AB Super Bowl Ad

[Teromous]

"We can't compete so we're going to throw a fit on national television...during the Super Bowl." ~Budweiser

In all honesty, we should pay our respects to the great history Anheuser-Busch and the stance they take on no-frills beer...like these classics:

 

[Silentdrinker]

"We can't compete so we're going to throw a fit on national television...during the Super Bowl." ~Budweiser

In all honesty, we should pay our respects to the great history Anheuser-Busch and the stance they take on no-frills beer...like these classics

I love that stuff!!

My fiancé bought it while we were on a weekend getaway. I took a sip. In spite of possibly being the most vile thing to ever cross my lips, she got wasted.

I had one hell of a good weekend.

 

[BrewSavage]

I thought the add was great:

It told non-craft beer drinkers exactly what they wanted to hear and it was memorable.

 

[Darwin18]

I liked it, we make fun of them and now they are firing back. All in good nature. Even the food menu had liver mousse, fried Brussels sprouts and steak tartar.

Fried Brussels sprouts are fantastic.

 

[chewse]

What I find ironic about the AB and MillerCoors commercials is that they ALWAYS show 20ish, college-looking people drinking their beer in a bar. However, if you go into any local bar or pub, the person drinking an AB or MillerCoors beer is an older, blue collar looking guy. The only time I've recently seen younger persons (like in the commercials) drinking their beer is when its being promoted by the bar or pub. Of course, there is also the younger ladies who drink their beer due to the lower calories and really not for the flavor.

 

[Hello]

Obviously it is funny that they're bashing craft breweries while buying them; however, the outrage I'm seeing over this on various sites is funny. Who cares? The only thing I think AB needs to realize is the very beer numerous people fuss about actually comes from then...BCBS. It was a silly commerical that got people talking. From a marketing perspective, it works.

 

[masaba]

What I find ironic about the AB and MillerCoors commercials is that they ALWAYS show 20ish, college-looking people drinking their beer in a bar. However, if you go into any local bar or pub, the person drinking an AB or MillerCoors beer is an older, blue collar looking guy. The only time I've recently seen younger persons (like in the commercials) drinking their beer is when its being promoted by the bar or pub. Of course, there is also the younger ladies who drink their beer due to the lower calories and really not for the flavor.

I'm from small-town east Texas. The only blue-collar folks who drink Bud Light are the type who go in for this kind of advertising. Most folks who don't care about appearances drink Natural Light because it's the same thing but half the price.

 

[MyCarHasAbs]

I came here this morning expecting to see a thread on this very topic. I found the ad nauseating but ultimately it shows they're afraid of the craft beer scene and they just spent an a$$ load of money to insult one demographic.

Bud can suck it.

 

[winstonia]

Fried Brussels sprouts are fantastic.

As is steak tartar and chicken liver mousse. I like what some people call "foody" food and craft beer. Doesn't bother me if someone makes fun of that

 

[SteveH aka shetc]

Interestingly, that commercial showed the total amount of hops used to make all Bud products for the last year.

 

[Homercidal]

I actually thought Bud would take the high road, but nope, they are fighting back. Targeting people who think craft beer drinkers are ALL snooty snobs. So they are preaching to the choir while not really selling their product for how it's better (Except the beechwood aging part. They did put that in there.)

I'm not sure how brewing Bud is "The Hard Way" when they have the Billions of leverage dollars. Craft breweries have to work their way up financially, AGAINST the Billions the big beer companies can use to prevent competition.

Now I don't hate the beer (well, maybe "light" beer) but their business methods are not something I care to support. Plenty of German brewers today still dislike strongly flavored beer. They perfected a method of creating a beer so unique at the time and continue to believe that only light lagers are worth drinking. And they want to push a commercial accusing craft beer snobs of being elitist?

I say, drink what you like. Finally we have enough craft brewers in the US to allow everyone to try a few beers that AREN'T light lagers! Turns out plenty of them are enjoying some other flavors.

 

[EZCyclone]

I see a lot of the posing on the side of the BMC drinkers who want to make sure that everyone knows they are not drinking craft beer. I'm not sure when drinking mass-marketed, corporate profit driven beer became part of some people's culture, but whatever suits them I guess.

You have got to be kidding me??
Budweiser is the core community product of huge portions of this country. People find it as a one of the most American products you can have. In-Bev is not loosing as much market share, from these people, due to craft options being available, as it is to the fact that they ruined the AB brand's deep American image buy buying them. Hell I've been in a bar and seen a guy get the living hell beat out of him and he tossed into the street because he ordered something other then BMC. Because it was "Un-American and Gay", mind you that was in the late 90's.

 

[hou_me]

When that commercial aired everyone in the room turned and looked at me. And I laughed. So AB took a shot at us for our beer snobbery, who cares? It's not like they're worried about us boycotting them. Just take the chance to laugh at yourself, then take the chance to laugh at them and, of course, enjoy a nice home brew.

-ben

 

[Newsman]

I see a lot of the posing on the side of the BMC drinkers who want to make sure that everyone knows they are not drinking craft beer. I'm not sure when drinking mass-marketed, corporate profit driven beer became part of some people's culture, but whatever suits them I guess.

I agree. I don't know what the allure of drinking crap beer is... the same people who gush over BMC are the same people who think it's "hip" to drink PBR. I just don't understand the thrill of drinking swill like BMC/PBR!

 

[EZCyclone]

the same people who gush over BMC are the same people who think it's "hip" to drink PBR. I just don't understand the thrill of drinking swill like BMC/PBR!

Never, ever are there BMC'ers that are hard core BMC'ers because of the points I made above, that would piss on a hipster on fire. So no, they are not the same group. lol.

 

[Happywanderer]

Well -

That commercial was low. Hypocritical.

My regular drink used to be Budweiser. Then I developed taste buds.

I've gotten my redneck brother-in-law drinking real beer now. He used to drink only Bud Light.

I'll go on drinking my craft beer. Because a Bourbon Barrel Stout beats the hell out of beechwood aged mop water.

 

[Photopilot]

Just makes me wonder how beechwood aging would affect a good beer recipe?

 

[Eucrid]

Just makes me wonder how beechwood aging would affect a good beer recipe?

Isn't it supposed to make for a great clean secondary fermentation?

 

[jbaysurfer]

When that commercial aired everyone in the room turned and looked at me. And I laughed. So AB took a shot at us for our beer snobbery, who cares? It's not like they're worried about us boycotting them. Just take the chance to laugh at yourself, then take the chance to laugh at them and, of course, enjoy a nice home brew.

-ben

When it aired, 30 people lifted up the IIPA that I brewed for the party and toasted. LOL...

 

[GHBWNY]

I don't understand the "hard way" concept. It is apparently intended to be in contrast to "other" ways of brewing, by which they are saying that all other ways of brewing are "easy" by comparison. Their having absorbed notable craft (Mom & Pop by comparison) breweries is simply part of their "search and destroy" mission. In their campaign to alter the public awareness of how REAL (craft) beer is made --- which IS the true "hard way" --- then they can also own a greater stake in the phrase once there is no true "hard way" competition in beer-making. I don't think that will happen. And by the ad, it's obvious AB can't really expect it to happen either. But that's the nature of propaganda. Plant a lie and given the right conditions, it will eventually grow into a "truth" and propagate itself.

Meanwhile, AB's ad is fairly harmless hogwash. Unfortunately, AB knows that there is a very small percentage of people watching who actually know what making beer the true hard way is, and see AB's campaign for what it really is. It is not enough to stir the conscience of AB because they know that their basic consumer is in this sense clueless and gullible = profitable. As per those who have gone before them, other larger craft beer companies should eventually be expecting the same knock on their door: "Either we buy you out, or we run you out. Take your pick."

 

[xzgfhgh]

Why are they making fun of craft brews while simultaneously buying up any that show some success? Because they know people are turning away from their product!

 

[GHBWNY]

Isn't it supposed to make for a great clean secondary fermentation?

Directly from the Budweiser site:

"Beechwood Aging: During lagering, the beer is krausened, naturally carbonated and aged on beechwood chips for 21 days to mature the flavor of the beer. Anheuser-Busch is the only major brewer in the world using beechwood aging."

Krausening is adding back to the lagering stage a small amount of wort. It causes the yeast that may have slowed down due to the cold temps of lagering to wake up and eat and speed up the brewing process and clean up the beer. The beechwood chips are added to give the yeast a greater amount of surface area upon which to cling and settle to do their business. The beechwood chips are washed with a solution that renders them tasteless. But again, they aren't added for flavor as many might think --- their use is as a "bed" upon which the yeast can settle and work for a few weeks (during Bud's infamous "21-day Beechwood Aging process"). Wood is perfect for this application; it's cheap, natural and expendable. Joe Public hears "Beechwood Aged" and thinks, "wow, that's got to be something really special!" But 999 out of 1000 Bud drinkers have no clue what it is or means --- or really care. And Bud doesn't care that they don't know or care. The romanticism of the tagline alone is enough to sell beer.

 

[SamsDogBrewing]

I can see both sides here. AB created a kind of craft-brew strawman and made fun of it. And... insamuch as those beer-snob stereotypes actually exist, I tend to agree with their assessment.

The great news is I don't have to buy beechwood-aged cat urine or Quintuple-Hopped, Imperial Siamese Pale Ale.

I'll just brew and drink whatever I darn well please, thank you very much.

 

[murrahjm]

This ad makes me want to smash things, and it took me a bit to figure out why. Check out the imagery used for the two camps. For Budweiser it's tough guys, factories, axes chopping wood, big machines, manly ****. For craft beer it's curly mustaches, gentle sniffing, sweaters, khaki pants, tiny drinks.

So basically what they're saying is "Stop being a ***, drink like a man". Which of course is what I was told constantly throughout my early twenties when I didn't want to drink bud. So thanks for the memories Budweiser, go **** yourself.

 

[orangehero]

The "made the hard way" slogan is bizzare. I think what they meant is that the Beer of Kings Budweiser is made the hard way. Even their name is lazy.

 

[ArkotRamathorn]

One thing the big three seem to miss is the desire for 'new-ness'. They can buy out whoever they want, but in 2 or 3 years, or however long they make the people they buy out sign non-compete for, they'll open a new brewery. Or someone else across town will open a new brewery and start making beer. We, the craft consumers, thrive on new-ness. We look for something new, maybe not different, but new, fresh, local. BMC can buy as many craft breweries as they want, some of them may continue to produce just as good or better beer, some will produce worse or different beers than the hardcore fans remember (rolling rock ahem).

If a BMC bought New Glarus (my boo here in Wisconsin) I woulld still buy tons of NG as long as the quality was the same (and no one was fired/moved) and would not blame Dan for taking a pay out. I would hope when the non-compete contract was up for them to open a new brewery and I would begin buying from the new place rather than NG (then new NG should hire all the old employees).

At worst its disingenous and arrogant. At best the commercial was extremely comical. The only twenty something I know that drink BMC are the rednecky hunters, the only other BMC drinkers really fall into the old category or a mix of redneck/old.

 

[GHBWNY]

The "made the hard way" slogan is bizzare. I think what they meant is that the Beer of Kings Budweiser is made the hard way. They couldn't even come up with an original name for their swill.

Here's the thing about surreptitiously extolling the virtues of something that doesn't really apply or exist --- until the beer consumer has the truth to compare something to, he will accept the counterfeit.

 

[Homercidal]

I can see both sides here. AB created a kind of craft-brew strawman and made fun of it. And... insamuch as those beer-snob stereotypes actually exist, I tend to agree with their assessment.

The great news is I don't have to buy beechwood-aged cat urine or Quintuple-Hopped, Imperial Siamese Pale Ale.

I'll just brew and drink whatever I darn well please, thank you very much.

But that Quintuple-Hopped Imperial Siamese Pale Ale scored 4.5 and 4.8 on Rate Beer and Beer Advocate respectively!

 

[NickTheGreat]

LOL. The ad is doing exactly what they wanted it to. Guys like me (and most of HBT) isn't going to drink Bud, and the trailer-trash 'Mericans will buy and drink their Belgian beer even more!

Nothing more 'Merican than drinking (European owned) Budweiser and driving your truck (assembled in Mexico)

 

[eric19312]

It was a great commercial.

They are playing to their base who value tradition and identify themselves with the brands they have adopted. They loved Harry Caray who was a "Cubs fan and a Bud man" and the Clydesdales and even dig the idea of drinking the beer their parents drank (they may remember their parents rejecting skunky imported beer). May also have loyalty to a car company (almost for sure an American car company).

Despise their product or not what craft beer company is able to evoke this type of customer response. Nada. Too new and too quickly passed over for the new flavor of the month.

Oh that commercial with the Puppy was also really good and similarly links the product to the tradition.