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It’s been a very long year for the folks at Bud Light, and the brand has taken yet another step in its quest to bounce back by adding Shane Gillis to its endorsement portfolio.
As you probably know by now, Bud Light found itself with a major headache on its hands in 2023 when it rubbed plenty of customers on the conservative end of the political spectrum the wrong way by sending some custom cans to trans activist Dylan Mulvaney.
That decision sparked a well-documented controversy that led to plenty of formerly loyal consumers pledging to boycott the brand, and while Modelo was already poised to surpass Bud Light as the most popular beer in the United States, it’s pretty hard to argue the backlash didn’t hasten the dethroning that officially transpired over the summer.
While Bud Light never really intended to make Mulvaney a major focus of its marketing efforts (the outrage can be traced back to a single Instagram post from one of the many influencers who received similar cans), it nonetheless found itself facing a bit of a crisis.
In October, the brand made a pretty blatant attempt to appeal to a major chunk of its core demographic by inking a massive sponsorship deal with the UFC, and it’s now taken another step to appeal to a similar crowd.
On Tuesday, comedian Shane Gillis hopped on Instagram to share a few pictures of himself enjoying an all-access tour of the Anheuser-Busch brewery in St. Louis—a post that was “part of a paid partnership with Bud Light.”
Gillis is a Comedian’s Comedian who was fired from Saturday Night Live in 2019 less than a week after he was invited to join the cast courtesy of some racially insensitive jokes that surfaced in the wake of the announcement.
It would be a stretch to describe him as a particularly edgy comedian, but he’s not the kind of guy to shy away from addressing sensitive topics and has amassed a sizeable following with the “anti-woke” crowd (and beyond) due to his unapologetic style (which he’s gotten the chance to show off during multiple appearances on The Joe Rogan Experience—including an episode last year where he jokingly asked for the sponsorship he actually received).
It was a pretty organic partnership when you consider Gillis has never been shy about his love for Bud Light, so I’m sure he was more than happy to get the V.I.P. treatment while securing a solid bag in the process.