Brands advertising in the Super Bowl face a choice: acknowledge the pandemic in a serious or light-hearted way or ignore it altogether.

Bud Light is taking the humorous approach in one of its ads by putting a whimsical spin on the small hardships the pandemic brought us, from do-it-yourself haircuts to busted wedding plans. The spot from Wieden+Kennedy New York plugs the brand’s new hard seltzer lemonade flavor by showing lemons falling from the sky as a symbol of all the “lemons” 2020 brought us. It ends with a scene of friends drinking the seltzer, while one of them references the saying “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”

The brand will extend the analogy to gameday viewing, promising to give fans a chance to win a case of the new drink if they tweet “#LemonsIntoLemonade” and “#Sweepstakes” if there is a turnover by either team. "The Super Bowl always brings together avid and casual sports fans alike, and our hope is that our new commercial brings them a little bit of levity and fun while watching the game,” Bud Light marketing VP Andy Goeler said in a statement.

The ad does not show any mask-wearing, despite the COVID references. When asked about that, a brand spokesman stated: “For our Bud Light Seltzer Lemonade spot, we created a fictional piece of content that is based in a future time, which captures the relatable moments in 2020 in a way that we hope brings levity to viewers after a lemon of a year.” 

He added: “While creating a commercial this year had its challenges, the health and safety of everyone on our set is our top priority. In fact, we implemented and followed strict guidelines, which included daily testing, social-distancing when not on camera and equipped everyone with personal protective equipment to wear when not shooting.”

The ad is part of a four-minute Super Bowl lineup from Anheuser-Busch InBev that includes a spot for regular Bud Light as well as ads for Michelob Ultra and Michelob Ultra Organic Seltzer and a corporate ad. See one of the Ultra ads here.

For more on this year's Super Bowl ad outlook, check out our latest edition of the "Marketer's Brief" podcast. Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, check us out on Spotify and hear us on Stitcher. This is our RSS feed. Tell a friend!