What Do You Want? Good Beer or Good Taste?
Here's the story of the recent controversy involving the Real American Heroes Ads by Bud Lite (printed in Wall Street Journal 10-24-05).Airtran Airways says it may stop serving Anheuser-Busch Cos. products on its flights to protest a radio ad for Bud Light that ridicules discount airlines and their pilots.The ad, part of the "Real Men of Genius" campaign created by DDB Chicago, is a comic tribute to discount-airline pilots, commending them for their "minimal experience" and for putting "the fly in fly-by-night." It also questions the safety of low-fare carriers: "Sure we're concerned for our lives," the announcer says - "just not as concerned as saving nine bucks on a round-trip to Fort Myers."
Anheuser-Busch, in a statement, offered an apology. "This campaign was meant to poke fun at slices of everyday life, but this execution clearly crossed the line and is in poor taste," said Michael J. Owens, vice president of sales and marketing.
Most of the ad campaign's targets aren't corporate. Ads pay homage to "Mr. Basketball Court Sweat Wiper Upper," "Mr. Bathroom Stall Dirty Joke Writer," and "Mr. Hot Stock Tip Giver Outer." Last year, a TV spot in the series, "Mr. Really Bad Toupee Wearer," drew complaints from the American Hair Loss Council. Anheuser-Busch refused to pull it.
Question: Do you think the Bud Lite ads are in bad taste? Or should we "lighten" up? Are certain subjects too serious and off limits to satire on nationwide TV? Or are we losing our sense of humor at the expense of political correctness?
posted by JTF @ 5:09 PM
8 comments
8 Comments:
I must admit that I have not read every single blog entry, but I have read my share of them. When I went online to look at the test preperation this was on the top of the page so it caught my attention. I think that it is absolutly ridiculous that a company would compain about a harmlous ad aired by a beer company. Beer companies have a history of somewhatinappropriate commercials and this in no exception. They do this simply because the audience they are advertising for will find it humorous. I am a fan of shows like SNL, you never hear about George Bush complaining how they portray him, and the skits they show in my opinion are more embarrassing. Airtran Airways is obviously not the most expensive airline and the only logical reason for that is they do not pay their pilots as much or spend as much on their airlines. Anybody can figure that out, Anheuser-Bush just used it as an advertising technique. People should stop being so emotional and learn how to take a joke.
jdblue,
Actually, some of the discount airlines pride themselves in using newer planes and attracting top-notch pilots. They cut operating costs by only flying popular routes that ensure passenger capacity. The Big Guys sometimes lose money on flights. This mini-controversy is producing one thing, though, as NOPBINTC stated--publicity for both Bud and the airlines. And as they say in the bizness, all publicity is good publicity.
Well, I had wondered if there would be a topic I would truly want to comment on and it seems you have posted the perfect one. Airtran Airways is just seeking the same attention as Anheuser-Busch. Of course someone was offended by the commercial, someone is always offended by an opinion, especially one that so obviously is meant to poke-fun at someone. You never saw a riot of people who wiped up sweat complaining about the commercial. The people writing notes in the bathroom stalls probably felt complimented for having their worked recognized and commemorated. The only difference this time is the subject happens to have some political power to make an impact in response. Do I believe they should take it so seriously? No. Absolutely not. It is a comical advertising scheme no one is listening to it and saying "Hey, I better not fly Airtran Airways because the Bud Light commercial made fun of it." There saying, "Hey that was funny." and hopefully (in the eyes of the advertisers) "Let's go get some beer." Complaints such as these have always bothered me and for it to be on that advertising scheme, which I have always enjoyed, it bothers me even more. So, to sum up my response, Lighten Up. It was a comical advertisement that mentioned companies in the likeness of yours, if nothing else, your sales are going up.
Society is too politically correct now a days. Everything that people do in the media is critiqued and examined to find anything wrong or offensive about what someone said or an action they performed. Something that really is inconsequential is blown out of proportion and all you can talk about for weeks. Can't we ever just see something for what it is worth whether it be a joke or a real statement. Nothing is taken at face value. I'm sure this advertising campaign was not meant to hurt anyones feelings but to connect with the audience. The situations which were made fun of were things that normal people have to deal with and are able to make some humor out of an experience or situation they might not have enjoyed or been proud of. The advertising may have no apparant connection to beer but what beer commercials do. It is not expected of a beer commercial to give you warm fuzzy feelings inside or make you want to make a difference in the world. They are soley there to catch your attention in some stupid way. Whether it be with girls in bakinis or parodies about jobs that no one wants to perform. Our world is not always a happy place. There are wars and disease and so much stuff to handle that every now and then we need a smile. Everything is so politically correct now there is no room for laughter or humor. The onlty advertising campaign you can do is to give facts. Politically correctness (if thats a word) is stifling our creativity. Everyone just needs to lighten up.
Man, beer commercials these days are really hard hitting. Obviously (note the sarcasm), I’m going to base my opinion on a lighthearted TV spot from a brewing company. I don’t understand how companies can become enraged at these little songs. It isn’t like the airline companies are losing millions of dollars as airline fliers all over the country don’t want to be caught dead flying on a discount airline with a Budweiser in their hand. Hell, I’d applaud Anheuser for being a company that stands apart with their advertising. Most of the ads these days are advertising drugs that you don’t even know what they do when you see the ad. The marketing department at the brewing company is clever enough to devise songs that are catchy. Maybe they’re overly satirical and stereotypical, but who actually pays attention to commercials? At this point, I’d rather the airline companies at least try to make sense of their scheduling and routing system so that maybe they could pull their soon-to-be decrepit business out of the gutter. Instead of wasting money publicly battling Anheuser in a public forum, why don’t they round up some engineers and figure out how to streamline the whole scheduling and routing process…or maybe find out how to avoid hour long ticket lines at the airport…
While Bud Lite may have made a bad choice in poking fun at discount air lines, I think it's pathetic that they're making such a big deal out of it. It seems that lately the freedom of speech is being limited more and more each day. Sure, one can say that 30 years ago the things that are seen on TV today would never have been allowed, but times have changed. I think that people's opinions need to change. I am not saying that there should be no limits on what is said. I am just saying that the more tight the limits are, the more people will want to push them. In getting upset over Bud Lite's radio commercial Airtrain Airways has given Bud Lite more publicity than the company could have hoped for.
I completely agree with most of the other comments that political correctness in our society is getting out of control. Personally, I've seen and heard several of these Anheuser-Busch ads on TV and radio, and I find many of them very humorous. All these ads are doing is poking gentle fun at unsung, everyday people and services in our lives, whether it's the "Mr. Basketball Sweat Wiper Upper" or a cheap airline. Many people (in particular the far left wing) go to extreme lengths to ensure political correctness to make sure no one's feelings get hurt. I feel that these people wouldn't know humor if it punched them in the face, and should just learn to TAKE A JOKE and leave it at that: don't blow it out of proportion and cause an uproar. As my esteemed colleague under the pseudonym of mgred declared, the airline industry has a LOT more things to worry about than a dumb beer ad.
Very impressed that you people know about airline mismanagement, routing problems, etc. However, you're giving teenagers a bad name by reading and forming original opinions. Why don't you get your heads out of the newspaper and go hang out on a corner or Wawa or something?
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