opinion
Bud Light lost hundreds of millions of dollars last year after it teamed up with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney in a partnership in April.
Now, Bud Light is desperately trying to pull back, as the brand has just announced that it has partnered with conservative comedian Shane Gillis, who was dropped as a cast member on “Saturday Night Live” after just five days because footage of him surfaced. He was making what some felt were racist and homophobic jokes.
Bad Light teams up with Gillis.
Gillis, 36, announced he was collaborating with the brand in an Instagram post titled “Paid Partnership with Bud Light.”
“I'm excited to announce the partnership with Bud Light #budlightpartner,” Gillis wrote.
“Welcome to the team @shanemgillis, excited to be a part of your 2024 tour,” Bud Light added in a separate post.
The Street called the partnership “somewhat shocking because Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD) CEO Michel Dockeris said during his company's second-quarter earnings call that he intends to avoid making political statements.”
“Our consumers across all emotion groups have three common points of reaction,” Dokris reportedly said. “First, they want to enjoy beer without debate. Second, they want Bud Light to focus on beer. Third, they want Bud Light to focus on the platforms that all consumers love, like the NFL, Fields of Honor, and music.”
“However, after making this statement, the company immediately became the largest sponsor of the UFC, the mixed martial arts group run by Dana White, a friend and supporter of Donald Trump who has done nothing to prevent his fighters from continuing to fight against Trump.” Street added: Transgender screaming.
RELATED: Bud Light tries to make a comeback with new Super Bowl ad after Dylan Mulvaney debacle
Gillis addresses declining Bud Light sales
This comes as Bud Light sales continue to decline, with sales in the first two weeks of 2024 down 28.9 percent from the previous year, according to the Daily Mail. This is largely because conservatives staged a highly influential boycott of Bud Light over the brand's collaboration with transgender influencer Mulvaney.
Gillis addressed the fallout from Bud Light and Mulvaney during an appearance on “The Joe Rogan Experience” last year.
“It's become a joke, and that's hard to beat from a marketing standpoint,” Gillis said. “It's hard to get people to ask for Bud Light in public because you'll get ridiculed.”
“They should hire Kid Rock to be the spokesperson,” host Joe Rogan said, according to Newsweek.
“We talked about it last night, and this would be for the best,” Gillis continued to agree.
RELATED: Kid Rock forgives Bad Light 'as a Christian' – 'They made a mistake'
Gillis was dropped by 'SNL'
Gillis certainly knows a thing or two about cancel culture. Back in 2019, he was dropped as a cast member on “Saturday Night Live!” Just five days after it was announced that he was joining the show. Gillis was reportedly disqualified after jokes he made on a podcast years ago surfaced that some felt were racist and homophobic.
“After speaking with Shane Gillis, we have decided that he will not be joining SNL,” the comedian said at the time, according to Fox News. We were not aware of his previous statements that appeared over the past few days. The language he used is offensive, hurtful and unacceptable. We regret that we did not watch these clips earlier, and that our vetting process was not up to our standards.”
The fact that Bud Light will team up with Gillis shows how desperate the brand is to win back the conservative consumers it alienated last year with the Mulvaney partnership. Only time will tell if this move will ultimately pay off for Bud Light.
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