Bud Light debuts NFL campaign amid continued fallout

Bud Light is hoping the NFL can help it win back drinkers following months of falling sales.

The beer brand has rolled out an ad titled “Easy to Sunday,” which follows its “Easy to Summer” campaign. According to Bud Light, it’s one of the brand’s largest NFL campaigns to date and will air in 15-, 30-, and 60-second increments throughout the season.

The commercial features fans in various settings celebrating their Sunday football traditions to country music group The War and Treaty’s cover of the song “A Sunday Kind of Love.”

In addition to the commercial, Bud Light is once again rolling out cans showcasing 23 NFL teams. It is also partnering with YouTube to give away $1 million in YouTubeTV Sunday Ticket subscriptions; last year, the video platform reached a deal with the NFL to secure rights for the offering, which lets fans watch out-of-market games. Bud Light is also teaming up with Fanatics to give away gift cards for team merchandise.

The NFL marketing blitz comes after months of controversy for Bud Light, which started in April after trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney posted a customized beer can as part of a March Madness  partnership. A conservative-led boycott of Bud Light ensued, causing the brand to put two marketing executives, Alissa Heinerscheid and Daniel Blake, on leave, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Since then, Bud Light has upped its marketing spend. Bud Light’s summer marketing campaign was its largest media spend to date, featuring a concert tour with bands like OneRepublic and Bush, $10,000 giveaways to consumers, rebates on beer over the July 4th weekend, and ads featuring NFL players like Travis Kelce.

However, the brand is still bleeding: Last month, Mulvaney posted on TikTok and Instagram to blast the company for its response to the controversy, saying that no one had reached out to her in the aftermath and that she has faced harassment for months.

Bud Light’s parent company, AB InBev, reported a 10.5% nosedive in its US revenue during its Q2 earnings earlier this month. This week, Modelo overtook Bud Light as the country’s bestselling beer so far this year, per NIQ data.

Still, there are signs the backlash might be softening: A Deutsche Bank survey recently found that fewer people are unlikely to buy the beer. Plus, Kid Rock, who played a role in starting the boycott by shooting cans of Bud Light, was spotted drinking one last week.