Comedian Shane Gillis is set to partner with Bud Light for his 2024 tour, marking a new venture for the beer brand after a challenging year.
Bud Light posted, “Welcome to the team @shanemgillis, excited to be a part of your 2024 tour.”
“Excited to announce partnership with Bud Light #budlightpartner,” commented Gillis.
Bud Light partners with comedian Shane Gills after company's fall from grace https://t.co/zfDQ1ZlCj1
— Fox News (@FoxNews) January 31, 2024
Bud Light faced a significant sales drop following a controversial partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, which led to a boycott and plummeting sales.
The company’s former marketing VP, Alissa Heinerscheid, emphasized the need for inclusivity and a shift in tone, but has since been fired.
Heinerscheid, said, to expand “inclusivity, it means shifting the tone, it means having a campaign that’s truly inclusive, and feels lighter and brighter and different, and appeals to women and to men.”
Heinerscheid claimed “representation is sort of at the heart of evolution, you have got to see people who reflect you in the work.”
“We had this hangover, I mean Bud Light had been kind of a brand of fratty, kind of out of touch humor, and it was really important that we had another approach,” added Heinerscheid.
Gillis, who faced his own controversy and subsequent firing from “Saturday Night Live,” discussed the Bud Light situation on the “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast, highlighting the challenges faced by the brand.
“Saturday Night Live” wrote, “After talking with Shane Gillis, we have decided that he will not be joining SNL.”
The statement continued, “We were not aware of his prior remarks that have surfaced over the past few days. The language he used is offensive, hurtful and unacceptable. We are sorry that we did not see these clips earlier, and that our vetting process was not up to our standard.”
Gillis said to Rogan, “It became a joke.”
“That’s tough to overcome, marketing-wise. It’s tough to get people to order a Bud Light publicly. You’re gonna get made fun of,” he continued.
“There’s never been a brand that has been hit like this before,” added Rogan.