Bud Light is desperately trying to pull itself out of its disastrous association with transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney by unveiling a new “manly” ad featuring popular NFL player Travis Kelce, dads, and grunting.
The beer company’s new 15-second ad released just before the Independence Day holiday features middle-aged dads grunting and sighing as they sit down in lawn chairs to enjoy a can of Bud Light. It ends with Kelce smiling into the camera and nodding his head yes.
The “Backyard Grunts” ad was released on Youtube on Sunday, July 2.
This is not the beer brand’s first stab at trying to re-position itself as the beer for the average American in the wake of its ill-fated and short-lived partnership with the over-the-top transgender TikTok activist Mulvaney who the beer company sent a specially-made can of Bud Light with his face on it in April.
Just as the Mulvaney deal was blowing up into a boycott of the beer, Bud rushed out a badly-received patriotic ad filled with flags, real Americans, cars and trucks, and the Budweiser Clydesdales.
— Budweiser (@budweiserusa) April 14, 2023
The company went dark for some time afterward, but in May tried, another ad that showed young adults enjoying a beer in a rainstorm with the tagline “easy to enjoy.” Late in June, the company pushed out another showing various regular Americans having summer mishaps and ended the ad with the line, “easy to summer.”
Few of these ads were well-received by potential customers. After the June ad, Detractors even said Bud Light was calling Americans fools and hicks. It all led to Bud Light executives lamenting the “divisive debates” in the U.S. that were ignoring the fact that Bud Light is only about “bringing people together.”
“It’s tough to see the controversial and divisive debates that have been happening in the U.S. in the last couple of weeks involving lots of brands and companies, including and especially Bud Light,” global chief marketing officer of AB Inbev, Marcel Marcondes, said at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity late last month. “It’s tough exactly because what we do is all about bringing people together.”
Despite the company’s protestations, its deal with Mulvaney posted with the message “Cheers to 365 Days of Girlhood,” caused a backlash, resulting in the brand losing $27 million in market value. Soon enough, the massive and spontaneous boycott led to beer brand Modelo toppling Bud Light, the former “the king of beers,” off its throne, surpassing it in sales.
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