It wasn’t too long ago that Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth took to the airwaves to make an emotional appeal to American consumers boycotting Bud Light: their actions would hurt his employees most.
Now it looks as if the disastrous plunge in demand for the once-popular lager may have prompted the first staff layoffs at the brand’s parent company, according to its local Missouri paper, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
“Today we took the very difficult but necessary decision to eliminate a number of positions across our corporate organization,” Whitworth was quoted as saying.
Many conservatives and LGBTQ consumers alike have turned their back on the brand after the company’s handling of the crisis that stemmed from a very brief collaboration with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
It has since lost its top spot as America’s best-selling beer to a Mexican rival, while dropping to fourth place in bars and restaurants.
Fewer than 2% of Anheuser-Busch staff, or roughly 360 people, are now set to lose their jobs as part of a restructuring, according to the Post-Dispatch.
Importantly those working in the production and distribution of beers are at least for now exempt despite cratering demand for AB products. The company has said in the past that it planned to provide financial aid to “protect the jobs” of those frontline staff affected most by the boycott.
One of those hit by the headcount reduction was Matt Lodge, a manager that had been with the company for over two years.
“Sadly I have to join a number of my colleagues in announcing I was included in the AB layoffs today,” he posted to LinkedIn on Wednesday. “I also know there are a lot of incredibly talented and smart people looking for their next opportunity.”
Job cuts designed to ensure continued ‘long-term’ success
A key criticism leveled at Whitworth is that while he verbally accepted responsibility for the fallout that garnered headlines nationwide on nearly a weekly basis, the only ones so far to suffer the consequences were others.
His only major interview since the boycott began came last month during a CBS morning show that ducked asking hard questions in favor of pathos. Nor has the ex-Marine and CIA spy clarified exactly where he stands in a controversy of the company’s own making.
He has not apologized to consumers for ex-VP of marketing Alissa Heinerscheid’s perceived hurtful remarks that called her brand’s clientele “fratty”, “out of touch” and not inclusive enough.
Conversely, he has also not staked his own reputation as CEO by defending them or the fateful collaboration with Mulvaney.
Instead, Whitworth repeatedly sought to portray the company as a bystander in a conversation that has “moved away from beer”, while attempting to wrap his company in the red, white and blue of the American flag.
Symptomatic of his fence-sitting is the statement on Wednesday justifying the layoffs, which appeared wholly divorced from a reality in which Bud Light lost a good quarter of its sales.
“We want to ensure that our organization continues to be set for future long-term success,” the Anheuser-Busch CEO said.
The company did not respond to a request by Fortune for comment.
