Advertisements during the Super Bowl are the most expensive in the world. Budweiser used a one minute spot to poke fun at craft beer and craft beer drinkers, ridiculing their alleged tendency to dissect and sip beers rather than drink them. The advert also mocked the propensity of craft beer drinkers to have beards and their seeming penchant for obscure styles such as “pumpkin peach ales”. Sadly, that beer does actually exist.
Reaction from the craft beer community was mixed but largely negative. The Fortune website picked up a clear own-goal (or safety in American football terms) noting:
“The company’s other ad choice lit a fire under fans of craft beer. The ad – entitled “Brewed the Hard Way” – seemingly mocked not only craft beer, but also the people who enjoy it, a move that proved to be both tone deaf and embarrassing for the company. The ad, which began by noting that Budweiser “is not brewed to be fussed over” ended with the tagline: “Let them sip their pumpkin peach ale. We’ll be brewing us some golden suds.”
“Except, whoops! Just over a week ago, Budweiser’s parent company bought well-known Seattle craft brewery Elysian. Among the beers that brewery made last year? The Gourdgia on my Mind Pecan Peach Pumpkin Amber. “Elysian’s brands are an important addition to our high-end beer portfolio, and we look forward to working together,” said Andy Goeler, CEO of Craft at Anheuser-Busch at the time.”
Budweiser’s other ad, featuring a cute puppy rescued by heroic horses, was received much better, even though it had nothing to do with beer.
