NY – For the first time since 1983, when Anheuser-Busch used all his advertising time to introduce a drink called Bud Light, the brewery will not advertise its famous Budweiser brand during the Super Bowl. Instead, he will donate the money he would have spent on advertising to raise awareness about the coronavirus pandemic.
Anheuser-Busch has four more 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, especially among young people.
But the decision not to air its classic ad Budweiser and Budweiser Clydesdales for the game shows the caution with which some advertisers approach the first Super Bowl of the Covid-19 era.
“We have a pandemic that darkens almost everything,” said Paul Argenti Dartmouth, a professor of corporate 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 sponsoring the show at the break. Other longtime Super Bowl advertisers, such as Coca-Cola, Audi and Avocados in Mexico, will also be out of the game’s advertising.
These big absences are just another example in which Super Bowl LV will look very different from what we know. Participation in the game will be limited to 22,000 people, about a third of the capacity of Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.