by Corey O’Neill
During Super Bowl LI this past Sunday, Budweiser aired a commercial entitled “Born the Hard Way.” The beer company’s advertisement sparked a national response online during and after the big game.
Budweiser, who is known for their intriguing Super Bowl ads, aired the minute-long advert, which appeared to be going after President Donald Trump and his immigration regimen.
The commercial focuses on a German man. He arrives in America to people screaming, “You’re not wanted here, go back home!” After some ups and downs, he later makes his way to a bar in St. Louis. A man at the bar buys him a beer, and introduces himself as Eberhard Anheuser. The German man is revealed to be Adolphus Busch. The advertisement is essentially a greatly dramatized story of Budweiser co-founder Busch’s voyage from Germany to America.
The advert generated controversy almost immediately, with people taking to Twitter, using the then-trending hashtag, “#BoycottBudweiser.” The beer company, which last year temporarily renamed their beer from Budweiser to “America,” announced that the advert was not a shot at the president’s executive order since it had been in the works for nearly a year.
Many Trump supporters on Twitter vowed to never drink Budweiser again.
The timing of the advertising rose some eyebrows, with Trump announcing his executive order very recently, which banned immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries as well as Syrian refuges indefinitely.
Ricardo Marques, vice president of marketing at Amheuser-Busch, confirmed there is no connection between the ad and today’s political conditions. “There’s really no correlation with anything else that’s happening in the country,” said Marques.
Budweiser said the commercial was meant to “highlight the ambition of our founder, Adolphus Busch, and his unrelenting pursuit of the American dream.” Even so, many still question the timing of the commercial’s release.
“I drank your product for 30 years and I will no longer drink it,” read one comment on Budweiser’s Facebook page.
Many also critiqued the accuracy of the ad. Author William Knoedelseder, who has written a book about Budweiser, told Slate: “What’s true is, yeah, there was a guy named Adolphus Busch. He did land in New Orleans and come up the river to St Louis, and there was a guy named Eberhard Anheuser that he became partners with. But the rest of it, as far as I know, is just fanciful.”
Budweiser was not the only company who decided to play it safe with their commercials. Airbnb, Audi and Coca-Cola all aired adverts which promoted equality, peace, and could all be taken as shots at the Trump presidency.
This is not the first time Budweiser has been questioned for critiquing American culture. Last May, when the company switched the name of their beer to “America” for the summer, they received criticism, especially for being a Belgium company and not American.
