Bud Light touts NFL ad with ‘real fans’ after Dylan Mulvaney disaster
Reeling beer brand Bud Light on Thursday released a new ad catering to its core audience of football fans as the company moved to distance itself further from the Dylan Mulvaney fiasco.
The ad from the longtime National Football League sponsor — which has seen its decades-long rein as the nation’s top-selling beer come to end over its tie-up with the trans social media influencer — shows fans gearing up for the upcoming season.
Played to the tune of Etta James’ “A Sunday Kind of Love,” the ad features NFL fans preparing meals and drinking Bud Light while watching their favorite teams.
The minute-long promo, also shows fans wearing replica jerseys at bars and tailgating events and ends with the tagline: “Football, Bud Light and Sunday go easy together.”
Bud Light’s parent company Anheuser-Busch, which has been a major NFL sponsor for nearly three decades, will also offer “limited-edition NFL team packaging” with “a new look across 23 NFL teams.”
The beer giant’s attempt to win back those who have boycotted the brand was met with some derisive comments on social media.
“Just came to drop my dislike and laugh at the comments,” one commenter wrote on YouTube.
Another wrote: “Nope. Not interested.”
“I think most Americans have moved on from Bud Light and have found new brews,” one purported beer drinker wrote.
“They just are not that into you anymore. Give up, because it just looks desperate at this point.”
A YouTube user who goes by the handle “anamericanpatriot1555” wrote: “I found several good local breweries. When I don’t purchase from them I drink a non AB InBev product.”
The Post has sought comment from Anheuser-Busch.
The boycott has taken its toll on the brand.
Modelo Especial surpassed Bud Light in annual sales this month, knocking the brand off its decades-long perch as the nation’s top-selling beer, according to recent data from NielsenIQ.
Sales of Modelo at groceries and beer stores for the year outpaced Bud Light — the first time the brand has beaten Bud Light on a year-to-date basis.
Modelo, which is distributed in the US by New York-based Constellation Brands, had an 8.34% share of dollars spent on beer compared to 8.28% for Bud Light through Aug. 12, NIQ reported.
The aftershocks of the Mulvaney controversy continue to be felt months after the influencer began touting Bud Light on her TikTok and Instagram pages.
Captiv8, the California-based marketing firm behind the Bud Light-Mulvaney partnership, fired more than a dozen employees just days after top brass boasted about a lavish junket to an award ceremony on the French Riviera, The Post reported on Wednesday.
The company flew executives and guests on a private jet to the annual Cannes-Lions festival in June.
Upon returning from the marketing industry’s Oscars-like event, CEO Krishna Subramanian offered a recap of their trip during a company-wide Zoom meeting on July 3, multiple sources told The Post.
The presentation allegedly included photos of the giddy travelers aboard the luxury jet, as well as the yachts, pool parties and villas they visited in the South of France.
Two days later, however, the “tone-deaf” Subramanian handed out pink slips to 13 workers, about 5% of Captiv8’s more than 200 employees, a Captiv8 employee told The Post.
