In Juvenile Bud Light Lime Spot, This Butt's for You

Here's the message of the latest wannabe "viral" video from Anheuser-Busch: If you like anal sex, this Bud's for you. An online ad from DDB intended to tout the new availability of Bud Light Lime in cans features confessions of people who claim to enjoy "getting it in the can." "I never thought I'd enjoy getting it in the can as much as I do," shares a suburban housewife. "I gave it to my boss in the can," says a working-stiff type. "I'm gonna get it in the can in about five minutes," says one towel-wearing girl emerging from a shower. Oooooh, edgy. The attempt at a Crispin-like "oh, no they didn't" online splash comes at a time when A-B is urgently trying to revive flagship Bud Light's credentials as an edgy, humorous brand following an ill-considered detour from funny that has the brand facing the prospect of its first-ever full-year sales decline. Earlier this year, the brand took another crude swing at an online hit when it seeded a video of a typical Bud Light drinker's attempt to buy hard-core pornography at a convenience store. That classy effort -- also from DDB -- managed to incorporate the mocking of Asian accents, a mythical porn magazine called "Tongue in Cheeks," a vibrator and an armed robbery in its bid to sell beer. An A-B spokesman declined to comment. Crude ads are, of course, nothing new in the category that brought the world the "Swedish Bikini Team," but they've been a bit scarce since Miller Brewing Co.'s bottom-scraping use of bikini-clad mudwrestlers in a 2003 "tastes great, less filling" brawl. That ad sparked wide recriminations about how lowest-common-denominator advertising turns the product into a commodity indistinguishable by any measure other than whose proprietor has lower standards. For a while after, advertisers toned it down, taking a back seat to fast-food chains and even domain registrars when it came to over-the-top ads. But perhaps our long national nightmare of relatively tasteful beer ads is coming to an end at last.

In Juvenile Bud Light Lime Spot, This Butt's for You

Featured Stories