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.
Why did Bud Light have to bring Zac Brown band into the mess!
— JerryRober47 (@JerryRober47) April 28, 2023
Bud Light with a hard correction. Zac Brown Band themed commercial for nfl draft night
— Connor Weingarten (@connorwein) April 28, 2023
Bud light comes out with a commercial with Chicken Fried by Zac Brown Band. Trying to save their brand.
— New York Frauds Fan (@FraudsFan) April 28, 2023
Bud Light using Zac Brown Band to pander to the people they alienated
— RYAN (@RyanOnTheRight) April 28, 2023
“I know how we’ll get ‘em back on our side. GET ME THE ZAC BROWN BAND.”
-Bud Light exec
— Todd Probus (@tprobus) April 28, 2023
Bud Light bought some #NFLDraft commercial time set to the Zac Brown Band song: Chicken Fried.
— Matt Barrie (@MattBarrie) April 28, 2023
Budlight wont win people back with Zac Brown Band #NFLDraft
— Steve (@LFCStevieG_) April 28, 2023
Y’all see on the NFL Draft the Bud Light commercial trying to make up with Zac Brown playing in the background and people in boots. LMBO..
— Boom minus the Big Badda (@RidgetopDawg) April 28, 2023
Bud Light playing Zac Brown after the shit they pulled 😂
— lhill (@Levihill) April 28, 2023
Zac brown doing a bud light commercial pic.twitter.com/1buEQgZwMj
— Michael L (@theTURT_22) April 28, 2023
Bud light really is trying to turn things around with chicken fried by zac brown band commercial 😂
— Mike K (@Mklonicki_27) April 28, 2023
Bud light grasping at country music fans with new ad
— Seany (@Nothighregister) April 28, 2023
Bud Light running an ad with country music playing in the background is SO thirsty!!! #BudLight #budlightboycott Pander much!!! A little too late!
— J P (@Jpizzle1972) April 28, 2023
@budlight trying to repair their image with that new commercial having zach brown country music in the background.. not buying it hahah @MillerLite all day!
— mike harrington (@mikeh227) April 28, 2023
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.
