NEW YORK – For the first time since 1983, when Anheuser-Busch used all his advertising time to present a drink called Bud Light, the brewery will not be announcing its iconic Budweiser brand during the Super Bowl. Instead, he will donate the money he would have spent on the ad to awareness work around the coronavirus pandemic.
Anheuser-Busch still has four minutes of publicity during the NFL game for his other brands, including Bud Light, Bud Light Seltzer Lemonade, Michelob Ultra and Michelob Ultra Organic Seltzer. These are some of its best-selling products, particularly among young people.
But the decision not to make its classic Budweiser and Budweiser Clydesdales ad for the game shows the caution with which some advertisers are tackling the first Super Bowl of the Covid-19 era.
“We have a pandemic that is clouding almost everything,” commented Paul Argenti Dartmouth, a professor of corporate communications at Dartmouth College. “It’s hard to perceive the exuberance and enthusiasm that people would regularly have.”
Meanwhile, PepsiCo. reported that it will not announce its biggest brand, Pepsi, to focus on sponsoring the half-time show. Other old Super Bowl announcers such as Coca-Cola, Audi and Avocados from Mexico will also be out of the game’s publicity.
These big absences are just one more sign that the Super Bowl LV will look very different from what we know. Attendance at the game will be limited to 22,000 people, about a third of the capacity of Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.