Ex-Budweiser Executive Says Conservatives Won’t Forget Pro-Trans Controversy

Budweiser Light sales were significantly down at the Robbers Roost Sports Bar in Cornville, Ariz., on April 14, 2023. Allan Stein/The Epoch Times

A former Anheuser-Busch executive warned his former colleagues that American conservatives, who make up its base, would likely not forget the recent transgender controversy.

The commotion was instigated by the company’s decision to partner with transgender personality Dylan Mulvaney to act as one of its spokespersons.

Anheuser-Busch released special edition cans of Bud Light with Mulvaney’s face on it for its March Madness ad campaign and in celebration of his one-year anniversary after declaring himself to be a woman.

Anson Frericks, a former executive at the company, was interviewed on “Fox & Friends Weekend” on April 23 about the massive consumer pushback against its flagship Budweiser brand.

He said that the world’s largest beer company was making a big mistake in expecting millions of angry customers to easily forget the pro-transgender move.

Many conservative consumers, bars, and celebrities have joined the boycott against Bud Light’s partnership with Mulvaney, causing shares of Anheuser-Busch to drop as sales tumbled in the wake of its failed ad campaign.

Joe Penovich, owner of the Grills Seafood Deck and Tiki Bar restaurant chain, for example, wrote an open letter to Anheuser-Busch on Facebook, saying, “I am disgusted by what you have done and what you are doing,” reported Fox Business.

“You are the one causing this division and anger in our society. You are responsible for making some of the gay community think Grills does not welcome them. And you knew EXACTLY what you were doing when you launched this campaign. How could you not? ‘Good ol' boy beer … meets Dylan Mulvaney? Hmm. Let’s see what that does to the country.’ NOBODY is that stupid. This goes way beyond transgenderism,” said Penovich.

Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth attempted to address the controversy by issuing a statement on April 14.

Whitworth claimed the beer company “never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people,” while not mentioning Mulvaney or the ad campaign.

Anheuser-Busch Backtracks on Transgender Promotion

Mulvaney first earned notoriety last October after asking President Joe Biden during his interview whether he would support protecting sex changes for children.

Biden responded by saying he opposed any plans by U.S. state governments to restrict “gender-affirming health care” for minors.

The executive in charge of the fiasco, Alissa Heinerscheid, Bud Light‘s vice president of marketing, took a leave of absence following calls throughout the country to boycott its beer. She had been in her position for barely a year.

Heinerscheid is now being replaced by Budweiser’s global marketing vice president, Todd Allen, reported AdAge on April 21.

Meanwhile, Anheuser-Busch hired two consultants with experience in the Beltway’s conservative circles to advise the brand in its attempt to win back former customers.

The beer giant released a new ad campaign on social media with patriotic motifs, with executives apparently believing that it would calm outrage among its base.

The social media campaign was panned by many online users, some of whom framed it as a hypocritical attempt to win back conservatives outraged by the Mulvaney partnership.

“That’s the bet they’re making. I think that’s the wrong bet to make. And I think now is the time to go back and, for companies like Anheuser-Busch, to say that, ‘Hey, moving forward for brands like Bud Light, we’re not going to be political. We’re not going to get involved in the environmental, social, governance movement because that’s not what the customer wants,’” Frericks told Fox News.

Former Budweiser Executive Urges Company to Return to Its Basic Values

Frericks, who was an executive at Anheuser-Busch for over than a decade, blamed left-wing investment groups like Blackrock for pushing the once “apolitical brand” into complying with the diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI) and environmental, social, governance (ESG) ideology of “all these so-called stakeholders, political organizations, activist organizations.”

“There’s a more fundamental problem that’s going on right now where Anheuser-Busch has to choose who it’s going to be accountable to … Will it be its shareholders? Or its so-called stakeholders? Let me explain. Historically, Anheuser-Busch has been accountable to its shareholders, which are people like firefighters, doctors, lawyers that invested in companies like Anheuser-Busch via 401(k)s or their pension plans,” explained Frericks.

“Over the last couple of years, there’s been organizations like BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard that have pushed this new model of stakeholder capitalism, asking companies like Anheuser-Busch to be accountable to all these so-called stakeholders, political organizations, activist organizations.”

“And they do that by implementing ESG ... policies in corporations that ask them to get involved in these controversial issues. But unfortunately, when you try to be everything to everyone, you end up being accountable to no one,” he continued.

The former Anheuser-Busch executive said the company needs to return to its basic values and focus on the things that its formerly loyal customers once enjoyed to win them back.

“What the customer wants with Bud Light is they want to have things that bring us together. They want humor. They want the ‘Dilly Dilly’ guys. They want football. They want the things that bind us together as co-equal citizens here, not necessarily having Bud Light get involved in political controversies that tear us apart. Heck, this is one of the most apolitical brands out there, shared by Democrats and Republicans alike,” Frericks said.