Corporations will never learn that mixing woke policies with business is terrible. Target learned the hard way, as did Bud Light Beer and Disney. And now, in Spain, one of the world’s most popular snacks has become another cautionary tale for corporations choosing to use their products to make a cultural stand.
It seems that a transgender pedophile spokesperson is a little too spicy, even for Doritos Spain.
Meet Samantha Hudson, a transgender artist and influencer born in León in 1999. She is a Spanish artist, singer, actress, and internet celebrity who gained prominence at 17 with her controversial single “Maricón,” which went viral on YouTube.
Beyond music, she has appeared in television series and co-hosts the podcast “¿Sigues ahí?” on Netflix. Her live performances include the show “Eutanasia Deluxe” in Madrid, and she released her debut album “Liquidación Total” in 2021.
In 2023, she released another album, “AOVE,” drawing inspiration from 1990s techno hardcore. The stage name “Samantha Hudson” emerged playfully during a conversation with a friend, where she imagined herself as a suburban American mom picking up her kids in a seven-seater SUV.
In early March, Doritos Spain appointed Hudson as its brand ambassador. She participated in an advertising campaign called “Crunch Talks,” a 50-second branded video she released on her Instagram account. The video soon spread to her other social media accounts.
On the surface, she seemed playful and fun, a perfect choice for Doritos Spain. But it didn’t take long for internet users to vet Hudson, something the corporation should have done before partnering with her.
Net detectives uncovered pedophilic postings in Hudson’s social media accounts, including references to wanting to do depraved things with a 12-year-old girl as recently as 2015. Per a Google translation of some of the posts, her musings were highly disturbing. “If a minor came up to me to ask for help because she was a victim of sexual harassment, I would spit in her face,” Hudson wrote, with another post claiming she was “in the middle of the street in Mallorca, in panties and shouting that I’m a nymphomaniac in front of a super nice 8-year-old girl.”
But if being a pedophile wasn’t evil enough, other comments were somehow even worse. “I cry with laughter at videos of bullying that ends in suicide,” Hudson posted.
Hudson’s posts were uncovered by other social media users, who posted them in response to the Crunch Talks video.
The controversy surrounding her remarks led to a heated online discussion, with some calling for a boycott of the snack food brand. Critics quickly pointed out the parallels between Doritos and Bud Light, which was forced to cut ties last year with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
Of course, the posts have all been deleted, but not before some X users grabbed screenshots.
Doritos Spain severed the partnership almost as soon as it launched, offering a statement to Rolling Stone that insists the corporation “strongly condemns words or actions that promote violence or sexism.” The statement alleges they were unaware of Hudson’s horrific posts before partnering with her.
Hudson soon found herself the target of threats, “serious accusations,” and “violent messages” after her posts were revealed. She apologized for her posts, claiming that the comments were made when she was a teenager and done to draw attention to herself in what she calls a time when the “tone of social networks was to make the most brutal and exorbitant black humor that you could.”
She insisted that she didn’t “think like that then” and doesn’t think like that now. As a parting shot, she blamed the planned boycotts on her gender identity rather than her horrifying pedophilic comments. Her apologies were deleted, along with the posts in question.
Rolling Stone offered a unique take on Doritos Spain’s decision to sever its alliance with Hudson, all but blaming “the right” for its refusal to accept Hudson’s pedophilic tendencies.
It shouldn’t be hard to find a spokesperson people love like Mr. Whipple, who couldn’t resist squeezing the Charmin. This extraordinarily successful ad campaign, spanning more than 20 years, proved that the face of a company doesn’t need to be trans or woke to win the affection of a nation.
