Sunday, October 12, 2008

Commercial Campaigns that get on my Nerves

Some of you younger bloggers probably won't know what I'm blogging about in this post, so I apologize ahead of time. With that said, you should be able to get the gist.

In the 1980's, Bud Light had a series of commercials - basically, they all centered around somebody at a bar asking for a light beer. However, these people never specified on what kind of light beer. In fact, all they said was, "Gimme a light," which prompted the bartender to give the patron a variety of "lights." Here is an example of this (from Youtube).

Now, the first few commercials they did were rather amusing. Unfortunately, they went to the well far too often, and the commercials eventually became annoying. Budweiser has been guilty of squeezing these ad campaigns dry ever since - the annoying lizards is a great example.

Interestingly enough, other beer companies have been going to the well too often recently. Of course, they run these commercials during sporting events, so they grate at my nerves even more. Miller Lite is doing the "More Taste League" commercials for a second year, and every time I see them, I want to bang my head against a wall repeatedly to numb the pain. Seriously, when did beer drinking become part of a league? On second thought, don't answer that.

Coors Light is on board with this pain-inducing trend as well. However, those commercials with the NFL coaches in the press conferences weren't funny to begin with. They've done them so many times that I'm starting to wonder if they even want me to drink their beer.

Budweiser came up with a funny commercial right around the time of the Super Bowl in which a guy opens a beer bottle, and his dog all of the sudden talks ... but all he says is "sausages" over and over again, in a hysterical British accent. Of course, Budweiser got a lot of positive feedback on this, so they decided to overdo it (predictably), and unfortunately, the commercials have gotten progressively worse.

I'm not sure the point of this particular post - I guess it's just meant to diffuse my frustration with these commercials. The real question is, when do these companies decide on retiring these campaigns? Is there a way to speed this process up?

9 comments:

The Rev said...

The real question is, when do these companies decide on retiring these campaigns?


When people stop buying their beer and they have no money to buy airtime.

So really, in a way, it's all your fault for buying their beer.

snowelf said...

It was the "Wazzzzuuuppppp!!!!" ads that made me the most crazy of all the Bud ads. I never get tired of the real men of genius, but the rest--yea--they burn out pretty quick. It's one of the reasons why I get so bored with comedians...the same joke over and over just gets old.

Happy Monday, Los!
--snow

Ink and Stone said...

Stop drinking beer and start drinking hard cider, Los! Scrumpy's is really good!

Jeff said...

Not limited to beer ads. Everybody sing along:

"This is OURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR country!"

Because NOTHING sells cars like images of hurricanes, wildfires, earthquakes, Vietnam, John Mellancamp, and other disasters. At least the images match the lyrics.

Thanks for coming Sunday -- had a blast, hope you did as well. And thanks to both of you for the gift! I will try to not use it all at the bar by myself at once.

Sandi said...

Those "Here's to you..." radio spots never EVER get old, though."

El Padrino said...

the frogs were awesome

Heff said...

I love beer commercials, one and all.

Los said...

Rev - Good point ... my fault, I guess.

Snowelf - Yeah, I hated that one too.

Ink - Always interested in trying something new!

Jeff - Like a Rock!

Sandi - I do love those as well ... they haven't gotten oldyet.

ElP - They were good for a while.

Heff - You mean, you love drinking beer, right?

scargosun said...

I am torn on the More Taste League one. I don't drink ML but I love that guy.