Bud Light is still desperately trying to recover from its catastrophic 2023 boycott, but many Americans remain unconvinced. After the beer giant alienated its core audience by partnering with radical transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney, millions of former customers swore off Bud Light for good—and sales have yet to fully bounce back. Now, Anheuser-Busch is making another attempt to regain consumer trust, rolling out a new commercial featuring pop star Post Malone, comedian Shane Gillis, and NFL legend Peyton Manning.
The ad takes a sharp turn away from the woke messaging that tanked the brand, opting instead for humor and a backyard-party vibe. Gillis and Malone play laid-back suburban dads, lounging in lawn chairs next to a Bud Light cooler. A neighbor asks them to help “liven up” his party, and they jump into action, turning the gathering into a full-blown bash. Manning even makes a cameo, admiring their oversized Bud Light cooler.
But despite the attempt to restore Bud Light’s former blue-collar, all-American image, not everyone is convinced.
Some online commentators praised the shift in tone, relieved that Bud Light is finally steering clear of its failed woke experiment. “Finally, someone at Bud Light understood the assignment 👏👏👏,” one user wrote.
Finally, someone at Bud Light understood the assignment 👏👏👏 pic.twitter.com/oAxhI4nraU
— CCP IS ASSHOE (@CCPISASSH0E) January 31, 2025
But others weren’t buying it. “All they need to do is publicly apologize and grovel for pushing DEI trans instead of paying celebrities millions of dollars 🤦🏻♂️ don’t fall for their tricks,” another commenter warned. Others vowed to continue boycotting Anheuser-Busch altogether, with one writing, “Doesn’t matter. I still refuse to buy any Anheuser-Busch product ever again.”
All they need to do is publicly apologize and grovel for pushing DEI trans instead of paying celebrities millions of dollars 🤦🏻♂️ don’t fall for their tricks
— cfo.btc (@btc_cfo) February 1, 2025
The fallout from Bud Light’s disastrous decision to embrace woke ideology was no accident—it was the result of a deliberate push by corporate elites who looked down on their own customers. At the heart of the controversy was Bud Light’s former Vice President of Marketing, Alyssa Heinerscheid, who publicly criticized the brand’s traditional customer base as “fratty” and “out of touch.”
Heinerscheid made it clear that her goal was to “evolve and elevate” Bud Light into something more “inclusive,” arguing that the brand’s future depended on attracting younger, more progressive drinkers.
“I had this super clear mandate,” Heinerscheid said at the time. “We need to evolve and elevate this incredibly iconic brand… It means inclusivity, it means shifting the tone… Bud Light had been kind of a brand of fratty, kind of out-of-touch humor, and it was really important that we had another approach.”
That “approach” led to Bud Light promoting Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender activist best known for performing exaggerated caricatures of women. The result? Outrage from Bud Light’s longtime customers, a historic sales collapse, and a boycott that still hasn’t ended.
Bud Light’s new ad campaign might signal an effort to undo the damage, but one thing is missing: an apology. Instead of admitting their mistake and owning up to their betrayal of loyal customers, Anheuser-Busch is hoping they can simply rebrand their way out of disaster.
For many Americans, the lesson is clear: Bud Light thought it could mock and dismiss its customers, then win them back with a few celebrity endorsements. But trust, once lost, isn’t so easily regained. And until Bud Light fully rejects the woke ideology that landed it in hot water in the first place, many former drinkers won’t be cracking open a Bud Light anytime soon.