"Senior level" officials at the upper levels of Anheuser-Busch were left in the dark about a marketing deal that led to transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney's marketing deal with Bud Light, according to a report Thursday.
According to claims made by inside sources, "no one at the senior level" of the company had been aware of the partnership, which has led to calls across the county to boycott Bud Light, one of the company's signature brands, reports The Daily Wire, which did not name its sources.
The claims though, come after Alissa Heinerscheid, the Bud Light vice president of marketing said in a podcast that Bud Light had "been in a decline for a really long time," and that she wanted to "evolve and elevate this incredibly iconic brand” and to focus on its "inclusivity."
She also said that if younger drinkers don't "come and drink this brand there will be no future for Bud Light."
Another executive, Jennifer Morris, the vice president of communications, reportedly commented at an industry event in 2021 that she believed it was important for Anheuser-Busch to "leverage our scale and resources to further conversations around DE&I [Diversity, Equity and Inclusion] and help consumers understand the difference they can make as individuals."
The controversy over the beer started when Mulvaney announced on Instagram that "Bud Light sent me possibly the best gift ever: a can with my face on it."
Mulvaney further wrote in the caption on the post about a contest with Bud Light, saying “Happy March Madness!! Just found out this had to do with sports and not just saying it's a crazy month! In celebration of this sports thing @budlight is giving you the chance to win $15,000! Share a video with #EasyCarryContest for a chance to win!! Good luck."
The video included the hashtag #budlightpartner.
Anheuser-Busch, though, told Fox News in a statement that "from time to time, we produce unique commemorative cans for fans and 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."
However, Bud Light's official social media pages did not announce the partnership, and the Daily Wire reports that two sources close to the situation said the decision about Mulvaney being part of an ad campaign hadn't been approved by the higher-ups.
"No one at a senior level was aware this was happening," one of the sources, who was granted anonymity to reveal company internal discussions, commented. "Some low-level marketing staffer who helps manage the hundreds of influencer engagements they do must have thought it was no big deal. Obviously, it was, and it's a shame because they have a well-earned reputation for just being America's beer — not a political company. It was a mistake."
Another source claimed a lower-level employee made the decision, which resulted in a backlash costing the company over $5 billion in market value.
That source told The Daily Wire that Anheuser-Busch will likely start a more "robust" process in the future to evaluate controversial partnerships.