The Lost Art of Advertising

Before I can remember ever tasting a beer, I can remember watching beer commercials. No other commercials ever compared to the hilarity of these ads. Whether big beer company advertising is a good or bad thing is a question for another day. No matter what you thought about it though, big beer advertising was damn entertaining. Who can forget these gems...





These were classics. They were as much a part of our culture at the time as anything else on television. As played out as it may seem now, I'd like for someone to think of a word aside from "wassup" that was said more that year.

Now, however, it's all gone downhill. It's undeniable that the craft beer movement has had an effect on the big beer companies, and nowhere can that be seen more clearly than through the advertising. I heard a Budweiser ad on the radio the other day that made me cringe. It was for the American Ale, which I have not yet tried. It said, in a completely serious tone, "It's not a cherry wheat or a berry wheat, and it doesn't taste like chocolate." Well, that's good, I guess. I'm not really sure what their trying to say though, and I'm pretty sure no one else does. Even worse, Budweiser now has a campaign out focusing on the "Drinkability" of Bud Light. Really?! That's the best you could do? Drink Bud Light because it is...drinkable? That's like Applebee's advertising that the food it serves is "edible." Mmm...that sounds delicious. Budweiser has created some of the most hilarious, memorable ads of all-time. Now the ads themselves are just jokes. Whether it was Bud or Miller or Coors, they never took themselves too seriously or tried to be something they weren't. They were just beers...nice, cool, refreshing beers. In fact, the ads usually never even said anything about the beer.

There is one advertising campaign out there that is brilliant, and that approaches the craft beer movement in a way that every big beer company should. It essentially pokes fun at "beer snobs" or snobs of any kind, and it's a riot. Check this out...



"I need to smell me a hotdog!" This is what these companies should be doing. One problem I run into sometimes now that I've started drinking bigger, more complex beers is that I feel like a jackass when everyone else in my party orders a light beer and I have to look over the beer list for an hour. Everyone else is thinking, "Good Lord, it's just beer." After a while, I start thinking that as well. My grandfather drank Sterling longnecks. My uncle drinks Natty Light with a lime. Yet, here I am asking the waitress at Chile's if she has anything bolder than an Amberbock. This is where advertising should be targeted - at making me feel like a snob. No one's going to believe a Budweiser ad claiming to be a great, complex beer. And, most importantly, no one's going to laugh at it.