Someone call AWNY, we’ve got some Uglies on our hands. Although "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly Awards" are still 10 months away, I’ve got two solid entries here and let me tell you, they ain’t pretty.
The spots are for Busch beer out of DDB Chicago. I realize that one of the golden rules of advertising is sex sells, but nowhere is it written that you have to hit people over the head with it. The new spots for Busch are not subtle, they’re not smart, and should be parody, but aren’t. It’s something you’d expect to see on Saturday Night Live, but the joke never materializes. I imagine that if George W. Bush could write ad copy, this is what he would come up with.
The first spot, entitled "Chick Magnet," opens on two guys sitting around a campground. One is demonstrating to the other the ways in which he plans to reel in the ladies. He splays open something that bears a likeness to a Swiss Army knife revealing 12 different attachments that are totally "digital." Next, he calls attention to an ugly vest he’s wearing made of virgin yak. And the "coup de gras" (which he pronounces in the most appalling American accent): imported beer. He holds up what looks exactly like a bottle of Heineken, except it’s been given a generic name so as not to implicate Heineken, yet everyone knows he’s referring to Heineken. Clever, huh?
Unimpressed by his friend’s expensive taste, the other guy says "No thanks" and reaches for an icy cold Busch beer. Cut to a shot of a Busch beer can bursting open as that age old VO seductively says "Buuuuuusssssccccchhhhh!" The sound attracts two of the most gorgeous girls you’ve ever seen camping. One woman says, "Got enough for us?" Of course she’s not talking to virgin yak-imported-beer guy. She wants the guy who drinks Busch. The man. Meanwhile, his gimmicky friend winds up attracting a skunk that blows him a kiss and gives him a ridiculous, toothy smile.
"Poser," the second ad in the campaign is just as bad. The scene is a backyard BBQ where a guy mans a super-powered, state-of-the-art grill. Presuming to know what women like, he says to his friend, "The ladies love the toys." He demonstrates its features, including a remote control fire ignition that nearly sears his eyebrows off. To show that he’s a progressive guy, he cooks tofu burgers, and of course, he drinks imported beer. Again, his friend forgoes the snobbery and heads for the mountains: "Buuussssscchchchhh!" On cue two scantily clad women eye the Busch drinker with orgasmic excitement and sidle over. One croons "Got another one of those, mountain man" as the viewer gets what’s probably the most degrading moment in either commercial: an ass shot worthy of The Howard Stern Show.
On first viewing I thought the spots were mostly insulting to women. Then I started to make a list of all the people they might offend: women, animals, vegetarians, the French, imported-beer drinkers and perhaps, most of all, MEN. I don’t care how idiotic guys can get; these commercials are an embarrassing assessment of the male character. It lowers the standard for men, inviting those who drink Busch beer to be a thug, a sexist pig and a moron. And I’m to gather that the women who are attracted to men who drink Busch beer wear very little clothing and fall under a magic spell of weak-kneed submission any time a man cracks open a beer to the dulcet tones of "Buuuussscchhh!"
When I think of all the smart advertising out there for beer, I’m disgusted by this display of unoriginality. Especially coming from a shop like DDB that gave us the ubiquitous "Whassup" ads. Just look at a spot like "Love Thy Neighbor" for Miller Genuine Draft out of J. Walter Thompson, Chicago, wherein a couple finds away to make the most of a raging party next door. Or the Errol Morris work for the Miller High Life campaign out of Wieden + Kennedy, Portland, Ore., that put a new spin on the man’s man. That kind of advertising shows ingenuity, inventiveness and effort. The Busch campaign simply takes a step back.
