We have previously noted how Anheuser-Busch executives have realized that the corporation completely f(ouled) up over using ‘transgender’ parody actor Dylan Mulvaney as a spokesthing for Bud Light, and how Bud Light’s Vice President for Marketing Alissa Heinerscheid has taken a “leave of absence” over the controversy.

Well, Mrs Heinerscheid hasn’t been the only casualty. From The Wall Street Journal:

Bud Light Brewer Puts Two Executives on Leave After Uproar Over Transgender Influencer

Alissa Heinerscheid, who oversaw Bud Light marketing, and her boss Daniel Blake placed on leave

By Ginger Adams Otis, Lauren Weber, and Jennifer Maloney | Updated: Sunday, April 23, 2023 | 4:26 PM EDT

Anheuser-Busch InBev SA BUD: (%) said it had placed on leave two executives who oversaw a Bud Light collaboration with a transgender activist.

Alissa Heinerscheid, Bud Light’s vice president of marketing, had come under fire from some customers and media outlets over the company’s decision to send a personalized Bud Light can to transgender activist and influencer Dylan Mulvaney as part of a promotion for the beer brand’s March Madness contest.

Ms. Heinerscheid and her boss Daniel Blake, who oversees marketing for Anheuser-Busch’s mainstream brands, took leaves of absence, the company said on Sunday.

“Given the circumstances, Alissa has decided to take a leave of absence which we support,” an Anheuser-Busch spokeswoman said in an email. “Daniel has also decided to take a leave of absence.”

And here comes the money line:

The decision to take a leave wasn’t voluntary, according to people familiar with the matter. AB InBev named another executive to replace Ms. Heinerscheid.

Let’s tell the truth here: everybody knew that Mrs Heinerscheid’s “leave of absence” wasn’t voluntary. And now that we hear of Mr Blake’s “leave of absence,” that it wasn’t voluntary is also no surprise.

Further down:

Anheuser-Busch said that it will also adjust some of its marketing department functions to ensure senior staff are fully connected to decisions about brand activities.

There are two, and only two, possibilities here:

1. Chief Executive Officer Brendan Whitworth and his top subordinates really didn’t know about the marketing ploy using someone as controversial as Mr Mulvaney, in which case their leadership needs to be called into question; or
2. Mr Whitworth and his top subordinates did know about the Mulvaney promotion, and are trying desperately to distance themselves from it. Mr Blake and Mrs Heinerscheid are simply the necessary sacrificial lambs.

Thus, the choice is between incompetence and stupidity.

That Mr Blake and Mrs Heinerscheid have officially taken “leaves of absence” has an obvious meaning: they both almost certainly have contracts, and right now, it’s up to the lawyers to figure out their golden parachute severances and non-disclosure agreements.

There is a great good which comes from all of this. The urban-lifestyle executives are finally realizing that there are a lot of Americans who don’t swallow the idiocy of today’s #woke^[1]From Wikipedia: Woke (/ˈwoʊk/) as a political term of African-American origin refers to a perceived awareness of issues concerning social justice and racial justice. It is derived from … Continue reading left, and pandering to them can cost customers. Anheuser-Busch’s stockholders, some doubtlessly liberals and others certainly conservatives, care about one thing when it comes to their stocks, and that’s making money. Whether they support Mr Mulvaney’s parody of girls, or ‘transgenderism’ as a real thing, are wholly opposed, or just don’t care, using someone controversial was costing them money.

One can hope, hope!, that the outcome of all of this will be to keep other corporations from pushing this kind of nonsense in the future. I would imagine that other marketing managers for other companies would look at what has happened to Mr Blake and Mrs Heinerscheid and say to themselves, “Hey, maybe going down that route wouldn’t work out so well for me, either,” and leave the controversial politics out of their businesses.