Anheuser-Busch has severed ties with the outside marketing agency it blames for the Bud Light-Dylan Mulvaney scandal in an effort to distance itself from the controversy surrounding the partnership between the beer brand and Mulvaney.

According to the New York Post, Anheuser-Busch informed distributors that it had terminated the agency responsible for placing Mulvaney’s image on a Bud Light can and sending it to him for a social media promotion.

The brewing behemoth, whose partnership with Mulvaney prompted a boycott, stated that it did not produce the commemorative can.

“This was one single can given to one social media influencer,” a letter to retailers in the St. Louis area said, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “It was not made for production or sale to the general public. This can is not a formal campaign or advertisement.”

Grey Eagle, which distributes Anheuser-Busch products in the St. Louis area, added in its own letter that “the Bud Light can posted by a social media influencer that sparked all the discussion was provided by an outside agency without the knowledge or approval of Anheuser-Busch management.”

“Since that time, the lack of oversight and control over marketing decisions has been addressed and a new VP of Bud Light marketing has been announced,” Grey Eagle’s letter said.

Anheuser-Busch has not named the organization responsible for the Mulvaney controversy.

The agency Anomaly, which has produced advertisements for Bud Light, stated that it “was not involved in any way with the Dylan Mulvaney campaign,” as reported by The Washington Post.

Earlier this week, CEO Michel Doukeris attempted to quell investor concerns during a conference call.

“We need to clarify the facts that this was one can, one influencer, one post and not a campaign,” he said Thursday.

Robert Lachky, a former chief creative officer at Anheuser-Busch, told the Post-Dispatch that working with Mulvaney was a blunder.

“The minute you step into the political or religious spectrum, when you know your target audience is going to have a real issue with this, you know you’ve alienated at least half of your target audience,” he said. “People don’t like getting preached to, especially when it comes to drinking beer.”

Lachky stated that current Bud Light marketers lack an understanding of the brand’s consumers.

More on this story via The Western Journal:

”None of these marketing folks has ever been to a NASCAR race; none has been to a football game or a rodeo,” he said. “That’s insanity. That’s marketing incompetence.” CONTINUE READING…