Bud Light's Risky Super Bowl Ad

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The commercial garnered 21 million YouTube views so far, and #BoycottBudweiser is trending. Maybe it's a successful ad?

News of Bud Light's new advertising approach-no celebrities-before the Super Bowl: on January 18, a Wall Street Journal article described the storyline, but the immigration focus was not clear:

The Budweiser spot, which is being created by Anomaly, will highlight the pursuit of the American dream by focusing on Adolphus Busch, the co-founder of Anheuser-Busch. The famous Clydesdale horses, long a fixture of Bud advertising for the title game, will make a cameo.

The commercial is called "Born the Hard Way," and the YouTube caption reads, "This is the story of our founder's ambitious journey to America in pursuit of his dream: to brew the King of Beers." But the commercial's tone and underlying message seemed to oppose President Trump's recent ban on travel and immigration from Muslim-majority countries.

Budweiser is no stranger to controversy: the company's "up for whatever" campaign offended many as insensitive to sexual assault. This time, some tweets criticized the spelling, while others showed their support of a boycott.

Bud Boycott

Discussion:

  • What consideration, if any, do you think Budweiser gave to the possibility of boycotts by Trump supporters?
  • Was the risk worth it? Take a look at the social chatter and mainstream articles.