WHAT!?
No Budweiser ads at the Super Bowl? Why even play the game then?
For the first time since 1983, when Anheuser-Busch used the entirety of their Super Bowl ad dollars to introduce this little thing called Bud Light, Budweiser will not be airing a Super Bowl ad.
Instead, they will be donating the ad money to vaccine awareness.
Dammit… now I feel bad for complaining…
“Like everyone else, we are eager to get people back together, reopen restaurants and bars, and be able to gather to cheers with friends and family,” Budweiser vice president of marketing Monica Rustgi said in a statement. “To do this, and to bring consumers back into neighborhood bars and restaurants that were hit exceptionally hard by the pandemic, we’re stepping in to support critical awareness of the COVID-19 vaccine.”
Pepsi also won’t be running ads this year, (Mountain Dew and Frito-Lay, who are owned by Pepsi will), however brands like Coke, Audi and Avocados from Mexico won’t be participating at all.
Anheuser-Busch will still run ads for Bud Light, Bud Light Seltzer Lemonade, Michelob Ultra and Michelob Ultra Organic Seltzer.
“I think the advertisers are correctly picking up on this being a riskier year for the Super Bowl,” said Charles Taylor, marketing professor at Villanova University. “With COVID and economic uncertainty, people aren’t necessarily in the best mood to begin with. There’s a risk associated with messages that are potentially too light. At the same time, there’s risk associated with doing anything too somber.”
I mean see where they’re coming from, and it’s definitely a noble cause. Not to mention at 5.5 million for 30 seconds, I can imagine it’s been tough to even shoot a good commercial this year with budgets so tight, but at the same time, don’t you think people need a laugh?
We’ve been cooped up inside for nearly a year, most people watch the Super Bowl at home anyways, and some funny Super Bowl commercials sounds like just what the doctor ordered. Too somber? Should we all just sit in a circle and be miserable because the world sucks right now? Or can we escape for a couple hours on a Sunday? I vote escapism… and donate the money anyways. I mean, you’re friggin’ Budweiser, you can’t afford to make me laugh AND help out with COVID?
How you gonna take the puppy and the horse away from me in times like these?
