 |
Think Super Bowl beer ads are funny and entertaining? Think again, because once again Anheuser Busch-InBev recklessly poured gas on the catastrophic fire of underage drinking in this country by exposing the young viewers of Super Bowl 44 to more ads for beer than any other product.
The world's biggest brewer spent roughly $20 million to buy nine ads for Bud Light, Michelob Ultra, and Select 55 during the Super Bowl. An estimated 20-30 million underage youth were watching.
We saw nothing new in the tired but tried and true playbook of stupid, insipid, sophomoric, humorous situations used to lure kids to the holy grail of alcoholic amber liquid. Cute animals (baby Clydesdale and cow), popular music, and pretty young women, utterly mindless herd mentality, and the pathetic sell-out of a true sports hero led the crap-pack this year.
Clearly, the Brazilian investment bankers running the Belgian-based AB-InBev beer behemoth have no intentions of altering their irresponsible corporate behavior. Why should they? According to a Journal of Health Communication study done a few years back, youth 10-17 years old prefer beer ads with humor, music, and animal characters, and are more likely to say such commercials make them want to buy the beer advertised.
AB-InBev Super Bowl ads are burning beer brands into vulnerable, developing brains. Funny, ha, ha...but oh so deadly. Every year 5,000 underage youth die from alcohol-related harm. The country spends $60 billion annually to clean up the mess of underage alcohol-related car crashes, sexual violence, suicide, disease, and educational and job failure.
AB-InBev Super Bowl ads during this so-called "family friendly" TV sporting event are inappropriate. They are sacrificing our youth on the altar of “beer business as usual.” There is nothing funny or entertaining about that.
Comments