Budweiser gets back to basics with Super Bowl ad featuring classic Clydesdale horses

The 15-second clip pans across the two horses and starts playing a snippet of "Let Your Love Flow" by the Bellamy Brothers, but ends showing the younger horse's ears and says "Coming Superbowl LIX."

However, Anheuser-Busch has decided it will only release the ad in a select few markets around the United States: Phoenix, Arizona; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Tulsa, Oklahoma; El Paso, Texas; Harlingen-Weslaco-Brownsville, Texas; Houston, Texas; San Antonio, Texas; Waco-Temple-Bryan, Texas; St. Louis, Missouri; and New Orleans, Louisiana, according to Variety.

This comes after a branding debacle that the company found itself in during 2023 when Bud Light partnered with trans-identified male, Dylan Mulvaney, paying the trans influencer $185,000 in a marketing campaign that led to heavy backlash against Anheuser-Busch and the Bud Light brand.

The Budweiser Clydesdales are considered to be a key historical brand icon for Budweiser. Both Bud Light and Budweiser are owned by parent company Anheuser-Busch. However, some of that classical brand image was tarnished by the stunt with Mulvaney. The Clydesdales are also historically a Superbowl commerical favorite, and have appeared 45 different times.

In reaction to the 2023 branding debacle, the stock of Anheuser-Busch’s InBev stock was downgraded on the stock market after there was a sharp decline in sales. At the time, competitor beers Coors Light and Miller Lite had sales soar in response.

With the election of President-elect Donald Trump, however, a shift has appeared to take place when it comes to cultural trends. In the NFL, for example, many players have started doing the famed "Trump dance" after touchdowns and some of the largest Fortune 500 companies in the US have announced departures from left-wing DEI policies. Variety reports that the Clydesdales are usually used by the executives at the company when they want to "pull on emotions [and] feelings of pride."

The commercial from Anheuser-Busch may be an appeal to getting back to its traditional brand, leaving behind some of the more "woke" imagery.