The Budweiser Clydesdales will not be present at this year’s Super Bowl.
Instead of paying to be one of the iconic Super Bowl commercials, the company has decided to take that ad money, which is around $5 million dollars, and put it toward COVID-19 related support.
With many cities still under COVID restriction and last year’s closing down of bars and cancelled events, the company decided to help spread awareness of the COVID vaccine.
According to one survey, over half of Americans are uninformed or misinformed about the vaccine or COVID testing sites. Also, another study suggests that rural residents are more hesitant about the vaccine than those in the cities.
Anheuser-Busch’s other brands will have commercials. However, the total time will only be about four minutes. This is the first time that Budweiser has not appeared in the championship event in 37 years.
“Some people might wonder why we’re not showing up at the Super Bowl, but we will just show up in a different way,” Monica Rustgi, Budweiser’s VP of Marketing, stated.
The CEO of the advertising firm WPP, Mark Read, had this to say about Bud’s decision, according to KCTV: “Says more about the mood in the country than it does about the value of the Super Bowl as a marketing platform... Obviously, brands need to speak to consumers in the right tone and are rightly worried about getting this wrong, but I have no doubt that the Super Bowl will remain the year’s biggest sports event and advertising event.”
Story via Jordan Valinsky at KCTV