NY – For the first time since 1983, when Anheuser-Busch used all of its ad time to introduce a drink called Bud Light, the brewer won’t be promoting its iconic Budweiser brand during the Super Bowl. Instead, it will donate the money it would have spent on the ad to raise awareness around the coronavirus pandemic.
Anheuser-Busch has four minutes of advertising for its other brands, including Bud Light, Bud Light Seltzer Lemonade, Michelob Ultra and Michelob Ultra Organic Seltzer, during the NFL game. These are some of the best-selling products, especially among young people.
But the decision not to run the classic Budweiser and Budweiser Clydesdales ad for the game shows the caution with which some advertisers are approaching the very first Super Bowl of the Covid-19 era.
“We have a pandemic that clouds almost everything,” said Paul Argenti Dartmouth, professor of business communications at Dartmouth College. “It’s hard to see the exuberance and enthusiasm that people would have on a regular basis.”
Meanwhile, PepsiCo. reported that it will not announce its biggest brand, Pepsi, to focus on sponsorship of the halftime show. Other long-time Super Bowl advertisers such as Coca-Cola, Audi and Avocados from Mexico will also drop out of the game’s commercial.
Those major absences are just one more example that Super Bowl LV will look very different from what we know. Contest entry is limited to 22,000 people, about one-third of the capacity of Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.