Wow! Interesting. Buying up craft breweries while mocking their customer base. The satire of craft beer drinkers is not off base, just hard to take when the motivation is not to have people take a closer look at how they drink beer but rather to dissuade people from trying craft beer by mocking those who do.
This commercial didn’t surprise me at all. Catering to a different consumer base. Most Bud drinkers I know could care less about craft beer, so this just tells them they’re right. Most craft beer drinkers I know also don’t drink Bud.
Personally, I found it funny.
I enjoyed the commercial too. When you see it, it is funny the way we make a big deal about trying/drinking beer.
With that said, when you get critical of Bud’s message, it’s really rather ironic. Don’t smell your beer. Don’t compare the beer with others. Don’t look at your beer. Don’t look for new flavors or drinking experiences. Don’t drink out of a glass. Just guzzle large amounts of the same thing you’ve been guzzling for years. No need to think. Just repeat after me: Bud Light, Bud Light, Bud Light… That’s it; isn’t that better. Gooood. Settle down now don’t get excited. Here you go, guzzle this; the Kardashians will be on in a minute.
Drink Bud! It’s the champagne of automatons.
We criticize Budweiser. They certainly have a right to criticize us.
Haha! Good stuff!
I have mixed feelings on this commercial. The first being irritated. Only because they don’t understand that the beer drinker of today is becoming more open and doesn’t drink what his or her dad drinks/drank. People of today don’t just want one beer just like they don’t want to eat one thing the rest of their lives. The world is changing and it seems like Budweiser wants to reverse that. The other feeling I have is who really cares. Some people like Budweiser, good for them. Some people think that the Pumpkin Peach beer sounds good and are going to make it, also, good for them. People like different things, always have always will. Let them enjoy what they enjoy.
I did enjoy the Bud Light commercial with the human Pac Man. I want to play that and will drink Bud Light if I have to.
Budweiser is SCARED. You know why? Because they have lost the 21-35 year old market. Can you imagine turning 21 tomorrow and walking into a bar with all the selections there are offered now … and then choosing a Budweiser? I read something the other day that said in the 21-27 year old male target group that less than 50% of them have even tasted a Budweiser.
They are scared. My brother turned 21 a year or so ago. While he still drinks the cheap stuff from time to time he drinks a lot of craft beer. He always tries my homebrew and is slowly getting into sours, mainly because my dad and I can’t get enough of them. They lost the younger generation and are slowly filling the void of Budweiser with the breweries they buy.
Fun story about them buying breweries. I went home to Illinois this past summer for a wedding and was drinking with my girlfriends father. He was drinking a Goose Island 312. While the brewery is only 60 miles south of where we stood, the beer he was drinking came all the way from Colorado, 1000 miles away.
Nailed it. College hasn’t changed since I was there. You are either top shelf or bottom shelf, and that leaves Bud in a awkward place.
I liked the commercial. They gotta fight for who they are (while quietly buying up craft breweries). I also like Bud. It’s not bad for what it is. I think I have 1-2 bottles of Bud per year. Life’s too short to drink the same beer everyday.
Here’s a decent response: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCgkTeuJkR8&feature=share&fb_ref=share
Well played Northern Brewer…Beer Recipe Kits
I used to stick up for Bud back when they were an American company. Sure, if I’m at a party and someone hands me a Bud I’ll drink it. Even a Bud Light. But I’m not going to willingly waste my beer calories on a Bud when I can have just about anything else I want - including my own beer.
IMO the commercial was silly and confusing. They are buying up craft breweries but then stick their thumb in their customer’s eye? Is this commercial aimed at the twenty-something crowd or my father’s generation? (BTW: My father won’t drink Bud.) Or is it aimed at the shrinking segment of Bud drinkers in a desperate attempt to stop them from leaving?
http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/food/ct-elysian-brewing-takeover-20150202-story.html#page=1
There’s a pay wall, can we get the Cliff Notes?
I don’t think the commercial was confusing for the people they were trying to reach. There are huge numbers of beer drinkers who want beer to be lubricant for social interactions without being the focus. I know beer geeks who are at the opposite end, blowing off social gatherings if there are no beers to tick off their list.
About Elysian? It’s also very common for large companies to have multiple brands that compete against each other. It focuses consumer attention on making a choice between several products - and you own all of them - so no matter which they choose, you win.
I think another scary thing for AB is my generation (I turn 47 Friday) is turning our kids onto both good beer and responsible drinking. I took my son out to Armsby Abby in Worcester which is known for a top notch beer selection for his 21st birthday. Tomme Arthur was there and they had 4 or 5 of his sours on tap. We had a flight then each ordered a glass of our favorite. When I told Tomme it was Dylan’s 21st birthday he was pretty impressed and said he was drinking bud light at that age. Dylan will certainly buy a 30 pack of cheap beer when he’s watching a game with his buddies and he’s certainly not buying $17 4-packs but he often gets decent stuff like Bass, Guiness etc. and he usually gets what I’m getting when we go out together.
If you take into consideration that Bud recently said they are only going after the 21-35 year old market then the commercial is a little more confusing. Either they lied and the commercial is aimed at the old timers who won’t drink that “new fangled yuppy type beer”, or it is an obvious desperate reach to keep the customers they have from going away.
Elysian actually put out a pumpkin peach ale last fall so I’m sure there are a lot of ruffled feathers over there. There’s an interview with Cantwell and the GI CEO who is the ABI domestic head of craft brewing and Cantwell seemed rather upset about the commercial. The Elysian folks are the only ones with a good reason to be mad about the commercial. We’ve all taken our shots at ABI so we can’t be surprised that they are taking a shot back.