The Arrogance of a Single Woke

Alissa Heinerscheid is not a household name. She never intended to be in the spotlight. But she is the woke white woman who destroyed in twenty-four hours all the years of brand trust people had in Bud Light. She is now on a “leave of absence” along with her boss, Daniel Blake, after releasing a Bud Light can celebrating Dylan Mulvaney’s “one year as a woman” the same week a transgender activist murdered six people in Nashville. I am told that she will not be returning. If she does, we can assume Anheuser-Busch just decided it could wait out the wrath of its consumers.

Just for perspective, when a plane crashes, the major airlines maintain standing orders with television and radio stations across America to pull their advertisements for a period of time. Bud Light never had to contemplate that and when Audrey Hale murdered six in Nashville, it never dawned on the company that it should hit pause on its idea.

Making matters worse, Heinerscheid took it upon herself to defend the move by belittling existing Bud Light drinkers. She suggested they were too fratty and implied she wanted more sophisticated drinkers. The reality is that a lot of young drinkers have moved to alcoholic seltzers or craft beers. Anheuser-Busch is partly to blame for Bud Light’s declining sales as the company moved into those product areas, buying up small breweries, etc.

Then the company let Heinerscheid loose and sabotaged the rest of the brand.

This morning, a friend forwarded along an internal memo from a local Anheuser-Busch distributor. I know the owner of the company. To say a memo like this is unusual is an understatement. More notable is that it comes now weeks after the Mulvaney episode, which suggests ongoing, if not permanent, damage.

In the memo to staff, the owner noted that the distributorship is locally owned and not owned by Anheuser-Busch. He noted how many local jobs are impacted by the company. He urged employees to defend the brand, calling it a mistake and minimizing it as one can for one person, not a branding statement for national distribution.

Heinerscheid’s woke arrogance has impacted the lives of a lot of Americans. Bar and shop owners bought beer no one wants to buy and are out the money. Drivers for the distributorships are having shifts cut. The cascading effect is measurable and negative.

Bud Light could probably overcome this, but it would take an apology from the CEO, Brendan Whitworth, instead of the generic non-apology he first attempted. A “we get it, we insulted our audience, we are sorry, and she is fired” would help a lot. Then return to the Bud Light “real men of genius” ads, except don’t include Lia Thomas or Dylan Mulvaney.

Not every corporation is going to be hurt by a woke performance. But for many brands, this should be a cautionary lesson. Avoid politics and focus on that which unites us, not that which divides us.

Also, Bud Light is trash beer.