AB InBev, the company that produces Bud Light, has laid off hundreds of workers at its U.S. offices after months of slumping sales for the beer brand. Bud Light's collapse followed a boycott against its partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the layoffs affected corporate and marketing roles at major U.S. offices, including New York City, Los Angeles and St. Louis – the latter being the home city of AB InBev's subsidiary Anheuser-Busch.
The Belgium-based AB InBev clarified on July 26 that the job cuts would affect less than two percent of its roughly 18,000-strong U.S. workforce. Frontline workers such as brewery and warehouse staff won't be impacted.
"While we never take these decisions lightly, we want to ensure that our organization continues to be set for future long-term success," Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth said in a written statement. "These corporate structure changes will enable our teams to focus on what we do best – brewing great beer for everyone."
Since April of this year, sales of Bud Light have tanked as a result of a conservative-led boycott against its partnership with Mulvaney. This drop in sales enabled Mexican beer brand Modelo Especial to overtake Bud Light as the best-selling beer in the United States.
Earlier, Anheuser-Busch confirmed that it no longer employed Alissa Heinerscheid and Daniel Blake. The two marketing executives were responsible for the disastrous partnership with Mulvaney that spectacularly backfired.
According to an anonymous source from inside Anheuser-Busch, the company reportedly used the term "leave of absence" instead of "firing" to avoid potential legal consequences. Had it used the latter term, Anheuser-Busch could have been liable to possible lawsuits Heinerscheid and Blake may file. (Related: Anheuser-Busch confirms: 2 Marketing execs behind disastrous Mulvaney campaign now FIRED.)
"Wholesalers were told they are both gone for good by leadership during in-person conversations," said the tipster. They already shifted all their direct reports to new people and the head of marketing."
Mulvaney campaign repercussions also affect other firms linked to Bud Light
The fallout of Bud Light's disastrous trans campaign has also affected other companies, such as the Ardagh Group. The contractor that bottles Bud Light and other beer brands under Anheuser-Busch announced plans to close down its two plants in North Carolina and Louisiana.
According to Fox News, Ardagh's closures would affect 645 employees. While the company did not disclose the reason for the closures, subsequent reports revealed that boycotts against the beer brand were the main reason. Ardagh joined retailers, distributors, bars and other contractors bearing the brunt of these boycotts over Bud Light's partnership with Mulvaney – originally meant to celebrate his supposed "365 Days of Girlhood."
An internal company memo obtained by local North Carolina channel WRAL 5 noted that executives have been planning to shut down the two plants due to "slow sales" with Bud Light's parent company AB InBev. Longtime employees said they were not surprised with the move, considering that a large part of Ardagh's business at those plants was producing bottles for Bud Light and Budweiser.
Machine repair mechanic David Williams elaborated that the drop in demand caused by "the Bud Light situation" forced Ardagh to put some machines in the Louisiana and North Carolina plants offline. He told WRAL 5: "Because of Budweiser no longer selling the bottle, they no longer needed our product."
Other employees at the North Carolina plant reportedly said the facility's closure was indeed due to the Bud Light boycott, citing their respective managers.
Head over to Wokies.news for more stories about Bud Light's disastrous campaign with Dylan Mulvaney.
Watch this Fox Business report about AB InBev's recent mass layoffs following dismal Bud Light sales.
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WOKE BROKE: Company that bottles Bud Light shuts down two plants following botched Mulvaney fiasco.
PR expert blasts Anheuser-Busch for bewildering response to Mulvaney endorsement backlash.
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