Anheuser-Busch’s U.S. marketing chief Benoit Garbe will resign at the end of the year after the beer company’s sales disaster following its marketing campaign with trans-identifying male influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
Garbe, who’s been in charge of the company’s U.S. portfolio of beers, canned cocktails, and non-alcoholic beverages since 2021, “will be resigning at the end of the year in order to embark on a new chapter in his career,” Anheuser-Busch said in a statement, The New York Post reported.
“This week we announced key changes to our US leadership team that reduce layers within our organization and better enable our top commercial leaders to drive our business and legacy forward,” Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth told the Post.
Anheuser-Busch’s marketing chief to finally exit after Bud Light’s Dylan Mulvaney fiasco https://t.co/rmDenTZCd5 pic.twitter.com/kYxRr3KUJ9
— New York Post (@nypost) November 16, 2023
“These senior leadership changes will accelerate our return to growth as we continue to focus on what we do best—brewing great beer for everyone and earning our place in moments that matter,” he added.
Anheuser-Busch’s U.S. Chief Commercial Officer Kyle Norrington will take over Garbe’s duties in the new year, CNN reported.
Garbe’s departure follows the exits of Bud Light marketing VP Alissa Heinerscheid and group VP of Anheuser-Busch’s mainstream portfolio Daniel Blake, both of whom were placed on leave shortly after the controversy over the Mulvaney campaign began.
Earlier this year, the trans-identifying activist partnered with Bud Light to sell its beer and a huge backlash ensued against both him and the brand, resulting in a widespread boycott of the beer that sent sales crashing. Bud Light also fell from the number one spot as the top-selling beer in America, a position it held for more than two decades.
Mulvaney recently lamented the “hate and vitriol” he had experienced over the partnership and suggested companies should forge true partnerships with trans-identified spokespersons rather than engaging in “performative” marketing catered to those groups, as previously reported.
“If you’re going to ask us to capitalize on our vulnerabilities and our traumas, at least have our backs when the going gets tough,” Mulvaney told Seth Matlins, managing director of the Forbes CMO Network, at the 2023 Forbes CMO Summit in Miami.
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