A Budweiser Ad Campaign? Better Grab a Drink.

Nearly one month into 2012 and we have our first IG video, and it wasn’t what he promised. Instead of History of Boring, we get another I Rate the 80s, oh joyous days… This time he’s going to talk about the Bud Bowl, a series of Budweiser commercials that showcased a football game between bottles of Budweiser and Bud Light always set during the Super Bowl. I feel he’s cheating as the campaign started in 1989 and thus feels more like a 90s thing. Granted, the TMNT cereal was first released in 1990 so his qualification must be “if it existed in the 80s in some form, it counts”. Personally, I just think he doesn’t give a crap. Grab a beer, I know I’m going to need it, and let’s go. 0:05 - 0:16: Oh hey, he changed his table to something better. Instead of the clusterfuck of random toys, it’s a bunch of Budweiser & Bud Light bottles and assorted party foods. This is appealing to the eyes and doesn’t invoke the idea that you care more for what people see on your desk than what they hear from your mouth. Did I just say something positive about IG? Urgh, it feels gross. “…string of commercials in the 1980s” For all of one year. Only the first Bud Bowl was in the 80s, the rest were in the 90s. As I said before. 0:16 - 1:02: We get our modern stock footage intended to “set the year”. Seriously, what’s the point of this? The quality is far too high to be set in the 80s or 90s, why does he show it? History time, grab a drink! As he explains when each commercial aired during the game, he plays a video clip in the corner. When he mentions half-time, the clip covers his face and he swats it away. Uhh, was that intended to be annoying? He brings up how the Bud Bowl commercials were really popular, following with clinking two bottles together… causing an explosion. Ugh. For someone that hates Michael Bay, he sure takes a lot of cues from him. Look, if you’re going to make something explode, SET IT UP! It has to be a punchline, you can’t just do it randomly and expect people to laugh. 1:02 - 1:40: He quickly summarizes the second Bud Bowl, then a random joke where he says Budweiser was on fire, setting the bottle he was holding on fire. Just because you can do effects doesn’t mean they’re mandatory. Then a quick summary of Bud Bowl 3. Honestly, this video is just boring so far. Nothing immensely stupid yet… 1:41 - 2:08: He moves onto Bud Bowl IV and says things are “getting weird”. He notes that instead of watching bottles play, it’s about a guy looking for a ticket. Watching the commercial and checking Wikipedia, this year was when they introduced a contest involving a ticket. The commercials were about this guy looking for his ticket to hopefully win. Yes it’s stupid we didn’t get to see the stop-motion bottles but they were trying something different. I can respect that. Of course, IG turns on his horrendously fake anger, claims that even 20 years later he’s still pissed. Dude, it’s a commercial for beer, no reason to flip your table (which is what he does to showcase how “irate” he is… grrrrr?) “I hope you die you jackass” Our host ladies & gentlemen, wishing death on commercial characters from 20 years ago. 2:09 - 2:30: When talking about “fan complaints”, he shows a TV getting smashed with a sledgehammer. … Why was that needed? Why all this stock footage? I’m so confused! Onto Bud Bowl V, he mentions it’s in CGI, has celebrity announcers and Joe Nameth appears. Come on, what about Corbin Benson? He was on L.A. Law! Though these days people know him on Psych. Say, that’s a good idea, I should watch that instead! *gets pushed back* Focus Daniel. He also lists off various products shown in the commercials. There’s something I’m going to bring up at the end about all this. 2:30 - 3:07: “Bud Bowl VI marked the last of the Bud Bowls” No it wasn‘t! I’m looking at Wikipedia and it says there’s a Bud Bowl VII and VIII. In fact, I checked the blogs “Strictly Commercials” and “mental_floss” (no relation to Brentalfloss) and they both confirm the existence of VII and VIII. Though from what they say, they were just single commercials with little focus on the game. He summarizes the game, bringing up how Bud Light won due to outside interference (a hand grabs a Budweiser bottle). This gives us a gag with a giant hand grabbing one of IG’s bottles. *yawns* Snooze-inducing. I’m switching back to soda, this beer isn’t helping me. IG goes on to say they “retired” the Bud Bowl (read above, they had two more years) and mentions a “new campaign” and the Budweiser Frogs. Say, you know which mascot would be more appropriate for this show? Spuds MacKenzie, he had more time in the 80s. We get to the rating. “Alright sports fans” Pffffft, oh please! Those are less likely to watch you than 80s fans and gamers! He enjoyed them, and we get another Nostalgic Overload. Whatever… Also, explain how it wouldn’t appeal to today’s audience. From what I’m watching, the commercials look timeless and can be aired in any year. The video ends with IG hoping they bring it back one day, asking for a light, causing an obvious CGI one to shine on him, he corrects himself saying he wanted a Bud Light, then gets crushed by an image of a giant bottle. Can’t really get mad at the ending, the whole video was just dull. Other than stupidly random moments and fake anger, the entire video was uneventful. He didn’t add anything funny or insightful to the commercials, just described what happened. The jokes were just there for no reason. A lot of parts seemed like Bores showing he can do effects. We get it, they aren’t really that special. What I don’t get is that his audience is mostly 10-12 year old kids, and he talks about commercials for a drink they aren’t allowed to have. Wait a sec… Chris himself was a kid when these aired! If he was born in 1978, he would have turned 21 in 1999, one year after the final Bud Bowl. Yes I know the Super Bowl is a family event and he could have seen them there, but the way he described the products earlier… I’m probably just over thinking it again. I guess I didn’t need all this whiskey, I’ll store it until the next main IG episode, or a Neo video that really pisses me off. Blogs mentioned earlier found here: http://strictlycommercials.blogspot.com/2011/02/brief-history-of-bud-bowls.html http://blogs.static.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/22310.html That’s all for now.