Bud Light Accused of Disabling Commercial Comments After Negative Response
Bud Light is being attacked by social media users who are accusing the company of disabling comments on YouTube for a new commercial after it reportedly received negative feedback.
One Twitter user claimed Bud Light was "pandering to their former customers" with the new country music-themed commercial but then deactivated the commenting function on YouTube because "[t]hey DO NOT want to listen to the customer."
The commercial debuted on television during Thursday's NFL Draft before it was posted on YouTube. In the ad, a group of friends are enjoying cans of Bud Light while attending what appears to be a music concert. The soundtrack for the clip is "Chicken Fried" by the Zac Brown Band, a popular country music act.
Bud Light and its parent company Anheuser-Busch InBev continue to face backlash after it was revealed that the beer brand had a partnership with transgender influencer and activist Dylan Mulvaney. News of the partnership resulted in many conservatives claiming they would boycott Bud Light, resulting in the beer reportedly experiencing a decline in sales revenue.
"Hmmm? What in the hell is this Bud Light? This is not what the people want! We want a effing apology. Not some pandering country video where you turned the comments off. That's ultimate left wing pansiness," a Twitter user said of the commercial.
Another person wrote: "BUD LIGHT HAS BEEN ERASING ALL NEGATIVE COMMENTS ON YOU TUBE. THEY NEVER LEARN!!"
Newsweek reached out to Anheuser-Busch InBev via email for comment.
As of press time, the 30-second YouTube video has racked up more than 9.9 million views since it was posted on Thursday. Currently, the clip only has 241 likes. In 2021, YouTube removed the public dislike count from its videos.
The day after the Bud Light's new commercial was released, Mulvaney broke her silence on the controversy regarding her partnership with the beer brand. In a video posted on her TikTok and Instagram accounts, she said she had intentionally stayed offline for a few weeks.
"I'm going to try to leave gender out of this, since that's how we found ourselves here," Mulvaney said at the start of the video.
She then called all the talk about her "a very dissociative feeling," adding that the discussion "was so loud that I didn't even feel part of the conversation."
Mulvaney also said she's "doing okay" and that what she's "interested in is getting back to making people laugh and to never stop learning."
Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth previously addressed the controversy in an April 14 press release.
"We never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people. We are in the business of bringing people together over a beer," Whitworth said in the statement. "My time serving this country taught me the importance of accountability and the values upon which America was founded: freedom, hard work and respect from one another."
