Xenophobia is rampant, and it’s sad to see our very own President personifying the stereotype that Americans don’t like foreigners. Newsflash: One of Trump’s first executive orders was a temporary ban on refugees and citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries. On the other hand, we’ve always thought of beer as a great unifier — a catalyst for all types of cultures to relax together, make new friends, celebrate good times and find a way through those hard times.
This sentiment is echoed nicely in Anheuser-Busch’s 2017 Super Bowl ad above, set to air this Sunday. Usually around this time time of year we’re bashing Anheuser-Busch and its mothership Beer Voltron for being divisive. Last year, it aired commercials that promoted its Shock Top “craft beer” brand and then a commercial making fun of craft beer for being a snooty, non-blue-collar beverage. The message was strangely contrasting and purposefully confusing for the customer. Well, Anheuser-Busch has gone another direction for 2017. The ad above is actually pretty good, focusing on Anheuser-Busch Co-Founder Adolphus Busch traveling by boat from Germany to the United States in the 1850s. And, seeing that owner AB-InBev is based in Belgium, it also makes sense that Anheuser-Busch would want to promote union in the diverse world of beer.
Of course, the ad has been in the works for a long time, so it’s timeliness seems a tad lucky for the biggest maker of beer in the world (like they needed any more luck). From the Chicago Tribune:
Ricardo Marques, vice president of Budweiser, in a statement said the company has been working on the ad since May.
“The powerful thing about the story is the fact that it’s a human story and the human dream resonating,” he said. “Of course it would be foolish to think the current context is not putting additional eyeballs (on the ad), but that was absolutely the not the intent and not what makes the spot as special as it is.”
He added that Budweiser as a beer brand is inherently bipartisan.
“On Super Bowl Sunday, we want to bring people together in bars across the nation — that’s who we are.”
While we can’t verify that final statement, we do like the commercial above. Enjoy! And go Browns!
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