Budweiser to forgo annual Super Bowl ad in favor of vaccine awareness short
Aux Features Super Bowl commercials
Last year’s Super Bowl ad discourse was dominated by the death of Mr. Peanut, who killed himself in order to save actors Wesley Snipes and Matt Walsh. This year, because we live in hell, a number of major brands are choosing not to air commercials during the Big Game, lest they strike the wrong tone during a time dominated by death and pestilence. One of said brands is Budweiser, who will forgo its customary Super Bowl airtime for the first time in 37 years in order to funnel those funds into COVID-19 vaccine awareness efforts. (It will still, however, air ads for Bud Light, Bud Light Seltzer Lemonade, Michelob Ultra, and Michelob Ultra Organic Seltzer, per ABC News. Just no capital-B Budweiser ads.)
Today, ahead of the February 7 game, they shared their 2021 “commercial,” an ode to American resilience that’s narrated by Rashida Jones. It’s filled with many of the things that made 2020 so depressing: Birthday car parades, virtual meetings, and socially distanced lines. But, hey, we got through it. Right? (Long pause) RIGHT?
You can watch it below.
Bud’s not the only one reading the room. Pepsi is scaling back on its advertising during the game, while Coke, Audi, and Hyundai will skip it altogether. Filling the void will be ads from fresh-faced brands like Triller, Fiverr, and Vroom. As for the game itself, it will still host 22,000 fans, roughly a third of the Raymond James Stadium’s capacity. Surely not a one of them will have COVID-19.
25 Comments
If only the vaccine came in 12 oz cans with a nice hoppy flavor.
Forget about the virus, Budweiser can’t even beat Corona beer.
If vaccines tasted like Budweiser I would start believing Jenny McCarthy
Budweiser can’t manage that, why should the vaccine?
Would they also cause me to spend 12 of the next 24 hours shitting?
… anndddd cue the Fox News “#BoycottBudweiser” appeals …
Well, think about that? If HIS supporters have to choose between HIM and Bud, which do you think they’ll choose?
My money’s on the Bud.
I think in the budget beer realm, budweiser might seem too “elitist.”
“My daddy drank Milwaukee’s Best, HIS daddy drank Milwaukee’s Best, and goddam if my son and grandson won’t ALSO drink milwaukee’s best!”Also there’s a non-zero chance Trump just launches Trump Beer. Ideally it’d be a blonde ale served with an orange slice. But we all know it’ll come in the cheapest, least-recyclable can possible.
There’s a non-zero chance that Trump just launches
Been doing that for years, baby
“Hi, I’m a Clydesdale; I can’t get the Big Rona. But you’re a person; and you CAN! Be careful, be safe and keep drinking our piss-beer!”
Some people look down on it, but BudVax is okay.
I heard it’s only begins to be effective after three doses, ten minutes apart.
This here Bud vaccine is like making love in a canoe.
what’s worse: the jenner & pepsi solve police brutality with a can of pop OR the arm’s race to be the biggest corporation to condescendingly impress upon the mouth-breathing masses that together, with NAME OF BRAND HERE, we can all come together to get vaccinated for COVID?
All those “In these unprecedented times” emails I got back in March from corporations I didn’t even know had my contact info… ah, memories.
yuuuuup
We’re like a year in now; I’d say there’s a little bit of precedent.
It’s kind of amazing to me how easy it is for me to see through corporations’ cynical humanism when I’m not constantly exposed to the advertising that makes me think they’re a-ok.
I wonder what the ratio of Bud drinkers to COVID-deniers/anti-vaxxers is.
ATTENTION EVERYONE, WE’RE NOT GONNA ADVERTISE BUDWEISER AND INSTEAD WE’RE GONNA DO SOMETHING VERY IMPORTANTi mean yeah, of course we’re gonna advertise Bud Light though. it already outsells the original 2-to-1, it’s already the top seller in America period and it’s not even close, but NOT THE ORIGINAL. SOME THINGS ARE TOO IMPORTANT. WE HAVE TO STICK TOGETHER FOR COVIDi mean yeah, there’s also this seltzer lemonade bullshit and some Michelob crap on the side but OTHER THAN JUST FULL MARKETING PACKAGES REPRESENTING A MASSIVE PUSH FOR THOSE FOUR SIMPLE PRODUCTS, NO ADVERTISEMENTS WHATSOEVER. THIS IS ALL ABOUT THE GOOD OF AMERICA
You know in two years, Republicans are gonna run on the fact that it was “private industry who took the lead” in fighting this still-ongoing pandemic, as proof that government is bloated and incompetent and regulation is bad and that we need to let the free market decide… everything.
Covid is running rampant here in LA, to the point where they had to relax air quality regulations for funeral parlors because they can’t burn the bodies fast enough. And yet, they are still allowing media production to move forward mostly because of the pressure to film Super Bowl ads (and yes, there have been filming related outbreaks). So I’m not giving any awards for scaling back production, when it’s literally the least they can do when that filming is endangering crews. I’m understand that folks want to work, but thousands of people have dies just this month in LA, maybe give the commercials a miss this year?
I appreciate the sentiment but that commercial was so saccharine it rotted my teeth. I hit my limit on sappy “in these unprecedented times” commercials back in like April. If you’re a large business whose donations to “both sides of the aisle” in the interest of maintaining low corporate tax rates and a favorable regulatory environment helped to elevate and maintain the power of a far-right, anti-science political party then I really don’t want to hear from you about how we’re all in this together.
From the headline I thought they would be making a pro-vaccination commercial to air in the Super Bowl. That’s a good idea for all these companies, since the game is the only thing left on TV that gets monster ratings and is collectively watched by a national audience, like stuff on old three-network TV. Doing a “the vaccine is safe and effective” ad every commercial break won’t convince the anti-vax diehards, but it’ll get many, and these companies and public health officials, as well as governments, can say they tried a little harder.