Embattled beer brand Bud Light released a new 15-second YouTube ad spot ahead of the Fourth of July holiday weekend. It features Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. It is titled “Backyard Grunts,” and features a series of men in their backyards who crack open Bud Light cans while grunting as they go sit in their chairs.
This is one of the beer brand’s first ads since its promotion with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney cost them literally billions of dollars, thanks to outcry from conservative customers and politicians. And this commercial did not change that trajectory, despite really going for that male beer drinker demographic.
First off, despite over 170,000 views, it has not even cracked 200 likes. YouTube does not show dislikes, but I’m willing to bet that number was in the thousands.
“Desperate” was the line you most heard if you looked at the comment section, which is overwhelmingly negative.
“Man Bud Light is going for the death blow at this point,” one commenter wrote. “This is what they think of their client base, stupid grunting cavemen.”
“I don’t understand how this appeals to Bud Light’s target market, transgender youth,” said another.
“I can just see what’s left of their all female marketing team, after watching hours of old commercials, and brainstorming all weekend on this ad, saying “Yes, we got it. We’re gonna win them all back with this one. Men everywhere can relate to this” wrote a third.
Nothing seems capable of stopping Bud Light’s free-fall now.
