Anheuser-Busch InBev, the parent company of beer brand Bud Light, has pulled the company’s Amy Schumer-Seth Rogen-starring “Bud Light Party” television advertisements weeks ahead of schedule as sales of the beer declined in the third quarter.
Adweek reports that AB InBev pulled the ads “a little earlier than expected,” though a spokesman for the brewer said the ad campaign was always scheduled to end in the fall. The campaign, which launched just before the Super Bowl earlier this year, features the Canadian actor and Inside Amy Schumer comedian urging Americans to join a mock “Bud Light” political party, in a play on this year’s presidential race.
One advertisement in the campaign, “Equal Pay,” received a strongly negative reaction online. In it, the pair decry decry the gender wage gap while Schumer plugs the beer by proffering that it “costs the same, whether you’re a dude or a lady.”
The comments section beneath the YouTube video of the ad has since been disabled.
“Despite continued positive signs in brand health evolution, driven by millennials and Hispanics, 3Q was the softest performance of Bud Light for the year from a volume and share perspective,” Bud Light senior director of marketing communications Lisa Weser told Adweek. “The Bud Light Party campaign helped us improve these brand attributes, but it did not translate to improved volume and share performance. While we are clearly not satisfied with Bud Light’s performance, we are already leveraging what we’ve learned to develop and execute new work.”
AB InBev reportedly cut its revenue projections for the year on Friday due to weaker than expected third quarter sales, including a 5.1 percent drop in Brazil, a disappointing result given the brand’s sponsorship of the Olympics.
After pulling the plug on the Schumer-Rogen advertisements in the U.S., the company will instead focus on its sponsorship of Lady Gaga’s “Dive Bar” tour and its brand partnership with the NFL.
Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum