Following a wave of backlash to partnering with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney, Anheuser-Busch has released a new ad for Budweiser, relying on its signature Clydesdales and even invoking memories of 9/11. So on Sunday night, John Oliver scorched the company for being “so afraid of offending anyone” that they produce a commercial that seems as if an artificial intelligence program made it.
In response to a trend of videos showing conservatives destroying Bud Light they paid for and Anheuser-Busch already profited from, the company released a statement, not apologizing for the campaign, but not denouncing the backlash either. Or, as Oliver put it, “Maddeningly, Anheuser-Busch’s response to that ugliness has been to equivocate in the face of it.”
“We never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people. We are in the business of bringing people together over a beer,” Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth said in part.
Ironically, the statement itself also earned criticism, but this time from more than just conservatives.
“It is pretty annoying to be both sides-ing something when the two sides are: ‘I am trans,’ and, ‘That makes me so mad I’m gonna shoot $65 worth of non-refundable beer,’” Oliver mocked.
The “Last Week Tonight” host then turned his ire on Anheuser-Busch’s “equally empty” new ad for Budweiser, which largely focuses on the company’s signature clydesdale horses, focusing on one as it runs across the country past symbolic American scenes.
You can watch that ad in the video below.
“OK, there is both nothing and a lot going on there,” Oliver mocked. “They are clearly so afraid of offending anyone, they put out an ad essentially saying, ‘America, something something.’”
Oliver was particularly baffled by a moment near the end of the ad, which focuses on a shot of the New York skyline, which appears to be deliberately timed with the word “remember.”
“Is that a 9/11 reference Budweiser?” he asked. “Because shots of a horse running through the plains and remembering 9/11 feels less like an ad and more like the results of feeding an AI program the prompt: America, freedom, I’m sorry.”
All in all, Oliver was unimpressed, saying the moment to respond was a missed opportunity by the company.
“This feels like a huge misfire for Anheuser-Busch because, when bigots are loudly announcing they don’t like your beer because they are bigots, that is an opportunity for you to say, ‘Then our beer is not for you.’”