On my way home Sunday night from a friend’s apartment after watching the Superbowl I noticed that I was fighting my way through swerving sedans and confused SUVs making their way around the 405 freeway. Considering how uninterested I really was in the game and had only gone for one thing other than the amazing 7 layer dip, the commercials, the highlight of my afternoon was sitting back and taking in millions of dollars worth of advertising that was for the most part only mildly entertaining. I made a point to really watch all of the commercials and take some notes on what I noticed with regards to what races, genders and ages were portrayed in the ads. Coincidentally something popped into my head while trying to exit the freeway through a pack of people who had been rendered completely incapable of driving sanely: out of all of the alcohol related commercials this year from Anheuser-Busch’s Bud Light and Michelob and the like none of them put any emphasis on drinking responsibly in their ads. Looking back on the notes that I took all of the commercials that were aired involved anything from a house made of beer cans to a whole town constructing a human bridge to get the distributing truck to their stores to some weird auto-tuning sort of “Waaaaaazzzzuuuuup?!” mash-up to a quite a funny LOST parody.

After thinking about the demographic of the Superbowl which includes not only men but women, teens and children you would think that safely consuming alcohol would be the highlight of their ads during a game that is mostly popular in many households based on the party that accompanies the game itself. I would not go as far to say that they were necessarily endorsing harmful or negative drinking habits but they just seemed to completely omit the idea of responsible drinking from any of their messages during the commercials shown Sunday afternoon. If I were a brewing company I would at least try to instill in viewers the idea of safely drinking during the 4 hour long binge-fest that the Superbowl tends to be.

What also caught my attention after looking more in-depth at some of A-B’s advertising techniques was that although none of the commercials during the 2010 Superbowl involved even remotely young people drinking, in the past they have made efforts to gear their advertising towards (of age) young people. I know that there were a lot of college students watching the game today including myself and a bunch of rowdy college kids who had their beer pong table set up in the living room next to the big screen so that they could play pong and watch the game simultaneously (sadly, at the expense of their carpet.) The other night one of those guys also asked me if I wanted a Natty Ice, and my response to him was “Are we a bunch of poor 15 year olds playing beer pong at someone’s house party while their parents are out of town for the weekend?” It’s really clear that although the company makes very clear their stance on drunk driving/underage drinking/binge drinking they’re definitely popular in the university circle. Despite the efforts that they’ve made to encourage safe drinking on college campuses around the US A-B did sort of ruin any sort of credibility they had in the eyes of many when it came to encouraging safe drinking practices in college students after the campaign they pushed last year when they began producing cans with college sports teams logos and colors on them, which many schools took as the encouragement of underage drinking on college campuses. A Texas university looked at the campaign not only in terms of how it would affect the student population’s health and safety but also how it would affect the reputation of the school. I found out last year that some of my friends in sororities and fraternities were not supposed to be obviously toasted or commit any lewd acts while wearing their sorority pins or fraternity hats, and the Texas University looked at the cans as a similar link to their foundation, or more specifically one editorial referred to it as “‘a slick profiting scheme’ that could tarnish the school’s reputation if students misbehave ‘when they hold a LSU colored beer in their hands.’”

After looking more into the practices of A-B it seems like they’re making a lot of headway with regards to environmentally beneficial practices and recycling efforts, so I can’t knock them on all fronts. Even in 1947 they established the August A. Busch Memorial Wildlife Area for preservation and public use of 7,000 acres of natural habitat, and after being named 40th on the Toxic 100 list they have attempted redemption by operating some of their factories on a bio-energy recovery system.

Aside from their efforts to save the world, one recycled beer can at a time, A-B has  founded many programs focused on underage drinking.

“As part of Anheuser-Busch’s underage-drinking prevention efforts, we’ve developed the following initiatives:

  • Family Talk About Drinking – Recognizing that parents have the greatest influence on their children’s decisions about drinking, Family Talk encourages open, honest communication between parents and children. Developed by an advisory panel of education, family counseling, child psychology and alcohol treatment professionals, the Family Talk parent guide is available in English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese. More than 7 million copies have been distributed free to parents and educators by Anheuser-Busch and its nationwide network of distributors. Videos are available in Spanish and English. For more information, visit www.familytalkonline.com.
  • Operation ID/We I.D. – Anheuser-Busch and its distributors offer retailers training and a variety of materials that help them check and verify valid I.D.s. These materials include We I.D. signage and stickers at retailers that remind consumers they will be ask to show I.D. before purchasing alcohol; We I.D. cards (available in English, Spanish and Korean) that list tips on how to spot fake IDs; drivers license booklets that feature photos of valid driver’s licenses from all 50 states, U.S. territories and the Canadian provinces; and wristbands that retailers can use to identify customers who have already shown proof of legal age.
  • Prevent. Don’t Provide – Research from the 2003 National Academy of Sciences has shown that youth usually obtain alcohol — directly or indirectly — from adults. Our Prevent. Don’t Provide program reminds parents and other adults not to buy alcohol for minors or provide it to them at parties – no matter the occasion. The National Fatherhood Initiative, The International Association of Fire Chiefs and The Association of Junior Leagues International support this campaign. For more information, visit www.preventdontprovide.com.”

In my mind it seems like although it’s funny to watch a 30 second commercial parody of LOST or some wacko running around in a Dorito suit, what’s more commendable and worthy of attention is the fact that any large corporation is making serious efforts to counter any negative light that’s shed on them. A-B is number 40 on the list of 100 companies with high toxic output and and accomplishing a lot with their programs to “go green” and are heading programs to keep kids from illegally and unsafely consuming their products. Personally what would get me more interested in their product would be advertisements that focus on these accomplishments. I understand that a company like A-B doesn’t need to be racking up a crowd since they’ve already got quite the following in many different demographics, but I think that it’s important for things like what they’re doing for the earth and youth to be focused on.

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