Oakley Sparks Backlash Over Naked Rider Ad: 'Same Boat as Bud Light'

An online advertising campaign by sportswear company Oakley has sparked backlash, being compared to the recent controversy surrounding Bud Light over the beer brand's partnership with a transgender influencer.

In a series of Instagram posts this week, Oakley posted images of Amaury Pierron, a professional French downhill mountain biker, posing nude while wearing a pair of the brand's sunglasses.

The campaign has faced criticism of using boundary-pushing marketing in an attempt to appeal to a traditionally largely masculine audience. More than 65 percent of the company's online traffic is from men, according to the analytics platform Similarweb.

It comes as the global CEO of Anheuser-Busch, the parent company of Bud Light, said it was providing financial support for the brand after a decline in sales linked to a boycott by conservatives over its work with Dylan Mulvaney, a trans influencer and activist who rose to prominence by documenting her first year of transition.

Bud Light has also faced accusations of alienating its customer base, and the situation has crystalized a broader debate about the acceptance of transgender individuals in public life.

One post from Oakley on Thursday shows Pierron sitting naked on a mountain bike against a background of greenery. In another, on Tuesday, he appears sitting on a rock, wearing only a pair of the brand's sunglasses. In both cases, his genitalia are obscured.

"Who needs a jacket when you have a Racing Jacket," Oakley captioned one of the images, adding the hashtag #BeWhoYouAre.

Among the more than a thousand comments across the two posts, many expressed their offense at the use of a naked man and suggested they would be deserting the brand, while others commended Oakley and suggested those against the campaign were being "fragile."

"What is wrong with these marketing people!" a commenter named Doug De Bruhl wrote. "Looks like I need [a] new helmet and sunglasses now!"

Instagram user Bryant Vick commented: "Oakley should fire whoever came up with this."

However, not all of those who saw the posts were opposed to them. "Love it Oakley, pushing the boundaries," commenter Reuben Rasmussen wrote.

"Why are people so up in arms about this?" another person commented. "Cuz the dude's naked? Some of y'all are ashamed of your own bodies so you think everyone else should be too, huh?"

Others focused on the surprising nature and apparent androgyny of the images, referencing the recent outrage against Bud Light and suggesting Oakley might face the same response from its consumers.

"Was going to send my favorite watch, Oakley minute machine, in for repair but just changed my mind. I'll just chunk [sic] it," Instagram user Stephen Braden wrote. "Guess you missed the beating Bud Light just took."

"Oakley whats [sic] to jump on the same boat as Bud Light," commenter Immer Krieger wrote, while Gavin Hershbine said: "Time to switch to Ray-Ban."

Despite the outrage, many questioned the opposition to an advertisement that was not explicit and did not feature a transgender person, as the Bud Light partnership did.

Commenter Garrett Goerl said: "If this was a woman, no one in here would be complaining," while Jimmy De Leon argued: "This isn't a trans woke ad, it's just a sorry attempt at some type of artistic marketing."

Newsweek reached out to Oakley via email for comment on Friday.

Bud Light has faced an ongoing backlash since early April, after Mulvaney posted a video about the brand sending her a personalized can in celebration of her reaching 365 days of being a woman. After calls for a boycott were raised on social media, conservatives have refused to drink the beer, while other licensed venues have withdrawn the beer from sale.

While there had been what industry monitors described as a "shocking deterioration" in Bud Light sales, with off-premises revenue falling 26 percent in the week ending April 22, a poll conducted on behalf of Newsweek found an overwhelming majority of Bud Light drinkers said they would continue to do so.

On Tuesday, it was revealed that the beer brand had offered free cases to wholesaler employees after distributors had said they were bearing the brunt of the backlash.

Speaking to investors on Thursday, Michel Doukeris, the CEO of Anheuser-Busch InBev, said: "We are providing direct financial support to the frontline teams that work for us and our wholesalers as to Bud Light have significantly increased our investments behind the brand in the U.S."