It’s no secret that Bud Light’s decision to partner transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney has brought a TON of backlash.
We all saw Kid Rock shoot up a bunch of Bud Light cases, Travis Tritt said he would be removing the beer from his tour hospitality rider, and John Rich from Big & Rich say that he won’t be selling Bud Light at his Nashville bar, Redneck Riviera, anymore since it’s seen a massive decline in sales.
The crowd erupted when Riley Green changed the words from “Bud Light” to “Coors Light” in his song “I Wish Grandpas Never Died” during one of his shows, and Brantley Gilbert even smashed a Bud Light on stage at one of his concerts after a fan threw the beer on stage.
Those are only a few country music-related examples we’ve seen over the past few weeks, however the decision has had consequences that have reached beyond the country music world.
The Vice President of Marketing for Bud Light, Alissa Heinerscheid, has stepped down from the company, at least for the time being, after she called Bud Light’s image “fratty” and “out of touch” in regards to the brand’s humor. Daniel Blake, another marketing executive who oversees several Anheuser-Busch brands, is also stepping down.
Heinerscheid will be replaced by Budweiser Vice President of Global Marketing Todd Allen.
Since the announcement at the beginning of April, the brand has a seen a 17% decrease in sales, and it has now been revealed that Bud Light plans to “spend heavily” on marketing to rehab their image with their typical customers.
And what is that million dollar idea? Bring in some country music.
It appears that Bud Light is starting to pander back to their traditional demographic by releasing a new commercial of some country folks running in the rain and grabbing a few Bud Lights at a country music festival.
And on top of that, the Zac Brown Band’s iconic hit “Chicken Fried” is playing in the background.
And shocker, people saw right through it.
The new ad ran a number of times during the NFL Draft last night, and folks took to Twitter to call out the beer brand for pandering with the country music angle, an obvious move to get back in the good graces of their angry customers.
This is the second time we’ve seen Anheuser-Busch do this, as they also recently released a blue-collar, patriotic ad for Budweiser titled “The Shared Spirit,” which was also met with a similar eye roll.
