Responsibility Matters
ByWhat’s missing from this commercial?
The product.
Anheuser-Busch is spending millions of dollars each year running commercials promoting parental involvement. What is most remarkable is that there is no mention of the “product,” and the company isn’t shown until the end of the ads… and that’s only for a few seconds.
This isn’t Anheuser-Busch’s first endeavor at socially responsible advertising. In 1982 (yes, 27 years ago), they launched “Know When to Say When,” a campaign to fight alcohol abuse and underage drinking. Then they took it a step further. The company established a Consumer Awareness and Education Department who’s sole purpose is to develop and implement programs to help stop and prevent underage drinking and alcohol abuse.
To date, this beer company has spent half a billion dollars in advertising and programs aimed at (when you get right down to it) selling less beer. That is what I would consider virtue above profit.
2 Comments
February 19th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
Yes I completely agree with you! I have noticed these ads for the past decade or so. I remember during the super bowl a couple years ago, they showed the popular band, N SYNC, in their advertisement that was promoting a similar message. I think it is great that this company spends their time and money to create these ads. The ads are always positive and with a good, strong message. In a world today where children are surrounded by so negative and degrading advertisements, I applaud Anheuser-Busch’s attempt to create something different. I mean….I dont see any other beer distributers doing the same thing…
February 19th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
I think this is a great display of public concern and a company’s response to get involved and encourage parent’s to do the same. In talking to my parents, they have said one of the hardest things is creating and enforcing rules when other parents don’t set rules for their children. It creates difficulty for that specific child trying to live by the parent’s rules. To use 3 kids in this ad was a great idea. It is promoting this “get involved” campaign as something that can be done as a community, or in other words with the support of other parent’s they can encourage and hold accountable their close friends. While kids do make choices, ultimately at a young age the responsibility rests on the parent. While it may not be easy, it seems absolutely necessary to enforce rules at all times. How great is it that a beer company has gotten on board with this message to promote responsibility!