Bud Light – Making Alcoholics Sober Since 2023

“I cry a lot lately.” You might think that’s something the Marketing VP of Bud Light said recently but it’s not. It’s probably a true, but the line is from one of my favorite romantic comedies, Elizabethtown. In the movie, a shoe designer (Orlando Bloom) comes up with a design that’s supposed to be the next big evolution in sports footwear. The company he works for is akin to a Nike or Adidas, so the expectations of this shoe were very, very high. Then the shoe totally bombs. Take a look at this great scene with Orlando and Alec Baldwin, who plays the part of the boss in the movie.

“…and now meeting a growing international roar of laughter and rejection.”

Again, that’s a line from Elizabethtown but Bud Light executives could’ve said that about these 1990s Bud Light commercials that haven’t aged well… AT ALL. Bud Light’s million-dollar mistake is reading more like a horror story for them, but it’s been nothing but a comedy for the rest of us. All this chaos surrounding their endorsement by Dylan Mulvaney was explained in a letter from Anheuser-Busch recently:

“This was one single can given to one social media influencer. It was not made for production or sale to the general public. This can is not a formal campaign or advertisement.”

I can almost hear the sniffles all the way from St. Louis. I can also almost hear Alec Baldwin’s satirical delivery of that line and it cracks me up. Bud Light is trying to downplay the Dylan Mulvaney can as much and as best as they know how. Why can’t they figure out that it would be better for them to just do nothing? Get together in a board room somewhere, come up with a list of 10 ideas on how to fix the situation and then do none of them. Literally… do nothing. Doing nothing is better than every single thing they’ve done since the fallout of their trans beer can. They tried horses. They tried country music. Actually, maybe they need to have one brilliant idea, then do the opposite. Seinfeld reference there for ya.

Orlando Bloom’s shoe design disaster might make an entire generation return to bare feet and Bud Light’s big blunder might make alcoholics sober. Silver linings, I guess.

-Out of the Wilderness

Dreamland novel – With this actor, it will be a blockbuster movie

I read fast and furiously over the past couple of rainy days and now I’m almost finished with Dreamland. I credit the rain for that, AND when the story starting piecing together about halfway through, I just couldn’t stop. It was either keep reading or wash the dishes, and well, that’s an easy decision. Here’s the first part of my book review.

Definitely no spoilers but overall, I’m happy with the way the story has tied together, even if it wasn’t super believable. It IS a made-up story, after all. I still have a few chapters left and I have questions, too. Hopefully those questions will be resolved soon. 

Can I see this book becoming a movie? Well, I understand a little more about why screenwriters get awards for adapting books to movies. Lots of scenes to work out and where the book gives a lot of descriptions, backstory, and inner thoughts, movies can’t do that easily. This one would be a great movie, especially since it is mostly about a singer/songwriter. I can imagine the soundtrack being stellar. Find a country singer who can act and the blockbuster movie would be well on its way. In fact, I already thought of a great guy for the role. Just remember you heard it here first! 

From the big screen to Yellowstone to country music albums, Luke Grimes would be the perfect actor to play the part of Colby Mills. Narrowing down his love interest might be a bit more difficult. Maybe Julianne Hough (who has been in a Nicholas Sparks movie already, Safe Haven)?

Have you had a chance to read this book yet? I’ll have my final thoughts in another post once I finish the book and today is a little rainy, so chances are I’ll be finishing it very, very soon. Or washing dishes. 

-Out of the Wilderness

Zach Bryan “Oklahoma Smokeshow” – Actors, Locations, and More!

Zach Bryan recently released the music video for his song, “Oak Island” (check it out here) but before he was acting alongside Casey Affleck, he was chasing an “Oklahoma Smokeshow.” The smokeshow video is hitting fans hard in the best way. It’s not just the lyrics either, although it should be said that the words are striking chords left and right. The music video is the perfect visual for the song, just take a look… then scroll down for the main cast and more info!

Like what you’re reading today? Consider a custom donation to the daily posts Out of the Wilderness!

The Actress. It’s always a choice between the bad boy and the good guy, isn’t it? A story being told for thousands of years. This version features a few well-known faces. The woman torn between the two men is actress and model Katerina Tannenbaum. She’s been in shows like Better Call Saul, AJ and the Queen, among others. Check out her Instagram @KaterinaTannenbaum and her IMDB page here. There’s also a nice article in the New York Times where she talks a bit about her childhood and how she originally wanted to be a dancer.

The Bad Boy. Wild and barely tamed, one of the love interests is played by actor Noah Le Gros. You might recognize him from a resume-full of productions but one of the biggest is the show 1883 where he played Colton, a cowboy. Check out his pics on Instagram @NoahLeGros and his list of roles on IMDB.

The Nice Guy. Finishing last (nice guys always finish last, right??) is actor Jess Oldham. He has a unique background working with horses and cattle on his family-run cattle ranch in Wyoming called Double D Ranch. There’s also a horse sanctuary on property which is awesome! Check out a few pics of him in action on the ranch website. You can also follow him on Instagram @Jess_Oldham.

The Location. Although the song is about a woman in Oklahoma, the video was shot in Texas. Thanks to a YouTuber who pointed out the locations (towns of Alpine, Presidio, and Marfa), I can confirm two of the three based on landmarks appearing in the video. The rodeo scenes are in Alpine based on the website in the background.

The water tower and country courthouse in the scene below is in Marfa, TX.

These are towns in west Texas, very west! Almost in Mexico actually, but still, the scenes and the backdrops remind me so much of my three-week-long camping trip which took me through north Florida, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. It was the most amazing time where I caught on camera some incredible moments of wildlife, and even got a chance to see one of my favorite bands in Oklahoma, Judah and the Lion. I’ll leave you with a few of my favorite pics from camping but for more stories, check out my Camping Stories page and drop by my SmugMug page for more shots of wildlife.

see the bison?

See you tomorrow…

-Out of the Wilderness

The drugs of American Idol, a breakdown

I was watching a recent episode of American Idol, or maybe we should spell it AmaricinIdyl so it matches the weird medicine taking up ad space during the commercials. Did you catch all the medicine commercials, drugs with an ‘x’ or a ‘z’ or a ‘q’ in the name? Here’s a list of the ones I happened to catch in just one Sunday night two-hour episode of AmaricinIdyl… I need to throw a ‘z’ somewhere in there, don’t I?

Drug ads during Amaricinzidyl:

Zeposia, Eliquis, Kisqali, Mounjaro, Rexulti, Nutrafol, Lybalvi, and my favorite… Cibinqo.

That last one’s just fun to say. Cibinqo. I guess the median age of an American Idol watcher is higher than I thought. Or maybe we’re just all suffering from hair loss, eczema, diabetus, depression, or a long list of other problems old people like us have. I can’t even fathom the side effects these things have because we all know the list would be longer than a Walgreens receipt AND the side effects are probably worse than the problem the pills are supposed to be solving. Kind of like what they say in this ad from VABYSMO.

That’s another fun word to say, but I wouldn’t want those (wet) eye-opening side effects.

Have you noticed a lot more ads for these types of drugs? I thought Joe Biden beat big Pharma. Doesn’t seem like it!

-Out of the Wilderness

Bud Light Commercial – Comments Off and a Country Act Cancelled?

Update June 2023: Bud Light has ANOTHER commercial, it’s a slap in the face! More here…

Bud Light is in some serious hot water if what I’m reading is actually true. Apparently sales are down, WAY down, since stunning and brave trans superstar Dylan Mulvaney got canned a few weeks ago. Yep, Dylan with his 5 O’Clock shadow appeared on a can of Bud Light as he celebrated his 365th day as a woman. It’s hard to even type that without crumbling inside.

Bud Light probably should’ve just let things simmer down before releasing more ads but when’s the last time a company’s bad decision was followed up by a good one? Exactly. So Budweiser released this ad with a horse, and now they have a commercial featuring a song from country act Zac Brown Band, first airing during the NFL draft.

I could say more but I think this kind of says it all:

When the comments are turned off, you know things aren’t going so well. And who thought it would be a good idea to put this ad up during a sporting event where a lot of fans drink beer and AREN’T drinking your beer? Just admit you made a mistake, that would go a long way. Or better yet, if you want to celebrate women, hire biological women. There’s a novel idea.

The Music. The song in the ad is “Chicken Fried” by Zac Brown Band. It’s well-known in the country music genre so using it in the commercial was a very conscious choice. But in this case, not all publicity is good publicity. Bud Light just keeps stepping in cow pies with every step they make, don’t they? Zac Brown may have really stepped in it too by letting their song be used in the commercial. People who can’t comment on the Bud Light’s Youtube commercial video have moved over to the music video for “Chicken Fried,” and it ain’t pretty. Will Zac Brown Band suffer from their apparent support of the divisive beer brand?

You know I like my chicken fried,
A cold beer on a Friday night.

It’s going to be a LONG time till that Friday night beer is a Bud Light. It also might be a while till that song gets played at a weekend bonfire.

UPDATE: Zac Brown Band couldn’t do it, but will Garth Brooks save Bud Light? Click here for more!

-Out of the Wilderness