Too tame to be fun

January 26, 2005 1:23 PM

Budweiser is pulling their "wardrobe malfunction"ad from the Super Bowl because they think someone might be offended by it. But, you can see the ad here: -- after going through their tough "age filter" and then clicking to the commercial. When you can't even make fun of stuff begging to made fun of anymore, that will be a sad day.
posted by narebuc (40 comments total)

"all it takes is for one person to be offended..."

This reminds me of the made-for-showtime movie "Harrison Bergeron," based on the story of the same name. I'll semi-butcher the quote below.

"Even in the 20th century, television tended to cater to the lowest common denominator. But sometimes, shows of quality would slip through. But here, we've made a conscious decision to make sure everything we show can be enjoyed by everybody watching. So we've managed to eliminate the notion of QUALITY altogether!"
posted by u.n. owen at 1:31 PM on January 26, 2005

wait, they're pulling it, but you can still see it on their site? maybe it's just a ploy to create more web traffic.

also, that commercial's damn funny.
posted by Igor XA at 1:32 PM on January 26, 2005

They didn't need the age filter. Just add yet one more Flash animation you need to click through and no-one will have the patience to watch the ad
posted by pixelgeek at 1:33 PM on January 26, 2005

The pulled it? What a bunch of pussies.

Of course, as Igor XA pointed out, it's probably all planned. We're all going to see it and they didn't have to pay eight billion dollars for 30 seconds of airtime.

They have some damn good commercials. Too bad their produ ct is so shitty.
posted by bondcliff at 1:41 PM on January 26, 2005

I'm sure the number of people who would've seen it during the Superbowl is far, far, far, far larger than the number of people who will see it because of MetaFilter.
posted by josh at 1:45 PM on January 26, 2005

exactly, bondcliff. if only they were like their czech rivals in more than just name.
posted by Igor XA at 1:50 PM on January 26, 2005

Wait, so they are getting free buzz about a 'too hot for tv' ad that will cause lots of people to visit their site and watch the ad, with out having to pay FOX Network to air the ad?


Yeah... they are pulling it ....
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 1:54 PM on January 26, 2005

link for the flash haters among us
posted by piro at 1:54 PM on January 26, 2005

Direct links:
Real 56k, Real 100k, Real 300k, Real 600k
Quicktime 56k, Quicktime 100k, Quicktime 300k, Quicktime 600k
Windows Media 56k, Windows Media 100k, Windows Media 300k, Windows Media 600k
posted by darkness at 1:58 PM on January 26, 2005

What a bunch of pussies.

Whaddya expect from purveyors of cheap-ass, watery, American beer?
posted by 327.ca at 2:00 PM on January 26, 2005

Wait, so they are getting free buzz about a 'too hot for tv' ad that will cause lots of people to visit their site and watch the ad, with out having to pay FOX Network to air the ad?

Exactly. freaky to be agreeing so strongly with S@L :)

I'm sure the number of people who would've seen it during the Superbowl is far, far, far, far larger than the number of people who will see it because of MetaFilter.

but it's an ad for a target market that will be more present on the internet than watching the superbowl. This is precisely how they wanted this to play.
posted by mdn at 2:10 PM on January 26, 2005

Step 1 - Create false controversy. "Free speech" and "censorship" are usually a good way to start.
Step 2 - Revel in the free buzz as people trip over themselves to defend you and attack the other side.
Step 3 - Profit!

It's a tried-and-true formula.
posted by thedevildancedlightly at 2:14 PM on January 26, 2005

The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that the ad would have shown a stagehand using Jackson's outfit to open a slippery bottle of Bud Light, causing it to tear. He tries to fix it using scotch tape.

When I first read "using Jackson's outfit to open a slippery bottle of Bud Light" I instantly pictured the guy using Janet's bizarre nipple ornament to open the bottle cap. Now that would be a commercial worth banning seeing!
posted by soyjoy at 2:14 PM on January 26, 2005

Who's the actor in the commercial? I've seen him in lots of ads, even music videos, and I keep wondering if he'll ever move to sitcoms or movies or something.... He has that goofy expression that reminds me of Joel from MST3K.
posted by kimota at 2:19 PM on January 26, 2005

Just add yet one more Flash animation you need to click through....

One more? Shit man.... after the 75th click and still no banana, I gave up.
posted by spilon at 2:19 PM on January 26, 2005

It wasn't even that good.
posted by mote at 2:35 PM on January 26, 2005

Is Metafilter somehow magically the only place on the internet talking about this "too hot" ad?


I didn't think so.

Pretty clever, as ploys go.
posted by O9scar at 2:38 PM on January 26, 2005

Don't you think the supposed pulling of the commercial was just part of the (weak) joke and not some supposedly underhanded trick? The commercial is too harmless for anyone to claim, except in jest, that a network might be afraid to show it, and you're supposed to realize that.
posted by pracowity at 2:41 PM on January 26, 2005

purveyors of cheap-ass, watery, American beer

I don't think of Anheuser-Busch as a beer company. I like to think of them as an entertainment company that's in the business of creating thrity-second short films. At this, they excel. This commercial is very good. It's not as good as, say, the beer-vs-toilet paper ad, but it's still up there. It's a sad day when the fear that one reflexively irate viewer will bring forth the wrath of the FCC causes this groundbreaking company to shelve its best product.

On the other hand, I just watch the Super Bowl to see, y'know, the actual game, so the commercials and stupefying half-time show are really just incidental. It sucked that last year's halftime show overshadowed a classic championship match.

Oh, and don't knock American beer. Budweiser is pure swill, but Victory, Dogfish Head, Ommegang, and many other American brewers produce some of the best beer in the world.
posted by casu marzu at 2:43 PM on January 26, 2005

"Why take the risk? All you need is one person to be offended," Bob Lachky, an Anheuser-Busch vice president, told the newspaper.

What the heck is that supposed to mean? Now we won't air anything that one person might be offended by, is that it? I'm sure if you tried you could find somebody offended by anything.

Their excuses seem a little thin. Chalk me up as another vote for a weak ploy.
posted by raedyn at 2:44 PM on January 26, 2005

"Some people don't want to be reminded of the incident."

Seriously, it was that traumatic. Also in the weak ploy camp.
posted by purtek at 2:54 PM on January 26, 2005

Budweiser, the beer unfunny pussies drink
posted by elpapacito at 3:06 PM on January 26, 2005

thedevildancedlightly wrote

Step 1 - Create false controversy. "Free speech" and "censorship" are usually a good way to start.
Step 2 - Revel in the free buzz as people trip over themselves to defend you and attack the other side.
Step 3 - Profit!Nipplefilter

I would add step 1.5- Sit back and wait all the bloggers to post it all over including Metafilter.

TitCup filter
Ricebeer filter
posted by thedailygrowl at 3:12 PM on January 26, 2005

Ricebeer , ricecars ...mmhh..I'll have FCC censor dailygrowl ! Rice is good !
posted by elpapacito at 3:19 PM on January 26, 2005

Who's the actor in the commercial?

I don't know, but the first thing I saw him in was some very funny ads for ShorWest realtors in Milwaukee. Soon after, I started seeing him in a lot of stuff.

He seems to have a lock on the 'dopey 20-something' archetype.
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 3:21 PM on January 26, 2005

Czech Budweiser kills the American version.

of course, it pales compared to my secret lover, Velkopopovický Kozel. Grunt.

Great ad though.
posted by cosmonik at 3:24 PM on January 26, 2005

piro thanks for that other link. I couldn't get the thing to work on the Bud site.
posted by CunningLinguist at 3:25 PM on January 26, 2005

This has gotten so bad that, if I were elected president, I wouldn't just permit watching Janet Jackson's breast on television, I'd make it mandatory! You could just have the nipple in the corner, kind of like those picture-in-a-picture dealies....
posted by jonp72 at 3:30 PM on January 26, 2005

Jonp72--

I'd do the same thing, but with Dick Cheney's balls.

Intelligence in this country would skyrocket as people turned off their television sets...
posted by chasing at 3:39 PM on January 26, 2005

Why take the risk? All you need is one person to be offended," Bob Lachky, an Anheuser-Busch vice president, told the newspaper. "Some people don't want to be reminded of the incident."

They are probably right about somebody taking offense. And that is what enrages me about this country. Some middle-aged hausfrau is so busy taking offense at some piece of crap on TV, that the really offensive stuff being carried out by our own government gets a pass.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 3:55 PM on January 26, 2005

But their commercials have frequently been offensive- why are they pulling this one?

Nice hype they're creating.
posted by Four Flavors at 4:05 PM on January 26, 2005

Summary for people not wanting to go to apparently overloaded server:

Roadie in dressing room gets beer out of fridge. Opens beer using costume. Busts seam on costume. Fixes costume with scotch tape. Cut to roadie watching half-time narration with the voice-over, "Wow, that's something we don't see every day."

It should be canned, not because it is shocking, but because it is pathetically lame.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 4:15 PM on January 26, 2005

"I just read about Ashlee in us weekly. Those guys at the football game were total jerks."

"I read about that Bud commercial in MiFi. Those guys who run the football game are jerks."

Why complain about Viral marketing if we perpetuate it?
posted by edgeways at 4:20 PM on January 26, 2005

Some middle-aged hausfrau is so busy taking offense at some piece of crap on TV, that the really offensive stuff being carried out by our own government gets a pass.

Governments all over the world have been getting away with muder in paralel to people getting offended over nothing since the dawn of representational government. I really don't believe one has anything to do with the other.

The issue is that hausfraus can make a difference when it comes to tiny little issues like offensive content on TV, but even if they weren't doing that they wouldn't be able to make the government stop doing what it's doing.
posted by chaz at 4:47 PM on January 26, 2005

Life of Gravy: indeed the offense thing can be used to distract as you say..but also on the other hand Could it be that Budweiser drinking prostitute menstruated on harmless prisoners ?
It's a matter of directing the vector appropriately.
posted by elpapacito at 4:51 PM on January 26, 2005

"Why take the risk? All you need is one person to be offended," Bob Lachky, an Anheuser-Busch vice president, told the newspaper.

I am so fucking offended by that. What's this jerk's phone number? I need to complain!
posted by five fresh fish at 8:15 PM on January 26, 2005

Fact: The FCC recently adjudicated on - and threw out - dozens of complaints on taste and decency regarding prime time TV.

They were all the work of the PTC pressure group, offended by the word "dick".

Adjudications here and here. (Adobe Acrobat)
posted by scaryduck at 2:01 AM on January 27, 2005

In my Alternate History dreamworld where I hold August Busch IV's job (almost happened: I'm descended from a guy who was going to go into business with some brewer named Anheuser but died of the flu instead), I would not back down.

Then again, I wouldn't make yellow beer, or worse, B2E. Have you read the company history from the corporate site? These guys own, like, everything.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 6:46 AM on January 27, 2005

Fact: The FCC recently adjudicated on - and threw out - dozens of complaints on taste and decency regarding prime time TV.

They were all the work of the PTC pressure group, offended by the word "dick".

I guess the FCC aren't complete pussies.
posted by casu marzu at 8:34 AM on January 27, 2005

Pussies no, dicks yes.
posted by DBAPaul at 5:58 AM on February 2, 2005