Stellar marketing by Bud Light. Now there’s a sentence reluctantly muttered in recent times. But take us back to the late 1980s, then hell yeah!
The year was 1987 and Anheuser-Busch released a Super Bowl commercial for Bud Light. This particular ad featured their new mascot, Spuds MacKenzie: Bud Light’s Original Party Animal.
So after watching these ads again, I don’t know if calling it “stellar marketing” even does this justice! The nostalgia of a party animal, a dog adored by chicks, selling beer, just reflects how cool the 1980s really were. Bud Light did it right with Spuds MacKenzie.
Spuds Mackenzie became an instant star. During his rise to fame, he toured the country, making PR stops and appearing on various television shows. I remember my dad took me to go see him at our mall in San Antonio, TX when I was about 4 or 5 years old. They passed out free merch and everyone got to meet the party animal himself!
However, their advertising campaign didn’t come without some controversy. (Are we not surprised?)
As it turns out, the dog who played Spuds MacKenzie was actually a female dog named, “Honey Tree Evil Eye,” or “Evie” for short. But was this really controversy? It’s just wild how things can change over time.
The bigger of the controversies was of course the concern that the beer company was advertising to children. Growing up having been a fan of Spuds MacKenzie, these commercials didn’t make me want to go party and drink Bud Light. So I personally don’t see the issue here, but those were the times. Nevertheless, there are now laws against targeting children with adult beverage advertising.
Even though after 2 years of law makers (Senator Strom Thurmond) and various non-profits (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) coming after Anheuser-Busch, the FTC never came down on the company for their advertising campaign. And although this campaign did increase sales, Anheuser-Busch ultimately decide to retire Spuds from the party lifestyle in 1989. They claimed that the character overshadowed the product.
Spuds MacKenzie sure made for a great time in advertising, and has been a fun memory to look back on. In 2017, Bud Light released a Super Bowl ad where Spuds returned as a ghost, playing a spoof on Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. The attempt was appreciated, but it just didn’t have the same vibe.
A vast amount of original merch can be found for sale on Etsy and Ebay. Even more, Walmart has a “throwback” LED sign and t-shirts available on their website.
Cheers to you, Spuds MacKenzie! What a happenin’ dude.
The Real Person!
The Real Person!
I remember Spuds! He was a very cool dude-dog. However, there is a little more to his 1989 retirement. Rumor has it, after a while beer just wasn’t enough for Spuds. He began hitting the hard stuff. That did him in. He started showing up late for filmings and became uncontrollably rude to his bitches. Everything went south after Spuds crapped on the producer’s new rug. As a result, Anheuser-Busch didn’t renew his contract. After spending some time in rehab and staying clean for a year, Target offered Spuds a sweet deal to be their mascot and he took it. That was astonishing career move for Spuds, and outstanding comeback! 😂
It’s also worth noting that Spuds kept his puppies out if the biz. And Spuds isn’t on the Diddy list.
LOL
Always amazing to me. One of the worst beers ever (Miller Lite FTW), but damn, did they have the BEST marketing. I even still own the 3CD set of Real Men of Genius.
The Frogs
The Castle
Waaaaassssssuuuuuppppp
etc.
InBev has really f’d up the marketing and par tof me is happy.