Blake Lively’s drink mixer brand Betty Buzz flips the script on a classic pairing

Released today, the ad features a male narrator who compares, in a sultry and subtle British accent, the gin and tonic to some of the most culturally significant pairings in the history of the Western world: “Clyde and Bonnie, Watson and Holmes, cheese and mac, jelly and peanut butter.”

Soft, purring jazz music accompanies the voice. Throughout the ad, Lively prepares a G&T in slow motion. The gin that Lively opts for is, of course, Aviation American Gin – a label owned by her husband, fellow actor and entrepreneur Ryan Reynolds, who is no stranger to the ad industry.

Throughout the spot, however, the focus is applied much more to the ‘G’ than the ‘T’ – beginning with the name of the spot itself, ‘Tonic & Gin,’ which flips the order in which the pair is typically listed. Similarly, the script reverses the traditional order, apparently in an effort to shine the spotlight on the Betty Buzz tonic.

The ad closes with the narrator continuing on this reversed-order theme, and also giving a nod to a famous gin-based cocktail: “It’s a real Juliet and Romeo love story,” he says.

The campaign was produced by Maximum Effort, Reynolds‘ digital marketing agency and production firm, which was acquired by connected TV company MNTN in 2021.

Belied by the loving care with which she prepares the cocktail in the new ad, Lively herself is in fact a non-drinker. “I know that’s odd coming from the wife of an infamous gin slinger,” she writes on the Betty Buzz website.

The company released its first ad campaign – also produced by Maximum Effort – last April.

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