Sellout On Call!
By: Tommy “Tj” Sotomayor

NFL tightend Travis Kelce has decided to sell out men to make a quick buck backing Bud Light and at the same time mocking actual men! Take A look!

Bud Light’s Travis Kelce Ad Met With Avalanche of Criticism—’Desperate’

Bud Light has been accused of “desperate” marketing after releasing a new ad with American football player Travis Kelce ahead of July 4, following a sustained backlash to a partnership earlier in the year with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.

On Sunday, the beer brand released a 15-second spot on YouTube featuring several men including Kelce—a Kansas City Chiefs tight end—grunting as they sat down before one cracks open a Bud Light can.

While the ad appeared to return to appealing primarily to male beer drinkers, and despite only attracting 1,700 views as of 9:30 a.m. ET on Monday, the comments below it were overwhelmingly negative.

In early April, Bud Light faced calls for a boycott after it sent a promotional can to Mulvaney to commemorate her first year of transitioning to being a woman.

Bud Light’s parent company Anheuser-Busch was accused of alienating its traditional customer base with the partnership, while some in the LGBTQ+ community have also slammed the company for not defending its ties with Mulvaney.

“[Anheuser-Busch] is sure desperate to come back to who were their loyal customers,” one YouTube commenter wrote beneath the latest spot. “Nice try but no dice.”

“Drank bud light for 15 years. Will never drink one again,” another said. A further user parodied the ad’s tagline—”easy to drink, easy to enjoy”— by commenting: “Easier to replace.”

Not all of the comments were critical. One person responded to the latest marketing plea: “Good move Budweiser. No one’s going to say anything bad about this commercial. Anti-woke lost.”

Newsweek approached Anheuser-Busch via email for comment on Monday.

In the three months since the controversy began, the brand has seen consistent declines in sales compared to the same time in 2022, with much of its customer base seemingly flocking to rival brands. Other Anheuser-Busch brands, such as Budweiser and Busch Light, have also been impacted by the backlash.

Some brand strategists have also criticized the brewery over its response to the outrage, which they characterized as being peppered with “knee-jerk” reactions that only extended the controversy.

Bud Light has spent large moments of time silent on social media, neither standing by nor publicly distancing itself from the partnership with Mulvaney, while two of its top marketing executives were placed on leave.

A previous ad from Anheuser-Busch, seemingly also aimed at appealing to its traditional customer base, that was infused with patriotic imagery, also received a similar response.

On April 14, a Budweiser spot said that the beer was “rooted in the heart of America,” and featured one of the company’s Clydesdale horses galloping through rural scenes, past the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. and across the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City. It also shows an American flag being raised in slow motion, as well as a father and son sharing a beer on a porch and the Grand Canyon in Arizona.

It also attracted the criticism of animal-rights group PETA, which said the horse featured in the commercial had been “cruelly amputated.”