I'm here to start the beer commercial thread. I watch a lot of sports and most of the ads are for beer and in general, they suck.

I am hard pressed to remember an ad for beer that was truly interesting (I'm not a fan of the Bud clydesdale ads). Right now you have a the Bud Light Daredevil ad, which makes me want to smash the kid (his round face makes him look underage) in his helmet with a bat.

(Although I must admit, as a guy, the beer ads with hot sweaty chicks do have a create a certain purient interest, not that I would buy the beer).

Canadian beer has had some pretty good ads over the years. I'm thinking the iconic "I am Canadian" ads for Molson a few years ago, and there have been some good ones recently as well. The Rickards Red one with the choir is a hoot.

I liked the Alexander Keith's ads too, for awhile, although they got old pretty fast... And apparently the angry Scotsman was arrested on child porn charges. Bad angry Scotsman! What would Duffman say?

I think Anheuser-Busch holds the key when it comes to sustained merchandising of its products. Remember Spuds McKenzie? He popped back in my memory today; I was fishing out a pin to wear for St. Paddy's, and came upon a decorated Spuds pin. The reworking of the crown logo for the new Bud ads is interesting- although the shot of the woman with the crown-shaped hole in her jeans is stretching it a little too far. I don't care at all about Miller's new nostalgic ads- the "Girl in the Moon" ads. So the Girl is looking over us; she should work on making her beer taste less like dishwasher and more like brew.

Even though I don't drink beer (can't stand the taste), I do have a special fondness for the Guinness "Brillant!" commercials. One of our friends says that all the time and got our (at the time) 18-month old saying it.

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I loved their series of ads with all the monkeys typing, and then weird stuff would happen. Apparently that was Molson's least successful advertising campaign ever, and they lost like 5% of thiier market share to Labatt's. They went back to the I.AM.CANADIAN ads after that.

I like the new Canadian ad with the truck stuck in snow. People are pretending to push and then one guy says, "We think you have to offload some of your load." (or somehting like that) and the camera zomes out to reveal that its a beer truck. I don't think I translated it well...

Its too bad the beer tastes so completely generic.

Those "Real Men of Genius" ads were for beer, no? Those were hilarious. I wish I could listen to the songs whenever I wanted.

I LOVE the "Real Men of Genius" ads. I would hear them on the radio in my car and almost have to pull over, I was laughing so hard. It was the background singer guy that really made it beautiful.

I remember when I was younger they had "Miller Time" ads that were really bizzare, but really funny. There was one where a woman was in love with a robot, and she would gaze lovingly into the blinking red light on his forehead. One day the robot broke and nobody could fix him, so they recycled him and the woman was devistated. 3 months later she grabbed a can of Miller and was delighted to find the red blinking light on the can. That one always cracked me up.

I also really like the one now where the guys think it's raining beer. Their reactions just kill me, they're so excited! "Beer! Beer is falling from the sky!"

One recent beer ad that I did like was Bud Light's magic fridge.

A couple of days ago I found out that such things do happen in real life!

"Even though I don't drink beer (can't stand the taste), I do have a special fondness for the Guinness "Brillant!" commercials. One of our friends says that all the time and got our (at the time) 18-month old saying it."

I love those commericals, too. They're always so wacky!

Of course you can!

Speaking of Budweiser, that "Galvanize" song by the Chemical Bros. and Q-Tip in their latest ads (the one with all the "black crown" graphics) is catchy.

The commercial with the "magic fridge" and the guys bowing down to it kind of makes me laugh, I'm ashamed to admit.

My husband wishes they had the chicks wrestling again. I think it was in some type of water fountain? They just started fighting over, beer I'm pretty sure? Then he would wait for something to pop out of their wet dresses. I think they pulled the ad as it was a bit salacious? Of course, not by my, or my husband's standards! ;D

Energiya Buran would you happen to be a rocket scientist?

Thanks for the link, Cherry Wire!

xaxat: I must admit, I liked one of the Bud's clydesdale Superbowl ads that came on after 9/11. It was the ad that had the clydesdales (carrying the Bud, of course) travelling all day and all night through the states. In the morning, they reached the edge of NYC, and as they stopped at the quiet cityscape, they all bowed on their knees in rememberance.

Just struck a chord with me.

Didn't they try to stop the controversy by having two men fight over a beer too? But they had to pull them anyway...

First, xaxat, too funny! Someone actually knows what my name is? Anyway...men fighting over beers? Certainly not as entertaining as 2 hot chicks all wet doing the same, right? I do not recall the new version of said beer commercial. Only that my husband misses the wet dress contest one. Again, completely forgetting which beer they were even hawking!

I think it was Miller Lite, and the fight was the old "Tastes Great!" "Less Filling!" back and forth stuff.

Does Bud Light still make any "Real Men of Genius" ads for television, or are they strictly radio-only now?

Quite possibly the best beer ad ever: Video

Certainly the biggest.

The Budweiser Clydesdale ads were always my favorite during Super Bowls, especially the cross country trip one. I also like the "Hooray Beer!" ads from Red Stripe. Just the simple message makes me smile. And I think all beer tastes like weewee.

I'm pretty sure it was them that recently ran one advising that people drink responsibly during the "St. Patrick's Day Season".

unshaven
Absolutely!
I adore the Budwiser Clydesdales and the Dalmations Fire Dog and Coach Dog commercials, but the Carlton Beer commercial stopped work at my office all morning. We watched it over and over and ... well, you get the picture.

Current likes:
--"Hooray beer!"
--The magic fridge
--Bud's response to the "referees" ads from Miller
--"Brilliant! Brilliant!"
All-time favorites:
--The Clydesdales playing football ads
--The old "Miller Time" ads, my favorite being where the guy does the twist in response to a Miller bottle cap saying "Twist Here"

Ha! That's so cool! And big! A few years ago I was in a play that played that song while we were all backstage, and we liked to come up with fake lyrics, though we never came up with "It's-A-Big-Ad", sadly. Our favorites were "I-Have-To-Pee" and "I-Hate-Your-Mom". Must be sung with an opera voice, of course.

Topic? Beer is good.

Is that the one that says goes something like "don't hold back?" I admit I start dancing when that commercial comes on. Thanks for a title!

Does anyone remember the Labatt's (I think) commercials from a few years ago, with the little players on a hockey table talking, with French accents? It was on during Hockey Night in Canada quite a lot.

I'm not positive about the accents even; I don't remember much about them, except that I loved them and thought they were hilarious.

And Twins! is probably my favorite. My least favorite are those damn existential Miller commercials with the woman talking about stars and visions and it just all comes off like deep thoughts with Jack Handey. Eww.

Last night I saw a miller commercial where two guys are being chased by a bear and one gets cornered and sets a beer on a rock... i don't know what happens afer that because I stopped watching. It seemed a little tasteless considering recent events and I couldn't stop thinking about that poor little girl and her family.

ThatPoshGirl

OK, the guy cornered by the bear pops a beer and leaves it on the rock for the bear. The bear focuses on the beer, and just as he's about to go for it, the other guy comes running (from the right side of the screen), scoops the beer, and runs away (exit left side of screen), hooting and hollering.

This ticks the bear off so much, he starts growling at the cornered guy.

Then there's a voice-over of how great the beer is, blah blah blah.

Next, you see the guy sitting on the rocks with the beer, saying,
"Did you see that?". The corenered guy comes stumbling up to him
(his clothes are shredded) but he's otherwise OK, and replies: "Dude that's not cool," or something like that.

Funny because that is what guys that age are like!

When it comes to beer commercials, nothing was as good as the Swedish Bikini Team.

I was always hoping that they'd do a Hot Asian Babe Bikini Team, too, but alas, no such luck. (sigh)

I hate the Ted Ferguson: Beer Daredevil ads. "Let's see if he can survive a shopping trip with his girlfriend!" I want his girlfriend to dump his sorry immature ass and find someone else. Who do those ads target, the 14-17 males demographic??

I think it was a Carlsberg commercial. Very attractive woman in a bar doing something, young guy pouring beer into a glass gets distracted by woman, glass foams over. Tag line "premature pour." My girlfriends used that line whenever they saw a young guy trying to look cool.

Question regarding the two guys who ruin the ice sculpture in order to cool down their Coors Light box...
If it's a fancy enough wedding to have an ice sculpture, then wouldn't there probably also be an open bar where they could get free beer instead of having to bring their own?

Actually, they're targeting all guys by presenting a fantasy world in which a doughy, unattractive, sports- and beer-obsessed schlub can land a hot girlfriend. Seriously...I remember seeing an interview with an ad executive admitting that beer companies like to do this. (ETA: I totally agree, these ads are crap)

Well, they're not doing so well. My husband changes the channel as soon as he sees ol' Ted because he hates the commercials even more than I do.

Has anyone mentioned the new Bud Lite commercial where the guy is "surprised" by some kind of alien starfish thingie leaping out of his sushi and attaching itself to his face? I could have put this in the Horrifying Commercials thread, because I'm still cringing. It was like a flashback from Alien.

I think the stupidest commercials for beer I've seen lately have to be for Heineken Light.

Silly: Using the Pussycat Dolls "Don't Cha"
Bad: Using a karaoke version of "Don't Cha"
Worse: Using a karaoke version and not even bothering to change the lyrics to have anything to do whatsoever with beer while showing only a beer bottle from many angles.

So is the beer bottle singing "Don't cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me?" If so, who likes hot beer? Or is it supposed to be sung by girls who drink Heineken Light? How hard would it be to change the lyrics to "Don't cha wish your light beer was smooth like me?" Still incredibly stupid, but at least not head-scratching.

A.nnoy.ing.

So much word, EmbiggenedSoul. You said that better than I ever could. Very annoying commercial.

I'm still cringing too, Melina Detroit. I was also considering posting it in the Horrifying Commercials thread because I was so repulsed and disturbed by it. I couldn't find any posts about it in any of the commercial threads so began to wonder if I was being too sensitive about the idea of some alien creature laying eggs in the guy's mouth while his buddies had a good laugh at his expense. I watched this commercial twice in horror and the third time it aired I had to turn away. Someone (ad execs?) must think this is hilarious but I seriously do not get it.

Yeah, ew to the face-sucking seafood.

I just saw a beer ad about a new "man rule": You poke it, you own it [meaning if you stick your finger in another guy's beer bottle neck to carry it, he don't want it anymore]. Ew again.

That's a new rule??!!?

There's just some things we shouldn't have to spell out.

I was intrigued by the men who have been "appointed" to the Man Council for the Miller Beer "Man Rules" commercial; here's an interesting article:
Adweek article on Miller TV campaign

This is an aside, but I can't help quoting the ad agency honcho's take on the ad- classic!

Makes note to self to work "get it back to its DNA" into normal conversation without laughing...

I just realized last night that Ty Murray is in the man laws commercials. I love Ty Murray. You know what's really funny, though? It's who is NOT in them. And that is Kurt Busch! And no matter how much I love Ty Murray I will never drink Miller because they are sponsoring Busch.

I really enjoyed Triple H in that Miller Lite ad.

What do y'all think about the Bud Light (I believe) ad where fish are fishing for humans and using Bug Light as bait? I thought it was pretty hilarious.

I said and cowkitty responded Well, I said "ew" not because I was grossed out by the idea of someone's finger in my beer bottle (though, yes, that's gross), but because it was immediately apparent to me that the "poking" was really not so much about sticking your finger in a beer.

OK, I don't know why but that reminded me of a joke.

Who's the most popular guy in a nudist colony?
The one who can carry two cups of coffee and a dozen donuts.

Yes, I guess this could be a TV Moment that Went over My Head. I just don't see where "you poke it you own it" would relate to anything but beer bottles.
Not that other areas don't uh, get poked, just that presumably you wouldn't poke your buddy's - well, anything else! - and if you did, somehow "you poked, now it you own it" probably wouldn't be the response.

Wow, I get through the House house and the TV Moments That Scarred You For Life thread resaonably intact only to get squicked out in the beer ad thread. :D

Well, maybe I was anticipating sexual stuff when a crappy beer ad came on and that's why I thought it. I can't be the only one though.

Hee. dcalley, you are right. I metaphorically rolled my eyes when they went on about poking. All that covert sexual overtones. It just ain't a beer ad without that. (Well, except for the "I am Canadian" rant, which is why I enjoyed it so much).



cowkitty: Ironic, huh? >:-)