Bud Light 'Beer & Porn' Commercial

This is a great ad? Really?



I thought the point of a commercial was to sell something. Obviously, this ad, more than two minutes long, isn't meant to send people out to buy beer right away, but even as a branding exercise, the goal should be to create a positive association with the product.

Fifteen seconds into this ad, I forgot it was about beer. That's not great. And this poor guy's trip to the store to pick up Bud Light turns his life to crap, not the least because a cute girl he hasn't seen since high school has caught him buying bottom-of-the-barrel porn. At that point, it would almost be a relief to have the robber shoot you.

And the "HEY, THIS GUY WANTS TO BUY SOME NASTY, LOW-GRADE PORN!!!" gag is not original by any means. Woody Allen did it in "Bananas" in 1971.



Look familiar?

And The Golden Girls - The Golden Girls - even did a variation on the theme.



After taking a detour from mundane routine to annoyance to sexual humiliation to physical danger, the ad never comes back to establish a positive connection between the product and the viewer. The ad could have ended with Jim and Heather laughing about the whole episode later that evening at his apartment over a couple of cold Bud Lights. Or, the robber could have taken the Bud Lights, boogied out of the store, and left everybody feeling like they had dodged a bullet. Instead, they leave this poor sap wallowing in a state of wretchedness that is only getting worse by the minute. All because of a trip to the store to buy a six-pack of Bud Light.

Again, the point of an ad is supposed to be to inspire somebody, somewhere, to want to buy the product. At best, this spot makes the beer irrelevant. But it almost seems to be trying to warn you away from the stuff. DANGER!! THIS BEER WILL RUIN YOUR LIFE!! IT MIGHT EVEN GET YOU KILLED!!!!!

This meandering mess is not a stellar example of the form. Far from it.