
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