Bud Light deactivates comments on latest ad following transgender collab backlash

Bud Light is still neck deep in a damage control campaign that hopes to arrest the ill effects of the brand's collaboration with transgender social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney. The company has recently released another all-American themed advertisement, and in an effort to stem the backlash, they disabled the comments when they posted the video on YouTube.

The new Bud Light ad made its debut at the NFL draft on Thursday last week, and was later posted on the brand's dedicated YouTube channel. It shows a group of young friends at what appears to be an outdoor country music festival. The Zac Brown Band's hit "Chicken Fried" plays in the background as the camera pans around the friends while they open cans of Bud Light. They then brave the rain and the muddy ground as they walk around the venue with beers in hand.

"Rain or shine, it's always easy to enjoy a Bud Light," read the caption to the short video, which runs for 30 seconds. Since it was posted, the ad has been viewed over 10 million times, which is a significant number considering that the account only has a little under 200k subscribers.

It can't be determined if the viewers are mostly haters or supporters since comments have been deactivated. However, it is clear that Bud Light's parent company, Anheuser-Busch, is serious about shaking up its marketing strategy.

The brand is reported to have suffered losses of up to $5 billion in the aftermath of the Dylan Mulvaney controversy, and a major marketing push is now underway to pacify conservative consumers who were outraged by the partnership.

To recap, Mulvaney posted a sponsored collaboration with Bud Light last month as part of a March Madness campaign. However, the transgender influencer admitted that she didn't even have an idea what March Madness was about and had just recently been told that it had something to do with sports.

After that, Mulvaney said that she received cans of Bud Light to celebrate 365 of womanhood. Mulvaney then posted a second video where she is seen in a bathtub in a bikini while enjoying her personalised cans of Bud Light.

Many patrons of Bud Light did not take kindly to the collaboration, and boycotts followed across America. The effects were strong enough to worry retailers and distributors particularly in rural areas. Country music singer John Rich was among several bar owners who pulled the product from bars as a form of protest.

Kid Rock was perhaps one of the most vocal naysayers, and he expressed his disappointment in the brand by shooting cases of Bud Light in a video he shared on social media. While some would argue that there are also many who support Mulvaney and her collaboration with the brand, the backlash was big enough to cause the company's shares to plummet significantly.

The country festival commercial titled "Bud Light Shower Beer" is now the second patriotic video released by the brand in what appears to be an effort to get back into the good graces of the American heartland.

A few weeks after the release of the controversial Mulvaney collab, Budweiser released a video featuring the brand's iconic Clydesdale horses travelling through some of the most recognisable American landmarks. There were also scenes featuring the American flag, in an obvious emphasis on patriotism. Incidentally, it has a similar very traditional old-fashioned tone and imagery as the new country music festival ad.

The latest ads have been released after a reported shakedown within Anheuser-Busch, where top executives denied approving the collaboration with Mulvaney.

For her part, the transgender TikTok star took a step away from the public eye for several weeks after the controversy exploded. She recently returned to social media to address her fans and followers.

"I've always tried to love everyone, even the people that make it really, really hard, and I think it's OK to be frustrated with someone, or confused, but what I'm struggling to understand is the need to dehumanize and to be cruel, I just don't think that's right," she said after saying that she felt detached from some of the comments made against her by people who know nothing about her as a person. "Dehumanization has never fixed anything in history," she said before conceding that "there is clearly no way of winning over everyone."