Welp, here Bud Light goes again. The embattled brand — once the top-selling beer in the country — is returning to the Super Bowl with a huge ad buy in yet another bid to get past the transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney disaster that saw once-loyal customers abandon the brand in droves.

But now, Bud Light parent Anheuser-Busch InBev will reportedly run a 60-second ad and a 30-second ad during this year’s Super Bowl that the company hopes will lead to a comeback after a nationwide boycott in 2023 led to a freefall in Bud Light sales.

At the end of 2023, according to sales consulting firm Bump Williams, Bud Light was down 28.9 percent in sales year-over-year, while the new top-selling beer, Modelo Especial, was up 15.1 percent in the first weeks of 2024.

Kyle Norrington, Anheuser-Busch’s chief commercial officer, talked about the "massive reach" of Super Bowl ads.

We need to make sure for these moments of massive reach that we choose the right brands to meet the moment, not only on the TV screen, but brands that can really scale out the opportunity that [the] Super Bowl and the NFL playoffs and everything else provide. 

I don't know if there is an opportunity to "scale" for Bud Light, but I do know that nothing that AB InBev has tried has worked to reverse its declining sales. If anything, former loyal customers who were disgusted by the Mulvaney fiasco in April 2023 have only become more hardened against the brand.

Norrington said the Super Bowl ad will "dial up the humor" and introduce a new brand character while remaining committed to the “Easy to Drink, Easy to Enjoy” marketing theme that Bud Light went with in 2023 to no avail.  

You’re going to see what…our brand lovers expect, which is some really funny advertising.

Not to nit-pick, Mr. Norrington, but what your brand lovers expected was for Bud Light to not jump on the woke bandwagon after decades and untold millions of advertising dollars committed to building brand loyalty.

Anyway, the company is set to sponsor the two Super Bowl ads at a cost that's likely to top $25 million — the 60-second and 30-second ads along with a Michelob Ultra spot — in hopes of reviving still-crashing sales, according to reports.

Will it work? Hard to say — I only know it won't work for me.

The Bottom Line

Bud Light's Dylan Mulvaney disaster will likely live in marketing infamy for years if not decades to come. As I said earlier, after all those years and untold millions of dollars building brand loyalty, the company virtually threw it all away with one ill-conceived idea: the abandonment of loyal beer drinkers to appeal to a minute percentage of the population. 

It's safe to say that Bud Light parent Anheuser-Busch InBev has learned a valuable yet very costly lesson. The question is whether other woke-minded companies that are tempted to take the same chance learned anything from the Bud Light calamity as well. The answer? I doubt it. DEI matters, you know. 

SEE MORE:

WATCH: Bud Light Keeps Pretending Mulvaney Disaster Didn't Happen, Kicks off NFL Season With New Ad

Anheuser-Busch's Latest Ridiculous Excuse for Mulvaney Disaster Is Laughable Desperation

Beer Industry Expert Says Bud Light’s Troubles Could Be 'Quasi-Permanent'