Doritos has parted ways with a Spanish transgender influencer after past offensive tweets resurfaced online, ending a tumultuous week for the snack brand—one reminiscent of the Bud Light and Dylan Mulvaney crisis.
The Spanish arm of Doritos, which is owned by PepsiCo, faced calls from right-leaning social media accounts to boycott the brand after it partnered with Samantha Hudson, a 24-year-old singer and actor from Spain.
The brand has now removed a video featuring Hudson and ended future plans to work with her, blaming her previous comments rather than pressure from online groups.
Doritos cuts Hudson video
Hudson linked up with the Spanish arm of the snack brand to feature in a promotional video called “Crunch Talks,” and almost instantly became a cause célèbre for commentators that have in the past targeted corporations like Target and Bud Light maker AB InBev for their links to LGBTQ+ figures.
However, Doritos Spain confirmed to Fortune that it had cut ties with Hudson, who has 368,000 Instagram followers as of the morning of March 7, after offensive tweets from around 2015 resurfaced online.
Rolling Stone reported that the tweets detailed how Hudson wanted to carry out “depraved” acts against 12-year-old girls.
Hudson has since apologized for her tweets, saying: “At that time I dedicated myself to saying nonsense, the heavier the better, because I thought that ‘dark humor’ was funny,” Rolling Stone reported, citing a translation of previous social media posts.
A Doritos spokesperson said: “Doritos in Spain recently created a content series with Samantha Hudson, a local influencer. After the campaign started, we were made aware of Samantha’s deleted tweets from around 2015.
“We have ended the relationship and stopped all related campaign activity due to the comments. We strongly condemn words or actions that promote violence, or sexism of any kind.”
NBC News reported that the 50-second promotional video had disappeared on Monday. Several publications reported the video had been uploaded the day before.
Hudson didn’t immediately respond to Fortune’srequest for comment.
The right comes for Doritos
Before Doritos ended its relationship with Hudson over her past tweets, right-leaning accounts had already launched an onslaught against the pair in a familiar reaction to brand promotions including LGBTQ+ influencers.
Commentators, mostly from outside Spain, had latched on to one video in particular, where Hudson is seen advocating for the abolition of the “traditional monogamous nuclear family,” sparking a moral panic from some sectors of the internet.
Doritos is just the latest target in a concerted campaign that has hammered other corporations that have publicized liberal causes through promotional campaigns for their products.
AB InBev, the Belgian drinks company that makes Bud Light, is still licking its wounds nearly a year after a partnership with transgender TikToker Dylan Mulvaney sparked a massive backlash among commentators and ultimately its customers.
Mulvaney posted a video on Instagram last year with Bud Light beer as part of a brand partnership with the drinks maker.
But after the backlash, AB InBev’s CEO disavowed the campaign.
“We will need to continue to clarify the fact that this was one can, one influencer, one post, and not a campaign, and repeat this message for some time,” Michel Doukeris said on his company’s first-quarter earnings call last year.
This in itself sparked another backlash from Mulvaney’s supporters, with the influencer saying she felt abandoned by Bud Light in the months after the short-lived campaign turned sour.
A boycott of the drink may have cost its makers $1.4 billion—that’s the drop in organic revenue the group experienced thanks to lower sales of Bud Light beer in North America.
