Patrick Mahomes and Coors Light have found a way to get around NFL rules and get the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback to star in a commercial about beer, well sort of. People who watch NFL games (and commercials) regularly will have noticed that even though there are tons of beer ads while games are on, none of these commercials features active NFL players.

And there’s a reason why. NFL rules don’t allow active players to endorse alcoholic beverages, such as beer. So, they can’t appear in beer commercials. However, Coors Light had a genius idea of how to get around this rule and also get one of the best quarterbacks in the league to appear in it.

The Flashlight Commercial

Instead of making the ad about beer, Coors Light made it about a flashlight. The aptly named Flash Light was made to look almost identical to a Coors Light beer can. Of course, the idea here is that as soon as people see the flashlight they will associate it with a can of Coors Light.

When the ad starts, Coors Light say that they intended to get Patrick Mahomes to endorse Coors Light during the summer. However, they later found out about the NFL rule that Mahomes can’t actually promote Coors Light.

So, they got him to promote a flashlight, not a beer. In the commercial, Mahomes plays around with the flashlight – advertised as a 100% flashlight made with high-quality steel and 0% adult beverage.

The ad also claims that the flashlight feels cold as the Rocky Mountains, a “random analogy” that’s obviously used to tell the viewer that it was beer and not a flashlight that Mahomes was endorsing.

The Flashlight Sold Out

But there’s also a twist to this story. Even though the commercial was for Coors Light, the flashlight that Mahomes was endorsing was actually for sale too. Near the end of the commercial, it says that all proceeds from the flashlights will go to 15 and the Mahomies, a charity organization.

However, if you are looking to buy one, we’ve got some bad news –  the limited supply of flashlights already sold out. 

Mahomes is no stranger to breaking new ground both on and off the football field. In addition to appearing in the first-of-its-kind beer commercial, he also became the highest paid player in the NFL in 2020, when he signed a 10-year, US$450 million contract with the Kansas City Chiefs. He is currently only behind Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers who earns US$50.3 million a year.