Twitter Has Mixed Feelings About The Bud Next Super Bowl Commercial
Budweiser and Bud Light have a long history of great Super Bowl commercials, from the Budweiser frogs to multiple humorous dog-focused ads, as well as the number of spots featuring the iconic Clydesdale horses. So it's understandable that expectations were high for their new ad that ran tonight during Super Bowl LVI. The spot was titled "Zero in the Way of Possibilities," for the brand's new zero-carb beer, Bud Light Next.
Featuring a series of scenes and vignettes with a wide-ranging cast, the ad purports to encourage mavericks pushing against societal expectations. Set to Barbara Streisand's song, "Gotta Move," the ad encourages individuals to be themselves and to create a brand-new world in the process — which also seems to be Bud Light Next's goal. As Andy Goeler, vice president of marketing, told advertising magazine AdWeek, "Ten years in the making, Bud Light Next is a symbol of our continued commitment to innovation. Now, on advertising's biggest stage, we'll pay tribute to those that are pushing boundaries and redefining the world around us every day."
However, the internet seems a bit divided in their response to the commercial. In AdWeek's poll posted on Twitter, the results as of publication show that 13.9% loved it, 28.6% hated it, and the overwhelming majority — 57.6% — replied, "Meh." Verbalized reactions were mixed, too. One person stated, "Bud Next, best commercial so far," but another said, "Bud Next? No thanks."
There seems to be some confusion about the branding
While Budweiser and Bud Light commercials can sometimes err on the unusual side, the branding in this new ad for Bud Light Next seems to be a bit vague and is sans any star wattage. As AdWeek themselves noted on Twitter, "We're happy to see a brand sidestep celebrities in favor of big visual swings — even if you can't immediately tell what it's selling." Indeed, cans of Bud Light Next are only shown a handful of times, often in the background and are not prominently featured. Only in the end shot is there a hand holding a can of the beer against a blue background that states, "Zero Carbs" — and it's the only time the entire label is visible. As the audio contains no dialogue — only the music — the product name is never verbally stated either.
It seems the colorful, imaginative imagery in the commercial didn't exactly help explain many details about the beer, either. As one person remarked on Twitter, "If I'm understanding this Bud Next commercial correctly, it's a strong hallucigenic [sic] with no carbs." However, some users were more — jokingly — disturbed by the actual images in the ad, like one who noted, "These unreinforced masonry walls and ground cracks in the Bud Next ad are really an L.A. nightmare."