Bud Light wants to bury last year’s controversy with humor

Published 3:10 pm Tuesday, February 6, 2024

Bud Light seemingly wants nothing more but to wish away its past controversy from last year. The beer brand, owned by Anheuser-Busch, has unveiled its commercial for this year’s Super Bowl where its “Bud Light Genie” humorously grants the wish of every drinker.

The commercial, titled “Easy Night Out,” follows a group of friends who accidentally conjure up the “Bud Light Genie” by simply untwisting the cap off of a bottle of Bud Light. Their wishes are granted by the genie throughout their night out, and they become more outrageous with each wish. The commercial features celebrities such as former NFL quarterback Peyton Manning, rapper Post Malone and UFC CEO Dana White.

The new ad carries a more fantastical tone than its Super Bowl commercial last year where a man and a woman dance after they crack open Bud Light beers while waiting for customer service to assist them on the phone. 

This year’s Super Bowl ad by the brand uses humor and appears to be Bud Light’s latest attempt to throw water on the fire that erupted last year from its botched social media campaign where Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender social media influencer, promoted a $15,000 giveaway from the beer brand.

The agency reportedly behind this year’s Super Bowl ad from Bud Light is Anomaly. It has worked with the brand in the past for previous ads and claimed it was not involved with the controversial social media campaign last year. 

The campaign last year failed as it appeared to have rubbed a plethora of consumers the wrong way, and some viewed it as a political issue due to Mulvaney’s advocacy for transgender rights. A boycott erupted from the growing outrage from consumers, causing Bud Light’s image to take a downturn and for the brand to lose its spot as the top-selling beer brand in the United States.

Related: Bud Light Controversy: Dylan Mulvaney Shares Troubling Details About the Aftermath

Shortly after the boycott started, Bud Light attempted to repair its image expeditiously by unleashing a new commercial that was targeted more towards its male consumers. In a commercial called “Backyard Grunts” — which features Kansas City Chiefs football player (and Taylor Swift boyfriend) Travis Kelce — men are seen letting out a drawn out grunt as they settle into lawn chairs in their backyard in the middle of summer and are seen holding a can of Bud Light while doing so.

The boycott continued to live on and definitely hit Bud Light where it hurts; its pockets, as it led to the beer brand to reportedly be sold for prices less than water last year and for some production plants that brewed the beer to close down amid dwindling sales. 

Its earnings have also declined for the past few financial quarters since the controversy erupted. In Anheuser-Busch’s latest third-quarter earnings report, it reported that its revenue in the United States declined by 13.5% and that sales to retailers tumbled by 16.6% during the third quarter, with the Bud Light boycott being the main culprit.

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