Doritos cuts ties with transgender influencer after conservative backlash

Doritos in Spain has cut ties with a transgender influencer Samantha Hudson after critics called for a boycott of the PepsiCo brand, citing controversial comments made by Hudson years ago. Doritos was targeted on social media in recent days by accounts such as “End Wokeness,” which began circulating what it alleged were lewd and inappropriate comments made by Hudson years ago. As reported by outlets including Rolling Stone and NBC News, Hudson’s involvement with the brand included a video on Instagram for a Doritos Spain campaign called “Crunch Talks.” It ran for a limited time this past weekend but has since been pulled, Ad Age confirmed. "Doritos in Spain recently created a content series with Samantha Hudson, a local influencer," the brand said in a statement issued today. "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." Conservatives have increasingly targeted brands that have partnered with transgender personalities—the most famous case being attacks on Bud Light that began last April for a promotion it ran with Dylan Mulvaney. The Anheuser-Busch InBev brand was sent into an unprecedented sales slump as it made enemies on both the right and left (progressives accused it of abandoning Mulvaney). Hudson today addressed the matter in a post on X, stating: “I take responsibility for what I wrote but I can't help but also express how unfair it seems to me that a person is being judged in such an exorbitant way for some publications he made 9 years ago when he was still a minor.” Hudson continued that the tweets have been “decontextualized and exaggerated and I firmly position myself against this public mockery with a clear ideological tendency, and which also has the sole intention of insulting me, defaming me, destroying my reputation and intimidating me.” Hudson has previously worked with brands including Absolut. She appeared in a video for the Pernod Ricard-owned vodka brand in 2021 related to Pride month that remains on Absolut’s YouTube page. Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs

Doritos cuts ties with transgender influencer after conservative backlash

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