Seven months after Bud Light’s transgender campaign debacle erupted, Anheuser-Busch InBev’s top marketing executive is leaving the company.
The company said Wednesday that its U.S. chief marketing officer Benoit Garbe will resign by the end of the year in order “to embark on a new chapter in his career.”
Garbe has worked at the company for more than a decade and was promoted to the lead of U.S. marketing in September 2021.
Sales of the beer giant suffered after transgender TikTok influencer Dylan Mulvaney announced a marketing campaign in April celebrating the activist’s transitioning from a biological male. Critics responded by calling for a boycott against Bud Light and its parent company, Anheuser-Busch InBev.
The boycott was fueled by a video from rap artist Kid Rock that showed him shooting boxes of Bud Light and proclaiming, “F*** Bud Light, and f*** Anheuser-Busch! Have a nice day!” The video garnered more than 53 million views on social media.
The company has lost billions in sales and stock valuation since April. Mulvaney also turned against the company and accused them of forsaking the influencer after the resultant backlash.
In July, some beer distributors said that they had lost hope for the brand regaining their sales share from before the controversy.
“Consumers have made a choice,” said one distributor from Texas. “They have left [Bud Light] and that’s how it’s going to be. I don’t envision a big percentage of them coming back.”
The company said that after Garbe leaves the company chief commercial officer Kyle Norrington will take over as marketing chief and handle “brand plans and portfolio strategy.”
In August, Kid Rock was spotted drinking Bud Light again despite his initial response.
Here’s more about the Bud Light boycott:
Bud Light, Target Boycotts ARE WORKING, Will They LAST?www.youtube.com
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