Who needs the Super Bowl to advertise when you and your significant other have a combined following of 86 million on Instagram?
On Feb. 12, Blake Lively posted a commercial for her nonalcoholic mixers brand Betty Buzz. In the 30-second spot, a familiar voice can be heard narrating the ad for the brand’s ginger beer: that of her husband Ryan Reynolds.
In her Instagram caption, she calls the ad a “Nepo Commercial,” calling to mind the recent Hollywood "nepo baby" discourse.
“We couldn’t afford the Super Bowl. Or a celebrity endorsement,” Lively continues in the caption. “So I had a family member voice a commercial for the Puppy Bowl. Killin it.”
“Presenting Betty Buzz Ginger Beer,” says "family member" Reynolds, using a quasi-Texan accent in his voiceover. A vintage-looking montage replete with swaying wheat, ginger slices and horses in sepia tones flash on the screen, along with Betty Buzz bottles in a cooler. The commercial uses a score that sounds straight from the ‘40s, an era mirrored by the upside-down biplane that makes up the brand’s logo.
“Bold flavor. The clean, fresh ginger taste with just the right balance of spice,” Reynolds says as an on-screen Lively, in a flannel button down, rips the cap off a bottle with her teeth and takes a swig. “Sip it. Down it. Or enjoy it all on its own."
“Perfectly sized bubbles,” Reynolds whispers in an ASMR-tinged echo. Reynolds then tells viewers to pair the beverage with rum, tequila, whiskey — or whatever you like, really.
“Pair it with anything. Especially your mouth,” Reynolds says as the spot comes to an end. “Betty Buzz. The makers of America’s quality ginger beer.”
Response to the ad has been positive, with many of her fans playing along in the comments section. This includes actor and future Reynolds co-star Hugh Jackman, who commented that the voiceover “sounds oddly familiar.”
Reynolds also showed his support for the commercial by sharing it to his nearly 48 million Instagram followers after Lively’s post.
“Best commercial of the day & the Rihanna concert hasn’t even started yet!!” Reynolds wrote in an Instagram Story prior to the halftime show. Supportive husband and stellar voiceover artist, indeed.
Lively’s clever commercial comes nearly one-and-a-half years after the launch of Betty Buzz, which first entered the market in September 2021. And back in 2018, Reynolds purchased Aviation Gin, a move the actor revealed to his wife only after making it, he told Willie Geist on Sunday TODAY.
Just like Lively and Reynolds' 3-year-old daughter, Betty Buzz is named after her grandmother and sister, both named Betty.
Speaking with TODAY.com in 2021 about her decision to develop a line of mixers that could be just as exciting with or without alcohol, she said, “I don’t drink because I don’t like the effects of alcohol, but I like being social."
