Can Garth Brooks Save Bud Light?

Garth Brooks is in the news because of a comment he made regarding his bar on lower Broadway in Nashville, Tennessee. He said he’s going to carry a lot of different brands of beer, including Bud Light, and let the customers decide what they want. In honor of that risky business decision, I’ve updated lyrics from one of his songs to reflect how he MIGHT feel with wall-to-wall cases of unsold Bud Light.

“Is the money I made in the past
Gonna be enough to last
If customers never come.”

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The truth is, though, Garth Brooks doesn’t need money. He could be callin’ Baton Rouge from a pay phone and talk for 30 years straight without a hiccup in his bank account. From tight control of his music to a residency in Vegas, he’s doing just fine. Unless he’s blowing it all on pai gow poker, of course. What he said specifically regarding the threat of backlash is very true: “It’s not our decision to make.” The public will decide, which is one of the great things about the good ol’ free market. If customers decide they ain’t goin’ down to his bar because of Bud Light, I doubt Garth will go crying to his friends in low places. He’ll just stop offering it in favor of another beer that sells better. Of course, he might not have friends in lower Broad places after he called most country fans “a*holes” if they keep up with the Bud Light boycott.

Maybe his callous comment wasn’t the best response from a business perspective but at this point, he can’t really take it back. This isn’t his first rodeo, anyway. Plus, he’s probably too well-established to be cancelled outright so is there really a risk in offering Bud Light? Probably not for the long-term. But if things go south for his bar, 2023 will be a year he’ll always remember that summer he made a colossal mistake. It will forever be more than a memory.

Speaking of country music, there’s another country act that might not fair well after subtly endorsing Bud Light. A well-known summer anthem is featured in this Bud Light commercial, and it may backfire for the band behind it.

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Does Garth’s comment about serving Bud Light leave a bad taste in your mouth? Instead of Bud Light, are you drinking two piña coladas, one for each hand?

-Out of the Wilderness