Doritos Controversy: A Bud Light Boycott Rerun, or a Different Story?

The Doritos controversy may sound like yet another Bud Light tale involving a right-wing boycott. Similar to Bud Light, Doritos published a promotional video featuring a transgender influencer. However, the influencer in question, Samantha Hudson from Spain, turned out to have some controversial past tweets, which wasn’t the case for Bud Light and Dylan Mulvaney.

Our Business2Community experts have gathered data across English and Spanish news articles and social media posts to provide a comprehensive overview of the Doritos controversy.

The Story of the Doritos Controversy

The Doritos controversy started in 2024, when the brand collaborated with transgender influencer Samantha Hudson. After the collaboration, Hudson’s controversial tweets from 2015 resurfaced, causing people to boycott Doritos.

Who is Samantha Hudson?

Samantha Hudson is a transgender singer and influencer from Spain. She defines herself as gender non-conforming, as well as a “non-binary trans girl”.

In 2015, she released her first song Maricón (Queer) when she was still a high school student in Mallorca, Spain. The song created controversy across the country, with lyrics that include

I’m a maricón and I love the church, but they won’t let me in because I make a scene

Since then, she has released four albums and won the Best Spanish Artist at the 2023 MTV Europe Music Awards.

Besides her music, she’s also known for her LGBT activism and bold statements. For example, in one video, she mentioned that she supported “abolishing the traditional monogamous nuclear family”.

Doritos Spain Partners with Samantha Hudson

In 2024, Doritos Spain, owned by PepsiCo, picked Samantha Hudson as a local influencer for a now-deleted 50-second promotional Instagram video.

Rolling Stone reported that the video was part of Doritos’ marketing campaign Crunch Talks, and Hudson was not a brand ambassador.

Right-Wing Influencers Call for Boycott

On March 5, 2024, EndWokeness, an X account with over 2 million followers, called for a boycott of Doritos.

This is who Doritos just partnered with to be their brand ambassador in Spain.

You know what to do.#BoycottDoritos.
Make it trend. pic.twitter.com/kXIlPS2fjB

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) March 4, 2024

The reason for the boycott was Hudson’s past tweets as a teenager, which included disturbing and offensive content on rape and pedophilia.

“Time for Doritos to get the Bud Light treatment” replied a social media user to EndWokeness’ tweet, referring to the 2023 boycott of Bud Light after it partnered with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. The Bud Light controversy was similar in the sense that both influencers were transgender, but Mulvaney didn’t have controversial tweets resurface, unlike Hudson.

Doritos Ends its Relationship with Hudson

“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,” said a Doritos Spain spokesperson about ending the partnership with transgender influencer Samantha Hudson.

Doritos clarified that their decision to end the partnership was not related to Hudson’s gender identity. Her past tweets were the only reason why she could no longer be in Doritos Spain’s social media campaign.

Samantha Hudson Apologizes

According to Spanish newspaper El País, Samatha Hudson apologized for the 2015 tweets with a statement.

“I have already apologized and expressed my opinion on the matter. I reiterate, despite having written them when I was a minor, in a context where the general tone of social networks was to make the most crude and outrageous dark humor you could, and with the intention of attracting attention using very unfortunate topics,” she said in Spanish.

She also clarified that the tweets did not reflect her past or present opinions.

The Consequences of the Doritos Controversy

The biggest consequences of the Doritos controversy were the social media boycott and the brand cutting ties with Hudson.

It was also compared to other brands that experienced a conservative backlash, such as Bud Light. The beer company had partnered with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney in 2023 on a promotional Instagram post, and received an anti-trans backlash from its conservative customers. However, unlike Samantha Hudson, Dylan Mulvany was not involved in controversial content in the past.

What Can We Learn From the Doritos Controversy?

Influencer partnerships ultimately affect brand image — Samantha’s deleted tweets from 2015 sparked a Doritos boycott nine years later.

Here is what we can learn from the controversy:

Vet People Before Partnerships

Doritos Spain should have assessed more carefully whether Samantha Hudson was the right choice for a brand collaboration. This includes researching her past social media posts, public statements, and affiliations. This should go beyond the past tweets that resurfaced.

For example, her statements on abolishing the traditional family are quite controversial, and may not align well with a brand that is popular among families and children. In a 2019 study by Smarty Pants, Doritos was the fifth most popular brand among 6 and 12-year-olds.

Consider the Broader Impact of Partnerships and Stand By Your Values

Given the rise in right-wing boycotts since 2023, brands should consider the broader effect of partnerships. For example, Target received a conservative backlash after launching its Pride merchandise in 2023, which caused a drop in its sales. The company ended up pulling the merchandise, which in turn caused a backlash from its LGBTQ customers.

When getting into partnerships, brands should have contingency plans in place to address any potential backlash. Should a backlash occur, brands should stand by their values. Doritos did this well when it announced that cutting ties with Hudson was due to her past comments, not her gender identity.

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